In the Penza region, many cultural institutions hosted events dedicated to the work of our countrywoman, the famous singer Lidia Andreevna Ruslanova. So, in her small homeland in the historical and cultural center of the village of Klyuchi, Maloserdobinsk district, a Ruslan song festival was held, timed to coincide with the 115th anniversary of the singer's birth. Every year in the regional center is held a competition of folk song performers named after Lidia Ruslanova "Pearls of Russia", in Penza, one of the streets of the city was named after the famous singer ...

Lidia Andreevna Ruslanova (at the birth of Praskovya Andrianovna Leikina-Gorshenina was born on October 14 (27), 1900 in the village of Chernavka, Serdobsky district, Saratov province (now the territory of the Penza region). Honored Artist of the RSFSR. The main place in Ruslanova's repertoire was occupied by Russian folk songs Lidia Ruslanova was one of the most popular singers in the USSR, and her performance of Russian folk songs is considered a reference.

Lidia Ruslanova had a beautiful and strong voice with a wide range. She created her own style of performing folk songs, which she collected all her life. Among her most popular songs are: “Steppe and steppe all around”, “Linden century-old”, “I went up the hill”, “Golden mountains”, “The moon turned crimson”, “The moon shines”, “Valenki” and many others. Lidia Ruslanova also performed songs by Soviet composers. One of the first to perform "Katyusha...

Childhood and youth

Agafya Leikina, the future singer Lidia Ruslanova, was born into a poor peasant Old Believer family. By her mother, she belonged to the Erzya people. In addition to Agafya, the family had two more children - Julia and Avdey. Her father, Andrei Markelovich Leikin, worked as a loader on the pier.

At that time, they sang a lot in the village: at field work, at gatherings and festivities. “In the village they sang from the heart, firmly believing in a special, above-ground life and lamentations, and songs of joy,” the singer later recalled. In her family, her grandmother sang well, and her father's brother, Uncle Yasha, was a village celebrity. “A nugget of a very high standard,” as Lidia Ruslanova later called him, Yasha sang at village holidays, gatherings and weddings. He knew many songs. But most of all, the listeners appreciated his "improvisations".

Elena Ivanovna Mironova and Tatyana Ivanovna Nefyodova - aunt and mother of Lidia Ruslanova

Immediately after the start of the Russo-Japanese War, Agafya's father, the only breadwinner in the family, was taken to the soldiers.

“The first real song I heard was crying,” Lidia Ruslanova said. - My father was taken away to the soldiers. Grandmother clung to the cart and wailed. Then I often climbed to her side and asked: “Scream, woman, don’t worry!” And she yelled: “Whom did you leave us, bright falcon?” Grandma didn't die in vain...

Agafya's mother, Tatyana, was left alone with three children, a blind mother-in-law and a sick father-in-law. She was forced to get a job at a brick factory in Saratov. The children were taken in by their father's parents, who themselves lived in poverty. The mother of the future singer did not work at the factory for long - she overstrained herself and fell ill. Sick, she lay motionless on a bench, and Agafya paced, as if on a stage, on a Russian stove and sang everything she knew - both village songs and city songs. Everyone was surprised: “Here is a devil, what a memory.”

Agafya was barely six years old when her mother died. The father did not return home. The notice said he was missing. In fact, he was alive, but he lost his leg.

The care of the family fell on Agafya and the blind grandmother. They walked around Saratov and the surrounding villages, sang and “christened”. Agafya sang, screamed like a hare and a frog, and the grandmother lamented: “Orphans, their mother died, and their father sheds blood for the faith, the tsar and the Fatherland, give me a pretty penny.” The speeches were a success. The street songstress was invited even to rich merchant houses. Soon after, my grandmother also died. Agafya was seven years old at that time.

Walking with a bag lasted almost a year, until the widow of an official who died in the Russo-Japanese War paid attention to the talented girl. Taking pity on the orphans, she decided at her own expense to place the children in shelters. She wrote a petition for each, went to the authorities and ensured that all the children were placed.

