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The Trivia Page

No-charge low-brow trivia

The Swedish book of Russian icon paintings Alexander receives as a gift in The Sacrifice is Michail Vladimirovic Alpatov's Ryskt Ikonmåleri (Russian Icon Painting). This Swedish edition was published in 1984 on Gidlunds Förlag. 330 pages, 203 colour plates, captions in Russian and Swedish, format 34.5 cm x 27 cm. ISBN 91-7021-433-6 (hardbound).
The Russian folk song heard in Nostalghia is called Oi Vi Kumusciki.
There is a Tarkovsky reference on the Jean Louis Murat CD called Cheyenne Autumn. At the end of the song of the same title, the last lyric is "Nostalghia" and a digital sample of Tarkovsky speaking (in Russian) loops as the song fades out.
Jan ordered the LP that AT supposedly used for "Solaris". Blah Blah Blah.
Grodberg... http://www.vor.ru/English/Music_Portraits/Music_Portraite_58.html
The Classical music used in Tarkovsky's films is as follows. (a) Pucell Indian Queen.... etc... etc... Artemyev in one interview (in the "7 1/2" book) mentions that AT liked a lot Bach's organ preludes (the "Orgelbuechlein", I presume) performed by Gari Grodberg (a Russian organist, there are CDs of his performances although the CDs seem to be new recordings, I don't know if there were any CD editions of Grodberg's old LPs from the '60s whicb Tarkovskly presumably used for "Solaris" and "Mirror"). "St. John's Passion" - no idea. Possibly an "Eterna" recording (the East German recording label) as they'd probably be more easily obtainable in the USSR than a Western LP. Purcell's "Indian Queen" - again no clue about the performance except that the performance seems typical for 1960s disregard for original instruments - still very beautiful - Act IV, Orazia: "They tell us that your mighty powers above make perfect your joys and your blessings by love." (etc.). Pergolesi - no idea.
1. Purcell - Indian Queen (there is a good Naxos recording out). It's from Act IV, Orazia: "They tell us that your mighty powers above make perfect your joys and your blessings by love." (etc.). We have no clue about the actual performance (except that the performance seems typical for 1960s disregard for original instruments - still very beautiful, of course!) 2. The end of the film: Bach - the opening chorus of St. John Passion: Herr, unser Herrscher, dessen Ruhm In allen Landen herrlich ist! [Lord, our master, whose glory is magnificent in all lands!] (something like that) This is the only text we hear on the soundtrack since Bach in typical Baroque fashion repeats the verses about 127,455 times before continuing further. 3. Father's return/portrait of Ginevra Benci: Bach - a snippet from St. John Passion again: Und siehe da, der Vorhang im Tempel zeriss in zwei Stück, von oben an bis unten aus. Und die Erde erbebete, und die Felsen zerrissen, und die Gräber täten sich auf, und stunden auf viele Leiber der Heiligen. [At that moment, the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. There was an earthquake, the rocks split, and the graves opened and many of God's people arose from sleep.] 4. The stratospheric balloon: Pergolesi - Stabat Mater, the penultimate part of the canonical Stabt Mater, i.e.: Quando corpus morietur fac ut animae donetur Paradisi gloria. {When my body dies, let my soul receive the glory of heaven.] This is again stretched by repetition. The full text of Stabat Mater can be found e.g. at http://www.stabatmater.dds.nl/english.html 5. Anything else? Oh, the opening credits: Bach's chorale prelude "Das alte Jahr vergangen ist" ("The old year now hath passed away") (BWV 614) from his Orgelbüchlein (Organ Booklet). See e.g. http://www.virtuallybaroque.com/track139.htm and also http://jsbach.org/das.html
New item for the MIRROR trivia: the bird flying out of AT's hand at the end is a finch. There were two of them, actually. Both very tame, one of them could not fly. http://www.4to40.com/earth/geography/htm/birdsindex.asp?counter=44
The Mirror art encylopaedia book Jan found in Berkeley[???]
The earrings originally belonged to .... [ see full story HERE in Mirror Special Section - not yet open],
Director Tarsem Singh gleaned from Tarkovsky the imagery for his R.E.M. Losing My Religion video, the set from which also makes an appearance in his The Cell.
Q: We all know that "Stalker" is based on a book by the Strugatsky Bros., "Roadside Picnic." However, late in the film, the Writer delivers a long, complaining speech while seated on what looks like the end of a very long pipe (it's the scene where he drops a rock down the pipe and it takes forever to fall). What OTHER Strugatsky novel is this speech taken from?

A: "The Ugly Swans" ("Gadkie Lebedy" in Russian)


Q: Poetry by Tyutchev and Arseni Tarkovsky is identified in the opening credits to "Stalker" as being recited in the film. However, there's an exception which is not identified: the recitation by the Stalker early in the second half of the film, beginning "When a tree is born, it is soft and weak..." Where does this come from?

A: Lao Tse, "Tao Te Ching"


The Spanish film song in MIRROR, is a kind of folk music piece called "Rondeña" very popular on S XIX is typical of the city of Malaga. A kind of "Flamenco" Title: Navegando me perdí Sound clip here: Navegando_me_perdi-extract.mp3 Some info: http://flun.cica.es/mundo_flamenco/flamcd/b/b2/4.htm http://www.elchodronero.ch/rondenialetra.htm

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