  A new trigonometric degeneration of the Sklyanin algebra is found and the
functional realization of its representations in space of polynomials in one
variable is studied. A further contraction gives the standard quantum algebra
$U_{q}(sl(2))$. It is shown that the degenerate Sklyanin algebra contains a
subalgebra isomorphic to algebra of functions on the quantum sphere
$(SU(2)/SO(2))_{q^{1\over2}}$. The diagonalization of general quadratic form in
its generators leads in the functional realization to the difference equation
for Askey-Wilson polynomials.