The eldest was assigned to the best Saratov orphanage at the Kinovian Church, which had its own children's church choir. But since the children of the peasant class were not taken there, and the name and surname of the girl - Agafya Leykina - betrayed her peasant origin, a fictitious letter appeared with a new name and surname: Lidia Ruslanova.

In the church of the Mariinsky orphanage. 1911

In the orphanage, Lydia entered the first class of the parochial school. She was accepted into the choir and immediately became a soloist. She sang at holidays and funerals. The shelter showed not only singing, but also artistic talent. On needlework, which she was not given, her friends did her lesson, just to listen to the composed “outlandish stories” right there, during which one of the characters had to sing.

Choir director paid special attention to Lida. Soon, all of Saratov knew her under the name "Orphan", and those who wanted to listen to her flocked to the temple where she sang. After the Sunday holidays, she returned to the orphanage, and weekdays began - rehearsals, where every wrong note was followed by punishment. Joseph Prut, who heard her singing in 1908 during Passion Week, later described his impressions as follows:

- In the complete silence of the majestic temple, against the fading background of an adult choir, a voice arose. His sound was growing, not for a moment losing its original purity. And it seemed to me that no one, including myself, was breathing in this mass of people. And the voice sounded stronger, and there was something mystical in it, something so incomprehensible ... And I was frightened, having come into contact with this magic, I trembled when I heard the whisper of a nun standing next to me: “Angel! Heavenly angel!..” The voice began to subside, disappearing, it disappeared under the dome of the temple, melted as suddenly as it had arisen.

On the porch of the temple, a one-legged soldier with a St. George cross begged for alms - father Lidi and Ruslanova. Both pretended not to know each other, because if it became known that Sirota had a breadwinner, she could be expelled from the shelter. Andrei Leikin, after returning from the front, got married, but did not take the children - he could not feed. At the end of the following winter, he caught a cold, contracted pneumonia, and died in a beggar's hospital.

After the orphanage, Lydia was sent as an apprentice to a furniture factory. For some time she lived with her uncle, worked in various factories. The song helped Ruslanova: "everyone helped me for the songs." Her voice was heard by the teacher of the Saratov Conservatory Mikhail Medvedev. He took Lidia Ruslanova to the conservatory and predicted an operatic career for her. Some students covered their noses from Ruslanova: “You smell of polish,” and Lydia answered them: “I’ll sing to you now, and it will smell like a field, flowers.”

Saratov. Alekseevskaya Conservatory before the beginning of the reconstruction of the building in 1902-12.

The singer studied there for two years, but in the end she decided that she would perform folk songs: “I realized that I should not be an academic singer. My whole strength was in immediacy, in a natural feeling, in unity with the world where the song was born.

In 1916, Lidia Ruslanova went to the front as a sister of mercy, and until October 1917 she served with an ambulance train.

Ruslanov during the years of revolutions and civil war

In 1917, Lidia Ruslanova married quartermaster Vitaly Stepanov, about thirty-five years old, "of the nobility." In May 1917, her son was born. In the same year, the first official concert of Lidia Ruslanova took place on the stage of the Saratov Opera House.

Lidia Ruslanova

After the October Revolution, Lidia Ruslanova went on tour throughout the country, lived in Proskurov, Berdichev, Mogilev, Kyiv and other cities. Family life did not last long: in 1918, her husband left her and left, taking his son with him. Ruslanova was very upset by the loss of her son. All her attempts not only to find, but at least to learn something about his fate, were unsuccessful.

Throughout the entire period of the civil war, Ruslanova spoke to the soldiers of the regular Red Army. Joseph Prut notes that during the civil war, Lidia Ruslanova managed to give countless solo concerts. In 1919, in Vinnitsa, Ruslanova married an employee of the Cheka, Naum Naumin.

Lidia Ruslanova appeared on the stage in peasant clothes - an elegant panev, a warm jacket and bast shoes, her hair was hidden by a scarf. Concerts usually ended with "Saratov suffering", after which Ruslanova majestically bowed to the ground and sedately left. She was called at that time "Saratov bird". During these years, Lidia Ruslanova was engaged in self-education, read a lot, and began to collect her library.

