Isaac Schwartz: biography, personal life, creativity, photo

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

In the article, let's talk about Isaac Schwartz. This is a fairly popular Russian and Soviet composer. We will consider the creative and career path of this person, and also talk about his biography. We assure you that this story will not leave you indifferent. Walk with the composer his way, feel his life and plunge into the world of beautiful music!

Childhood

The biography of Isaac Schwartz will begin with the fact that he was born in May 1923 in the Sumy region of Ukraine. Born into a Jewish family. He already had two older sisters, Maria and Sofia. Girls from childhood were instilled with an interest in music and reading, so Isaac quickly adopted it.

My grandfather on my father's side had a spiritual order. At the beginning of the last century, he moved from the B altic states to the Poltava province. From there, in 1930, the family arrived in Leningrad, where they lived in the very heart of the city, 80 km from Nevsky Prospekt.

Note that Isaac Schwartz was not considered particularly talented in the family compared to his daughters. The boy studied at the House of Artistic Education and studied playing the piano. A littlelater he took individual lessons from pianist and teacher Leonid Nikolaev.

When the boy was 12 years old, he won the competition for young talents, which was held at the Leningrad Philharmonic. As the composer himself said, he never received a basic musical education in childhood. And a year later, the young guy starred in a movie called "Beethoven Concert".

Dark period

A bad period in the family came after the murder of Kirov. This event caused a series of repressions in the city.

To begin with, we note that Isaac loved his father very much. Iosif Schwartz was a philologist and professor at Leningrad University. He also had a beautiful strong baritone, but he did not realize it in music. So, in the winter of 1936, Joseph was arrested. In his old age, Isaac recalled that from shock and grief he cried every night for several months. And soon Joseph was condemned and exiled to the camp. As a result, in 1938 he was shot in Magadan.

All his life, Isaac remembered the last meeting with his father, which took place in the Leningrad prison. The family, which was left without its breadwinner and all property, was deported to Kyrgyzstan. The boy's mother, Rachel Berger, had a diploma from the Kyiv Commercial Institute. Initially, she taught mathematics and Russian, but in the capital of Kyrgyzstan she had to work at a garment factory.

Already at the age of 14, Isaac gave his first piano lessons. He taught the offspring of officials. At the same time, his older sister Sophia was a studentconservatory and a talented pianist. It was she who introduced her brother to the magnificent works of Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, etc.

Your way

In 1938, Isaac Schwartz, whose photo we see in the article, begins to study with Vladimir Feret. After that, he works as a pianist in a summer cinema. There, Ivan Koval-Samborsky pays attention to him, who prophesies a great future for him. Subsequently, critics will repeatedly mention Isaac's youthful work as a pianist and say that it was she who allowed him to feel the cinema.

Before the start of the war, the hero of our article worked as an accompanist at the State Theater of Kyrgyzstan.

War period

When the war began, Isaac was already leading the choir and orchestra. Once at the front, he became a sapper. In 1942 he was shell-shocked near Kharkov. He spent about a year recovering in the hospital. After his recovery, in 1943, he married Sonya Polonskaya, who was also a pianist. In fact, he had known her since childhood, so they were very close. Soon the couple had a daughter, Galina.

Professional growth

In 1945, the composer Isaac Schwartz returned to Leningrad and entered the Rimsky-Korsakov State Conservatory. There he studied in the class of Boris Arapov and Shostakovich. Already at that time, the music of Isaac Schwartz had a certain level, which was noted by his teachers. During his studies, he wrote romances based on poems by Fet, Pushkin, Heine, etc. It is known that these romances were performed by talented singers in the future, such asNadezhda Velter and Sergei Shaposhnikov. It is also known that while studying at the observatory, Schwartz took lessons from Orest Evlakhov. It was under his leadership that he wrote The Duma of the Motherland.

Earnings

In 1946, Isaac learns to play the accordion and regularly goes on vacation to work. He goes to the village of Siversky, works in children's camps, discos, and rest homes. At the same time, he teaches children.

The man writes his first serious work in 1954. He composes the symphony "F-minor", which tells about a young man and his path. It was she who allowed him to get his first major success. The premiere took place in the autumn of the same year, and then the symphony was performed many more times at the Leningrad Philharmonic.

Composing music for performances and ballets

2 years after his debut, the composer writes music for the play "The Idiot". After that, he works on the performances “Woe from Wit”, “Enough Stupidity for Every Wise Man”, “Profitable Place”, etc. Later, Isaac notes that cooperation with theater directors had a positive impact on his professional growth. In total, he wrote musical accompaniment for 35 productions.

Working in movies

As you already understood, Isaac Schwartz never stopped his professional and creative development. Music for films came quite easily to him, so he quickly became successful in this area.

In 1958 he was asked to compose the score for the film Unpaid Debt. ThereafterSeveral more offers followed, which he gladly accepted. Isaac collaborated with completely different filmmakers, each with his own style and his own manner.

Isaac Schwartz's melodies were in great demand and popular. The directors noted that he knows how to choose music for absolutely any, even the most unusual and strange scenario. The man wrote musical accompaniment for more than 125 films, among which there are masterpieces not only of Russian, but also of world cinema. Schwartz himself most of all liked to write music for romantic melodramas.

Family

Naturally, for Isaac Schwartz, music was almost everything, but nevertheless he aspired to family life. Yes, he was married twice. As we said above, his first wife is Sonya Polonskaya. The couple were together from 1943 to 1960.

In 1979, a man married Antonina Nagornaya, who was an economist by education. He was 56 years old, and she was only 20, but they lived happily until his death. In 2011, she became director of the Isaac Schwartz Memorial Museum.

