High-Q | חטיף 4

חטיף מס '4

אנגלית

Text II (Questions 18-22)

The death of classical music is proclaimed widely today in books, magazines, and newspapers, and the villains responsible are variously identified. For some critics, the assassins are the star conductors and operatic singers who demand exorbitant fees; for others, the orchestra managers and agents who attempt to impose ruthless commercial standards on high artistic ideals. Still others blame the composers of difficult modernist 5 atonal music or performers who insist on playing Mozart and even Chopin on antiquated period instruments. Nevertheless, the death of classical music is perhaps its oldest continuing tradition. Terrified critics predicted in 1913 that Stravinsky's innovations in “The Rite Of Spring” would destroy Western music, and similar claims had been made for many decades about 10 Wagner. At the end of the 19th century, Max Nordau published an influential book, “Degeneration”, which claimed that all modern art, including the books of Zola and the paintings of Cezanne as well as Wagner’s operas, was produced by moral degenerates. Earlier, there was a widespread feeling among academics that the opera composer Verdi was ruining the great old " bel canto " tradition with the violence of his dramatic style. Many 15 music lovers in the first decades of the 19th century thought that the growing influence of Beethoven was certain to have fatal results. In early 18 th century England, Roger North insisted that the old tradition of private music-making in the English country houses was being destroyed by the importation of flashy Italian virtuosos. At the beginning of the 17 th century, old-fashioned musicians felt 20 that composer Monteverdi's new and overly expressive manner was killing the great madrigal tradition. The disappearance of an old way of performing or composing, the displacement of one music by another, is an eternal part of history.

Questions

18. It can be inferred from the text that the author believes that–

(1) Western music has been deteriorating since the 17 th century (2) the death of classical music is an inevitable part of history (3) composers are responsible for the death of classical music (4) classical music is not really dying

19. The "others" in line 4 are -

(1) star conductors and operatic singers (2) orchestra managers and agents (3) music critics (4) villains and assassins

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