- There was a civil war when my husband and I began to collect the library. Trade in books was conducted in those years is not quite usual. Second-hand booksellers, students, architects, doctors - people of various professions brought books to Mokhovaya Street in Moscow. Here you could find bibliographic rarities and popular prints, classics of Russian and world literature, albums with views and photographs of all 499 members of the State Duma in a luxurious folder with biographies. By chance, I then managed to purchase the Sovremennik magazine, published by Pushkin, with the poet's autograph, as well as the lifetime edition of Alexander Radishchev's Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow.

Ruslanova in her youth

In 1921 Lydia moved to Moscow for professional artistic work. In the same year, she made her debut in Rostov as a professional artist of the pop theater "Skomorokhi".

In 1923 Ruslanova made her debut as a pop singer in Rostov-on-Don. The first concert was a huge success. Ruslanova was noticed on the professional pop stage and already in the next 1924 she was invited as a soloist to the Central House of the Red Army.

In the 1920s, her style in performance, behavior on stage, and the selection of concert costumes were finally formed. In the theatrical and stage collection, which she collected throughout her life, there were many brightly embroidered sundresses, elegant panyas, plush jackets, colorful scarves and shawls. Several times, Lidia Ruslanova performed in the costume of a noblewoman, but realizing that such clothes were not in harmony with the manner of performing songs, she returned to peasant costumes. In the future, the singer always chose an outfit that best suited the repertoire and tastes of the audience: in front of the teachers she put on a strict Russian dress without jewelry, and when she was going to the village, she chose the brightest outfit.

In rehearsal before the tour

During this period, Lidia Ruslanova made acquaintances and friendships with many musicians, writers, and artists. They, in turn, noted the acting gift of the singer. Lidia Ruslanova herself said about this: “I decided so - as soon as I feel that my voice does not sound, I will switch to tales. I will tell Don tales, Russian epics about Bova the King, about Ilya Muromets, Mikula Selyaninovich, Vasilisa the Beautiful and Ivan Tsarevich ... I know a lot of them, even from my grandmother.

In the 1920s and 1930s, gramophone records became available to the general public. Records with Ruslanova's records came out in huge numbers. Her voice sounded on the radio, which was also rapidly gaining an audience. Ruslanova was especially popular with the military. Among the admirers of talent was Fedor Chaliapin. So in a letter to Alexander Mendelevich he wrote:

“I was listening to the radio last night. Captured Moscow. The Russian woman sang. She sang in our way, in the Volga way. And the voice itself is rustic. The song ended, I only then noticed that I was roaring like a beluga. And suddenly the mischievous Saratov harmonica burst, and the Saratov choruses rushed. All my childhood stood before me. They announced that it was performed by Lidia Ruslanova. Who is she? Probably a peasant. Talented. She sang really well. If you know her, give me a big Russian thank you.”

In 1929, Lidia Ruslanova divorced Naum Naumin and married the famous entertainer Mikhail Garkavi (photo above). Naumin was repressed and died in 1938. Harkavy was outwardly ugly and very obese. At the same time, he was a witty, cheerful, erudite person and was respected among the artists. Mikhail Garkavy was fond of collecting. His example was followed by Lidia Ruslanova. She made a lot of money at the time.

CIn 1933, Lidia Ruslanova worked as an artist of the music and variety department of the State Association of Musical, Variety and Circus Enterprises. In the 1930s, Lidia Ruslanova went on tour throughout the Soviet Union: several times she visited the Far East, the Far North, Siberia, Transcaucasia, the Urals, Belarus, sang in front of the builders of the first five-year plans, collective farmers ... Her voice had great power and endurance, allowing her to participate in four or five concerts in one evening.

In the late 30s, Lidia Ruslanova was the highest paid artist of the USSR, her voice sounded on the radio and from gramophones, concerts were invariably sold out. She spent the money she earned on collecting paintings by Russian artists, icons, antique furniture, jewelry, porcelain, she loved to dress up beautifully and expensively.

