Vasily Ivanovich Lebedev-Kumach, Soviet poet: biography, personal life, creativity

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

Vasily Lebedev-Kumach is a famous poet who is the author of words to a large number of songs popular in the Soviet Union. In 1941 he was awarded the Stalin Prize of the second degree. He worked in the direction of socialist realism, his favorite genres were satirical poems and songs. He is considered one of the creators of a special genre of Soviet mass song, which must necessarily be imbued with patriotism. Examples of such works included "March of cheerful guys" ("Easy in the heart from a cheerful song …"), "Song of the Motherland" ("My native country is wide …"), "May Moscow" ("Morning paints with gentle light …"). He often collaborated with directors, wrote lyrics for songs that sound in famous Soviet films, and was repeatedly accused of plagiarism.

Poet biography

Vasily Lebedev-Kumach was born in Moscow in 1898. His father, Ivan Nikitich Kumach, was a poor shoemaker, and his mother, Maria Mikhailovna Lebedeva, was a dressmaker. At the time of the birth of the hero of our article, the father was 28 years old, and his wife was 25. The real name of the hero of our article is Lebedev, he took the creative pseudonym Lebedev-Kumach much later.

He received his secondary education at the Moscow gymnasium No. 10. Lebedev-Kumach turned out to be a capable student, so he studied at the gymnasium for free, on a scholarship allocated by the historian Pavel Vinogradov, a well-known medievalist, author of works on medieval estates in England, the origin of feudal relations in Italy, essays on the theory of law.

In 1917, an important event took place in the biography of Lebedev-Kumach: he graduated from the gymnasium with a gold medal, which opens up many ways for further education.

In the same year, the hero of our article enters the Faculty of History and Philosophy at Moscow University, but the October Revolution takes place, followed by a civil war, so he fails to graduate.

Work activity

Vasily Ivanovich Lebedev-Kumach started working relatively early. One of his first official places of employment is the press bureau of the Revolutionary Military Council, as well as the military department of AgitROST.

After that, he began to work in various periodicals. From 1922 to 1934 he was a staff member of the editorial board of the magazine "Crocodile", he constantly wrote various works for cinema.and pop music, which we will discuss in more detail later.

In the Writers' Union

In 1934 he became a member of the Writers' Union of the Soviet Union, and is also considered one of the founders of this creative trade union, who stood at its origins. In 1938, Lebedev-Kumach became a member of the Supreme Soviet, and in 1939 he joined the Communist Party.

When the Great Patriotic War began, he served as a political worker in the navy, regularly worked in the newspaper "Red Fleet". After the end of the war, he retired with the rank of captain of the first rank.

In the last years of life

Vasily Ivanovich Lebedev-Kumach died early enough, he died in February 1949. The poet is only 50 years old.

As contemporaries and researchers of his biography noted, the he alth of the hero of our article was greatly shaken in the 1940s. He had several heart attacks at once, and in 1946 he admitted in his personal diary that a creative crisis had also begun. It was a black streak in the biography of Lebedev-Kumach, as the poet noted that he was suffering from the dullness of his own life and mediocrity. The prosperity and glory that surrounded him ceased to please and satisfy.

Death

After some time, he noted that sooner or later everything secret becomes clear, noting that he means toadying, servility, unclean methods of work and intrigue.

The hero of our article was buriedat the Novodevichy cemetery. In an obituary published in the Pravda newspaper, it was noted that the poet Lebedev-Kumach donated works of deep content and simple form to the treasury of Russian literature, which have become an important part of modern socialist culture.

Creativity

The hero of our article published his first poems in 1916 in a small metropolitan magazine called "Hermes". These were translations of the ancient Roman poet Horace, as well as his own poems on ancient subjects.

At the very beginning of his work, Lebedev-Kumach mainly wrote satirical stories, poems and feuilletons. It was with this set of genres that he began collaborating with the magazines and newspapers Gudok, Bednota, Krestyanskaya Gazeta, Rabochaya Gazeta, Krasnoarmeyets, and a little later with Krokodil.

Also in the 1920s, separate collections of the writer were published under the title "Tea leaves in a saucer", "Divorce", "Protective color", "From all volosts", "People and deeds", "Sad smiles".

A lot of Lebedev-Kumach writes texts for pop artists, in particular for the Soviet propaganda theater "Blue Blouse", amateur groups.

Songwriting

The real fame for the hero of our article comes when songs based on the verses of Lebedev-Kumach begin to sound in Soviet films. He especially succeeds in cooperation with director GrigoryAlexandrov.

In 1934, the comedy "Merry Fellows" was released on the screens of the country. This is Alexandrov's first musical comedy, the lyrics are written by Lebedev-Kumach, and the music is written by Isaak Dunayevsky.

The picture represents the adventures of the musical and talented shepherd Kostya Potekhin performed by Leonid Utyosov. He is mistaken for a fashionable foreign guest performer, but he also makes a real sensation in the capital's music hall, becoming the conductor of a jazz orchestra. An ordinary domestic worker, Anyuta, played by Lyubov Orlova, is pursuing a career as a singer.

In 1936, the songs of Lebedev-Kumach sound in the comedy "Circus", which Alexandrov shoots together with Isidor Simkov. This time the action takes place in the 1930s in the Soviet Union. The American circus attraction "Flight to the Moon" comes on tour. The main star of the program, Marion Dixon, who is exploited and blackmailed by the creator of the issue, the German Franz von Kneishitz, who knows about her "skeletons in the closet", enjoys great popularity.

