"Among the swollen candles and evening prayers" Vladimir Vysotsky, "The Ballad of the Struggle"

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

"Among the swollen candles and evening prayers…" The lyrics of Vladimir Vysotsky's song "The Ballad of Struggle" begin like this. The amazingly beautiful, emotionally rich song contains a very serious philosophical meaning. What is known about the creation of this song, its author and contemporary performance?

Vladimir Vysotsky

Vladimir Semenovich Vysotsky was born on January 25, 1938 in Moscow. As a child, he studied music, after graduating from school he first entered a technical university (at the insistence of his relatives), and then, leaving his technical education, he entered the Nemirovich-Danchenko School-Studio at the Moscow Art Theater.

Throughout his life, Vysotsky played in the theater, cinema, and, of course, composed songs on his own poems, the first of which appeared in the 60s of the XX century. Many of the songs were written for movies. The fate of the poet, the bard is dramatic. He never received official recognition, the first collection of poems was published after Vysotsky's death in 1980.year.

Song history

"The Ballad of the Fight" was written for Sergei Tarasov's film "The Arrows of Robin Hood". There were six songs in total, for which, in fact, the film was made:

• Ballad about time (“The castle is hidden and wrapped up by time, covered…”);
• The ballad of free shooters ("If they prowl for your recalcitrant head…");
• Ballad of struggle ("Among the swollen candles and evening prayers…");
• Ballad of Hate ("Hurry up! A skinny vulture is circling over the country…");
• Ballad of short happiness ("The horns blow: hurry! hurry!..");
• The ballad of love ("When the water of the Flood…").

Deep in meaning, all these songs touch the soul. Unfortunately, Goskino in the USSR did not think so. After the filming was completed and the film was brought in for approval, the author's performance of the songs was deemed inappropriate for the film. For a month, the film crew had to replace the musical accompaniment. As a result, the film was released with compositions by Raymond Pauls, and only in 1997 was the director's version shown on television, where Vysotsky's songs were used.

Text "Ballads of struggle"

Among the swollen candles and evening prayers, Among war trophies and peaceful campfires

There lived children of books who did not know battles, Experiencing their petty disasters.

Children are always annoyed

Their age and way of life, -

And we fought to the bruises, To the death.

Butpatched clothes

We mothers are on time, We ate books, Drunken on lines.

Stick hair on our sweaty foreheads, And sucked sweetly from the phrases in the spoon, And the smell of struggle was spinning our heads, From the yellowed pages flying down to us.

And tried to comprehend

We who did not know wars, For the war cry

Those who took the howl, The secret of the word "order", Assignment of borders, Meaning of attack and clang

War chariots.

And in the boiling cauldrons of the old slaughterhouses and troubles

So much food for our little brains!

We are in the role of traitors, cowards, Judas

In children's games, enemies were appointed.

And the villain's footsteps

Kept cool, And the most beautiful ladies

Promised to love, And, reassuring friends

And loving your neighbors, We are the heroes

Introduced themselves.

Only in dreams you can't run away for good:

A short age of fun - so much pain around!

Try to open the palms of the dead

And accept weapons from hard-working hands.

Experience by mastering

Sword still warm

And wearing armor, What's the price, what's the price!

Find out who you are coward

Or the chosen one of fate, And taste it

Real fight.

And when a wounded friend collapses nearby, And over the first loss you will howl, grieving, And when you suddenly remain without skin

Because they killed him - not you -

Youyou will understand what you learned, Distinguished, found

On the grin took away:

This is a death grin!

Lies and evil - look

How rough their faces are!

And always behind –

Crows and coffins.

If you haven't eaten a piece of meat from a knife, If hands folded, watched from above, And did not join the fight with a scoundrel, with an executioner, -

So, in life you had nothing to do with anything!

If, cutting through the path

Father's sword, You are s alty tears

Wound around my mustache, If in a hot fight

Experienced that how much, -

So the right books

You read as a child!

Ballad is a narrative genre. And in this song, the story begins from afar, about childhood and its amusements, about books that children read. This is expressed in the language of music as well. The composition begins more calmly, measuredly. Gradually, the tension builds up, which leads to a very bright emotional climax, which is accompanied by a more rigid literary text. It is in it that morality is expressed: either you act honorably and fight the enemy, or you sit on the sidelines like a coward.

Modern performances

Vysotsky's music is soulful. He was not an outstanding vocalist… But his rough singing could not help touching with its sincerity. Vladimir Semenovich lived every song, put his whole soul into every performance. Therefore, it is quite difficult to perform Vysotsky's songs: it is difficult not to lose the penetration of the performance. The exception was Helavisa, aka Natalia O'Shea, the leader of the group"Mill". In the performance of this group, "The Ballad of the Fight" found a new interesting interpretation, and the instrumentation in the style of a musical group complemented the image that is created in the song.

The work of Vladimir Vysotsky is an amazing thing. He raised serious topics, including the topic of war. Although Vladimir Semenovich had never been to the front, the veterans took him for one of their own: his songs were so bright. The eternal themes of honor, good and evil are relevant in all eras: after all, who are we now, if not bookish children among swollen swords and evening prayers?