Soviet-Finnish war

In 1939, the Soviet-Finnish war began. In the winter of 1940, Lidia Ruslanova, as part of a concert brigade, went to the front. It was thirty degrees below zero. I had to work in the most difficult conditions. We traveled by railcar, by bus, by plane, by sleigh, and sometimes by skis. Plywood houses were not warmed up with camp stoves, so not only to perform, but also to rest had to be in padded jackets. The artists slept without undressing, with their heads to the frozen wall, their feet to the stove. Many artists couldn't resist. But not Ruslanova. She took streptocide so as not to lose her voice from a cold, and did not miss a single concert. For 28 days, the concert team gave more than a hundred concerts. To keep the spirits of their despondent fellow artists alive, Mikhail Garkavi and Ilya Nabatov came up with a game called "dormitory". Each artist was given a nickname, which was constantly "played out". Ruslanova herself responded to the name "Lidochka-Streptocide." In those years, our repertoire included not only Russian folk songs, but also works by Soviet composers ... For example, the song "And who knows", published in 1938 ...

Lidia Ruslanova. "And who knows"

From the film-concert "Kinoconcert". 1941 Music by V. Zakharov, lyrics by M. Isakovsky

The Great Patriotic War

From the first days of the Great Patriotic War, Lidia Ruslanova went to the front as part of one of the best concert teams, which also included Vladimir Khenkin, Mikhail Garkavi, Ignaty Gedroits, and other artists. The brigade was led by theatrical figure and director of the Central House of Artists Boris Filippov.

Lidia Ruslanova at a front-line concert. 1941

She received her baptism of fire near Yelnya. I had just finished one of the songs when the Junkers appeared overhead, accompanied by the Messerschmites. Bombs rained down, machine guns crackled, the earth trembled from explosions ... Ruslanova later recalled:

- I look, no one leads with their ears, they listen, as in the Hall of Columns. I don’t think it’s fitting for me to sit in a trench, and it’s not worth interrupting the concert either ... In general, I withstood the Nazi raid, and brought the program to the end.

Singer Tamara Tkachenko, who worked in that concert team, recalled that in seventeen days they gave fifty-one concerts. Despite the proximity of the front, the artists did not refuse a single performance. The concerts were a success, the artists were warmly received.

At the beginning of the war, the song "Valenki" appeared in Ruslanova's repertoire, which then became her "calling card". Lidia Ruslanova gave concerts for soldiers throughout the war. Often had to perform in difficult conditions - in the open air in the trenches, dugouts, hospitals.

Vladimir Kryukov and Lidia Ruslanova

In April 1942, in Spas-Nudel, near Volokolamsk, where Lidia Ruslanova gave concerts in the 2nd Guards Cavalry Corps, she met Major General Vladimir Kryukov, an associate of Georgy Zhukov. Kryukov was a widower: his wife died in 1940, leaving her husband a five-year-old daughter. Several times Ruslanova, at the invitation of the general, came to the corps. In July, Lidia Ruslanova divorced Harkavy and married Kryukov. Regarding the divorce, she said:

- Well, what to do: I love the general, I love with all my heart, and I feel sorry for Mishka ...

Vladimir Viktorovich, as Lidia Ruslanova later recalled, conquered her by finding antique ladies' shoes with French heels in the warehouse and presented to her: “He took me with this attention of his. What about the shoes? Ugh! I wouldn't give them to a housekeeper." Immediately after the wedding with Kryukov, she went to Tashkent, took Kryukov's daughter, Margarita, settled in Moscow, and then raised her as her own.

Lidia Andreevna with her daughter V.V. Kryukova Margarita

June 28, 1942 Lidia Ruslanova was awarded the title of Honored Artist of the RSFSR.

"Katyusha"

With her own funds earned during the pre-war tour, as Margarita Kryukova testifies, Lidia Ruslanova acquired two Katyusha batteries, which were sent to the First Belorussian Front in the corps commanded by her husband.

In the spring of 1945, Lidia Ruslanova, together with the advancing army, arrived in Berlin, which had not yet been liberated from the Nazi troops. One officer, seeing her on the street, shouted: “Where are you going?! Lie down: they will kill you! And Ruslanova looked at him and answered: “Yes, where has it been seen that the Russian song bows to the enemy!”.