Cooperation with Bulat Okudzhava

Schwartz and Okudzhava were brought together not only by common creative interests, but also by fate. They were almost the same age, and their fathers were considered enemies of the people. Both lived far from their native lands, fought, were wounded at the front. The cooperation of these masters was very fruitful. As a result, it turned out to create 32 songs and romances.

"Love and separation" by Isaac Schwartz - a romance that he himselfgreatly appreciated and loved. It was written as a result of joint work with Bulat Okudzhava. Among the favorite and significant works of this period, the following should be noted: “This Woman in the Window”, songs from the film “Straw Hat”, Vereshchagin’s song from the film “White Sun of the Desert”.

Isaac Schwartz: "White Nights"

"Melodies of the White Night" is a feature film directed by Sergei Solovyov in 1976. Its premiere took place in the fall of 1977. Music composed by Isaac Schwartz. As a result, this work was highly appreciated. Critics said that the film is accompanied by truly divine music. It is considered to be one of the best works of the composer.

After this triumph, he continued to collaborate with Sergei Solovyov. So, the hero of our article wrote music for many of his films, namely for the films “The Proposal”, “The Station Agent”, “100 Days After Childhood”, “Uncle Vanya”, “The Chosen Ones”, “Heir in a Straight Line”.

Songs and romances by Isaac Schwartz were very popular throughout his career. His success was not undulating, he always remained stable. In 1976, the Soviet-Japanese film "Dersu Uzala" received an Oscar. Music was written by Schwartz. The director of the film, Akira Kurosawa, came to the Soviet Union to work with various Soviet composers, and as a result, his choice fell on Schwartz. He admired his elegy from the movie "The Station Agent" incredibly.

Strong course ahead

In 1988, the composer wrote the music for the film "The Sentenced". It was a tragic picture that echoed withpersonal grief of a man, namely with the death of his father. In 1990, the documentary film "Damn you, Kolyma!" Was filmed. The composer took part in writing the music for this film and amazed everyone with his incredible improvisation.

Isaac received the Nika film award three times. The first time it happened in 1993 for the music for the films "Lunapark" and "White King, Red Queen". The second time he was awarded in 2001 for the romance to the melodrama "Listen if it's raining." Finally, for the third time the man was awarded in 2002 for the music for the film "Wild".

Schwartz said he doesn't like TV shows and doesn't watch them. Nevertheless, ironically, it turned out that he associated his latest work with the series. So, he wrote music for the 12-episode series "Chess Player" and the saga of 4 episodes "The House on the Embankment".

In his old age, he said that he could single out 2 of his favorite works - "The Station Agent" and "The Star of Captivating Happiness".

Yellow stars

The composer's last serious work is the concerto for orchestra "Yellow Stars" in 7 parts. The idea of such a large-scale work came to him after reading the Notes of a Prisoner of the Kaunas Ghetto, which incredibly impressed the man. Isaac was impressed by the moment when a very cheerful Jewish holiday was celebrated on the eve of the execution of many people. Critics called "Yellow Stars" a hymn to wisdom, self-esteem and courage. The premiere took place in Moscow in autumn 2000.

Siberian hermit

Since 1964the man lived in a summer cottage in the village of Siversky. There he spent about 45 years. The songs of Isaac Schwartz, written here, still excite and excite people who listen to them. It was here, 70 km from St. Petersburg, that he met with Vladimir Vysotsky, Akira Kurasava, Innokenty Smoktunovsky, Sergei Solovyov, Andrei Mironov, Joseph Brodsky, Oleg Basilashvili and Bulat Okudzhava. We have listed far from all, because many famous cultural figures visited the "Siver Hermit", as it was then called. Interestingly, he maintained really friendly relations with all of them. So, in 1964, he connected his connections to help Brodsky return to Lenfilm.

It is interesting that Isaac Schwartz himself considered the work of such composers as Rodion Shchedrin, Mikael Tariverdiev, Gennady Gladkov to be unsurpassed. Despite the fact that Schwartz lived in a village near St. Petersburg, he had an apartment in the city itself. However, he rarely appeared in it. He liked to spend creative gatherings and evenings in the Maikov library.

In addition to short trips to the northern capital, Schwartz also traveled to his close relatives in Odessa, Kyiv, Moscow. There he not only worked, but also rested, was treated. So, it is known that he visited the House of Cinema Veterans, which was located near Stalin's dacha in Kuntsevo.

Death

Isaac Schwartz left this world on December 27, 2009. He died in his sleep in the evening. The funeral took place 3 days later. The man is buried at the Volkovskoye cemetery in St. Petersburg. According to his will, the funeral was held according to Jewish customs.

Character and habits

People who worked with this composer said that he was distinguished by politeness and patience. He was attentive to various objections, but at the same time he was always persistent in matters of principle. Before starting work, I tried to clarify all the controversial points and nuances. Only after that did he retire and begin to create.

He loved to conduct himself and sing along with the orchestra. In bad periods of life, he moved away from people and did not answer calls. He slept very little and smoked constantly, as his comrades recall.

His friends said that when Isaac was enthusiastically talking about something, he should never be interrupted. Also, close people noted that he was very sociable, highly valued friendship and had incredible male attractiveness. He was famous for his passion for women, but he was absolutely not arrogant.

He considered himself a follower of romantic traditions and emphasized in principle that he had never worked in experimental styles and in the style of musical modernism. When he wrote music for films, he always preferred an orchestra if the budget allowed for it. Didn't really like working with synthesizers.

He treated various articles and assessments of his work quite calmly. He did not consider himself a superstar and treated recognition with a slight mockery. Summing up, we note that Isaac Schwartz was an extraordinary personality. He knew how to feel music and life very subtly. He was a very intellectual and spiritual man, giftedgreat talent.