In 1938, another of their joint work was released - the comedy "Volga-Volga", in which the main role was again played by Lyubov Orlova. This time the picture tells about the fate of a small troupe of provincial artists who are traveling to Moscow for an amateur art competition on a wheeled boat along the Volga. Most of the film's scenes take place on board this ship.

Mass song

Lebedev-Kumachis considered one of the founders of such a popular genre in the future as the Soviet mass song. In addition to the compositions already listed at the very beginning of the article, the same genre includes "May Moscow" ("Morning paints the walls of the ancient Kremlin with gentle light …") of 1937, the composition "Life has become better, life has become more fun".

In 1939 Lebedev-Kumach writes "The Anthem of the Bolshevik Party", and in 1941 Alexandrov writes music for one of his most famous poems - "Holy War". This is a patriotic song written by the hero of our article shortly after the start of World War II. It became a kind of anthem for the defenders of the Motherland, who fought against the Nazi invaders. The song is famous for its amazing combination of melodic chant and menacing march tread.

Holy War

The text of the "Holy War" was already published on June 24, 1941, just two days after Hitler's attack on the Soviet Union, was simultaneously published in "Red Star" and "Izvestia". After its publication, Alexandrov wrote music, and he did it with chalk on a blackboard, because there was simply no time to print notes and words. The musicians and singers copied them into their notebooks, only one day was allotted for the rehearsal of the recording of the composition.

On June 26, the Red Banner Red Army Song and Dance Ensemble of the USSR performed this song for the first time at the Belorussky railway station. At the same time, until mid-October, Lebedev-Kumach's "Holy War" did not spread widely, sinceconsidered too tragic. It does not mention a quick victory, which was then promised to everyone, but a mortal battle. Only after the Germans occupied Rzhev, Kaluga and Kalinin, the "Holy War" began to be broadcast daily on all-Union radio immediately after the Kremlin chimes every morning.

Get up, the country is huge, Stand up for mortal combat

With dark fascist power, With the damned horde.

Let the noble rage

Burst like a wave -

There is a people's war, Holy War!

Like two different poles, We are hostile in everything.

We fight for light and peace, They are for the realm of darkness.

The song became popular among the troops, in difficult times it supported morale, especially during exhausting and unsuccessful defensive battles. After the war, it became one of the most frequently performed and favorite compositions of the Song and Dance Ensemble of the Soviet Army.

During the war, Vasily Ivanovich wrote a lot of poetry, almost every day his new patriotic works appeared in the newspapers.

Customs of plagiarism

Lebedev-Kumach is a Soviet poet, who, perhaps, was most often accused of plagiarism. In particular, Levashev, professor of music history at the Moscow Conservatory, writes about a large number of borrowings in the work of the hero of our article.

For example, he claims that the songwriter stole the stanza for "May Moscow" from Abram Paley, and the lyrics of the song performed in the film "Sailors" from VladimirTan-Bogoraza.

From the same article it is known that in 1940 Fadeev convened a Plenum of the Board of the Writers' Union after receiving official complaints. It presented 12 evidence of theft, but after a call from a certain influential official, the case was hushed up.

Also, Levashev wrote that the author of the poem "Holy War" is not Lebedev-Kumach, but Alexander Bode, a literature teacher from Rybinsk. It is believed that he wrote it during the First World War.

Establish the authorship of the "Holy War" tried in court. Themis recognized the information about plagiarism as untrue. Largely because the conclusions of the experts who accused the hero of our article of theft relied only on indirect sources of information. The granddaughter of the poet applied to the court. The decision was made in 1999.

Reviews of creativity

Lebedev-Kumach was one of the most famous and sought-after Soviet poets. In 1941, the critic Becker wrote that he was able to convey with amazing accuracy the feeling of youth that distinguishes all people of the Stalin era, and also calls him the creator of the genre of cheerful and cheerful song.

At the same time, Fadeev, who was one of the leaders of the Union of Writers of the USSR, had a negative attitude not only to the work of Lebedev-Kumach, but also to him as a person. He openly considered Vasily Ivanovich a cowardly opportunist. As an example, the case was often told that during the battle for Moscow, Lebedev-Kumach tried to escape from the city. To do this, he brought to the station two cars of things thatcould not load anywhere.

The literary critic Wolfgang Kazak also treated him negatively, writing that the poet's songs depend on party slogans, are imbued with cheap idealization and tendentious optimism. At the same time, they remain primitive in terms of vocabulary with banal rhyme and content, empty epithets.

Family

The personal life of Lebedev-Kumach was not easy. He married in 1928, moving with his family to a large apartment near the Belorussky railway station.

Moreover, they said that the poet took the bride away from his colleague, the artist Konstantin Rotov, with whom they worked together in the magazine "Crocodile". Somehow, the company went on a trip to the south together, where Vasily Ivanovich fell in love with Kirochka.

But a few years later, Lebedev-Kumach's wife went to her chosen one, who returned from the camps. Moreover, she settled with him in a large apartment in the center of the capital, and sent Vasily Ivanovich himself to live in the country. According to rumors, he had a relationship with Lyubov Orlova.

At the end of his life, Lebedev-Kumach was left without a family. I spent the last two years at a dacha in the Moscow region in the company of a cat and a beloved dog. All this time he has been working on his autobiography.