Lidia Ruslanova at the walls of the Reichstag. 1945

The first performance of Russian artists in Berlin took place on May 2, 1945, at the walls of the Reichstag. Ruslanova performed together with the Cossack Song and Dance Ensemble of Mikhail Tuganov. Most of all, the soldiers asked to perform the famous “Boots”, and the singer announced: “And now the “Boots” are not hemmed, the old ones who have walked all the way to Berlin!”. One of its participants, Boris Uvarov, recalled:

- First, our Cossack choir sang, then Ruslanova ... I got a lump in my throat, I couldn’t hold back the tears. But it's not just with me. Heroes, front-line eagles, on their chests closely from awards, wept without shame. And they ordered, ordered their songs - some Siberian, some about the Volga Mother ...

The concert continued until late at night. Georgy Zhukov removed the order from his chest and handed it to Ruslanova. After the concert, Ruslanova put her signature with charcoal on the column of the Reichstag next to the names of the soldiers. Several concerts of Lydia Ruslanova took place in Berlin - at the Reichstag and at the Brandenburg Gate.

The Great Patriotic War became the pinnacle of Lidia Ruslanova's popularity. In total, on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War, she gave more than 1,120 concerts.

On August 24, 1945, Georgy Zhukov signed order No. 109 / n: “For the successful fulfillment of command assignments on the front of the fight against the Nazi invaders and the courage shown, for active personal assistance in arming the Red Army with the latest technical means, award the Order of the Patriotic WarIdegree Ruslanova Lidia Andreevna.

(To be continued)

“My whole life is connected with the song. As far as I can remember, there is always a song near me, ”Lydia Andreevna Ruslanova tells about herself. She was born on the Volga, not far from Saratov, into a peasant family. My father worked as a loader on the pier, the family was poor. Together with her grandmother, a great master of singing songs, a “singer”, as they used to say in the village, little Ruslanova went to weddings and bachelorette parties, listened to songs, memorized them. At that time, not a single event in the village was complete without singing - neither field work, nor holidays, nor festivities, nor girls' gatherings. “The first real song I heard was crying,” Lidia Andreevna continues. - My father was taken away to the soldiers. Grandmother clung to the cart and wailed. Then I often climbed to her side and asked: “Scream, baba, for your father.” And she yelled: "On whom did you leave us, bright falcon? ...". Grandma didn't die in vain. The Russo-Japanese War began, and my father disappeared from it. We didn't see him again."
Three small children were left in the arms of a sick mother. “I don’t remember when I myself learned to sing ... But I started giving performances from the age of six. My mother lay sick, and I paced, as if on a stage on a Russian stove, and sang everything that I knew - both rural and urban. City songs memorized quite easily. In the village they sang in a complicated way, with "podpoloz", but I heard these once - and already I sing. Everyone was surprised: behold, the devil, what a memory. Soon the mother died, and three children ended up in different orphanages. In the orphanage for girls, where the future singer was identified, in addition to the usual school classes, singing and musical literacy lessons were held three times a week. The regent of the local church taught these subjects. Once in the classroom, he noticed the musicality of a young pupil and praised her: “Yes, you have a good voice, contralt!” So Ruslanova got into the church choir. “In the church choir, I quickly became a soloist.

Merchants from all over the city began to come to us - to listen to how the orphan sings ... And after the orphanage, when I was sent as an apprentice to a furniture factory, everyone helped me for the songs. At the age of 17 I was already an experienced artist, I was not afraid of anything, neither the stage nor the public. In this furniture factory, young
Ruslanova was heard by the professor of the Saratov Conservatory M. M. Medvedev and invited her to attend classes at the conservatory. However, the school of academic singing did not captivate Ruslanova. She was drawn to Russian song. “I realized that I shouldn’t be an academic singer,” recalls Lidia Andreevna. - My strength was in immediacy, in naturalness, in unity with the world where the song was born. I kept it to myself." The First World War broke out. The head of the medical train took the singer to his unit - she began to sing for the wounded and for the soldiers going to the front. She chose the songs closest to the soldier's heart, the most touching, intelligible. Then came the revolution, the civil war, which found Ruslanova a professional singer, “already a member of the trade union”, in Rostov-on-Don ... She performed before the Red Army soldiers, who invariably gave her the warmest welcome. In 1921, Lidia Andreevna moved to Moscow for professional artistic work.
We know what well-deserved fame this work brought to Lidia Andreevna. Endless concerts, trips around the country, performances on the radio, which was then still taking its first timid steps, earned her art the widest popularity. During these years, her special performing style was finally formed, a specific "Ruslan" repertoire was formed. As a performer of Russian folk songs, Ruslanova continues the tradition of the best Russian pop stars of the early 20th century, especially Nadezhda Plevitskaya. In addition to well-known Russian songs, such as “Down the Volga River”, “When I served as a coachman at the post office”, “Steppe and steppe around”, “Luchinushka”, “It's raining on the street”, which never left the concert stage, Ruslanova sings widely popular at the beginning of the century (and at one time listed as “petty-bourgeois”) the so-called urban Russian songs - “The sea spread wide”, “The fire of Moscow was noisy and burning”, “If I had golden mountains”, hard labor - “Through the wild steppes Transbaikalia", "Deaf unknown taiga", factory, soldier's. Thanks to the art of Ruslanova, many of these songs have found a kind of rebirth in the new Soviet reality.
Lidia Andreevna refers to both modern folklore (for example, she was the first to sing the song of the civil war “Through the valleys and the hills”) and the work of Soviet composers - everyone remembers the song “Partizan Zheleznyak” in her performance, and especially the famous “Katyusha” by M. Blanter (it was Ruslanova who sang it for the first time).
Ruslanova's performing style, so individual and bright, also goes back to the tradition of Russian songwriters who once performed at folk festivals, and later, already at the beginning of the 20th century, appeared on the big concert stage. This is a performance in the full sense of the word. “I don’t sing a song, I play a song,” says Lidia Andreevna. Her entire stay on stage, starting with a deliberate, “playful”, appearance on stage in a Russian folk costume, and ending with a farewell bow, is a skillfully staged little performance. It is no coincidence that the singer is attracted to songs with a developed dramaturgy, with a sharp plot, with contrasting mood swings, with bright characters. She lives every word, and people communicate, talk. These are real “songs in faces”.

Unlike other performers of this genre, for example, Olga Kovaleva, who emphasized the soft sincerity, lyricism of the Russian song, the singer's temperament dictates a bright, provocative, dashing performance (and, accordingly, the selection of songs). Some critics reproached the singer for this. Let's give the floor to the fine pop connoisseur writer Viktor Ardov for an answer: “This voice makes everyone start, it is full of hidden excitement, often even longing, characteristic of a Russian song. It is impossible to forget Ruslanova's contralto or confuse it with another voice. Ruslanova among the powerful stream of Russian folk song performers stands apart. She led the lyrical Russian folk song from the path of rather dry museum folklore to the path of lively, excited emotional interpretation and performance. And without excitement, without emotions - what is the price of a song? However, she has a sense of style to a high degree! According to the zealous zealots of the purity of the old Russian song, Ruslanova allegedly uses an arsenal of expressive means characteristic of the gypsy style of singing. These accusations of “gypsyism” are incorrect, because Ruslanova does not and never has had a direct adherence to purely gypsy techniques: tremolo, etc. It is true that Lidia Andreevna saturates her performance with such emotion, such a manifestation of genuine deep temperament, that it frightens other folklorists who are accustomed to the more than restrained, purely ethnographic manner of performing Russian folk songs on the concert stage. Drama, epic, joke, comedy, pathos of patriotic tunes and, of course, lyrics are equally accessible to L. Ruslanova. Considering that she never had directors as teachers, as well as an unusual variety of techniques, styles, manners, you are amazed at what accuracy, sophistication in all components of her performances on stage, this unusually gifted singer, and at the same time a natural artist, reveals. You can learn from her how to observe the true style in performance and in stage behavior. Yes, Ruslanova's voice cannot be confused with any other. Hearing this unique timbre, everyone will immediately say: “This is Ruslanova singing!” Very beautiful is her low contralto of a light, slightly metallic sound and a large range; beautiful deep chest sounds, medium and high, almost soprano, especially in the piano! Her voice is characterized by exceptional mobility, the subtlest nuances are available: she can take a high note and pull it endlessly in a powerful forte, but she can also calm down to a barely audible charming pianissimo. Her ability to control her breath, her brilliant diction, not to mention the extraordinary expressiveness of her performance, are striking. Listen carefully to her performance of some Russian song in 6-8 verses with a melody repeating in each verse - this is a wonderful lesson for young vocalists, especially those who have decided to devote themselves to folk song. Not only the accompaniment of each verse varies, whether it be a bayan, an orchestra or a guitar, which has already become familiar to many performers, but also the melodic chant itself. Ruslanova leads the melody in a free manner of folk improvisation, she changes it, varies it in accordance with the emotional content, strings, “clings” possible choral echoes to it, as if singing “for the whole choir”. This development of the song on the principle of Russian folk polyphony, creative improvisation, makes Ruslanova's performance bright and unique.

The love of the people for L. Ruslanova's art during the years of the Great Patriotic War manifested itself with particular fullness and fervor. After all, it was the soldiers, back in the First World War, who were the first audience of the young singer, her song found a direct and swift path to the soldiers' hearts. With the passion inherent in her nature, Ruslanova devotes herself to this noble work - to support, encourage, infuse strength with her art, or even simply amuse tired soldiers. As part of the concert brigade, the singer traveled all fronts. Frames of old chronicles and films have preserved these amazing concerts for us. We see the enthusiastic faces of the soldiers, they listen, laugh, feel sad. And here is the last front-line concert: on May 2, Lidia Ruslanova sings near the walls of the broken Reichstag.
The well-known theatrical figure B. Filippov, a permanent member of the front-line concert brigades, in his book "Actors Without Masks" describes the singer's performances as follows:
“August 18, 1941. We set off to the village of Batishchevo. We are looking for a new military unit. Seeing us off, Colonel Lizyukov announces the order to enroll V. Khenkin and L. Ruslanova as honorary Red Army soldiers of the 57th Panzer Division. As a sign of respect for the honorary Red Army soldiers, they are given a full set of uniforms ... "

And further: “Among our purely civilian group, two honorary tankmen V. Khenkin and L. Ruslanova shine with their paramilitary appearance. I am sure that in Moscow they will not take off their honestly earned soldier's uniform for a long time, the most expensive for a Soviet person in the days of a harsh and merciless war.
It is no coincidence that it was in wartime - June 28, 1942 - that Lidia Andreevna Ruslanova was awarded the title of Honored Artist of the RSFSR.
About three decades have passed since the end of the war. Several generations of singers have changed on the stage, fashionable styles and trends have appeared and disappeared. But Ruslanova's performances are still exciting. In our days, when interest in Russian song in all its forms is awakening again, we gratefully turn to the creative experience of the remarkable Soviet artist, whose art has written an unforgettable page in the history of our performance.
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This publication is intended for a wide range of singing lovers, for young vocalists, for a multi-million army of amateur art participants.
Throughout her long artistic journey, Lidia Andreevna has performed with the accompaniment of a wide variety of groups: the Orchestra of Russian Folk Instruments named after. Osipov, a sextet led by Semenov; she performed with pianist S. K. Stuchevsky, sang a duet with N. Seversky, who accompanied the harp. Especially often Lidia Andreevna sang, accompanied by a trio of accordion players - A. Kuznetsova, Y. Popkov and A. Danilov (A. Makarova) and with bayan players Komlev and Maksakov. All these bayanists not only accompanied the singer in concerts, but often were also the authors of arrangements of folk songs performed by Ruslanova. They are no longer alive. Some of their arrangements were recorded on gramophone records, but the manuscripts of the notes have not been preserved. Therefore, this collection mainly includes new arrangements made by composers who either collaborated with the singer (P. Kulikov) or have been successfully working in the song genre for a long time (A. Novikov, N. Budashkin, Yu. Slonov, V. Volkov and others). The new arrangements are simple, accessible to the widest range of musicians, pianists and accordionists.
The songs are given in the keys in which L. A. Ruslanova performed them. The purpose of this collection was not to accurately record the various performance nuances of the singer. Only in songs recorded from records, all the features of the "Ruslan" development of the melody are preserved; these recordings can be used to judge the amazing improvisational skill of the singer. The lyrics are printed with those mostly minor changes that Ruslanova made to them. These changes are not specified in the footnotes.

The songs are given with piano accompaniment; A special edition has been made for playing the button accordion. The accompaniment is simple, done taking into account the capabilities of amateur musicians so that, if desired, the songs can be easily transposed into different keys.
A. NOVIKOV People's Artist of the USSR

• DOWN THE VOLGA RIVER. Arranged by Y. Slonov
• DUSH MEADOW. Recorded and edited by P. Kulikov
• It's raining outside. Recorded and edited by Y. Slonov
• ALONG THE PITERSKAYA. STEPPE YES STEPPE AROUND. Recorded and edited by P. Kulikov
• BEHIND THE MOUNTAIN, AT THE WELL. Arranged by S. Tulikov
• FAREWELL, TENDERING EYES. Arranged by M. Matveev
• THE MOSCOW FIRE WAS NOISED, BURNED. Arranged by N. Budashkin
• WELL THE SHEPHERD IS PLAYING. Recorded and edited by P. Kulikov
• THE MONTH HAS PAINTED WITH PURPLE. Recorded and edited by Y. Slonov
• LINDE CENTURY. Recorded and edited by P. Kulikov
• KAMARINSKAYA. Recorded and edited by A. Shirokov
• BETWEEN HIGH BREADS. Arranged by A. Novikov, lyrics by N. Nekrasov
• LIKE POWDER FROM THE EVENING. Recorded and edited by V. Kalinin
• BETWEEN THE STEEP BANK. Arranged by Y. Slonov
• ON THE STREET BRIDGE. Arranged by A. Novikov
• WHY DO YOU SIT UP UNTIL MIDNIGHT. Arranged by I. Ilyin
• I WALKED TO THE HILL. Recorded and edited by A. Shirokov
• GROW, MY KALINUSHKA. Recorded and edited by N. Budashkin
• FROM UNDER OAK, FROM UNDER ELM. Recorded and edited by N. Budashkin
• POOR BOY. Recorded and edited by N. Budashkin
• WHEN B HAD THE GOLDEN MOUNTAINS. Recorded and edited by Y. Slonov
• DEAF, UNKNOWN TAIGO. Arranged by N. Gubarkov
• CHARMING EYES. Processing Vyach. Volkova
• IN THE WILD STEPPES OF TRANSBAIKAL. Arranged by S. Bulatov
• HERE IS A BIG VILLAGE ON THE WAY. Arranged by N. Ivanov
• OH YOU, WIDE STEPPE. Arranged by A. Novikov
• WHAT IS MISTED, THE ZORENKA IS CLEAR. Music by V. Osipov, lyrics by A. Veltman
• VALENKI. Recorded and edited by Y. Slonov
• THE MONTH LIGHTS. Arranged by A. Novikov
• MY BEAUTY LIVES. Arranged by A. Zhivtsov

Music section publications

Lidia Ruslanova. Queen of Russian folk song

From orphan childhood to captivity and national fame. The folk song performer Lidia Andreevna Ruslanova faced severe trials. She was left without parents early, as part of the front-line brigades she reached the Reichstag, survived the repressions, but throughout her life she carried a bright smile and love for folk songs.

“As long as I can remember myself, always near me is a song”

I have been surrounded by songs since childhood. “In the village they sang from the heart, firmly believing in a special, above-ground life - both“ lamentations ”and songs of joy”. They sang in the village of Chernavka, Saratov province, both at work and during a walk. But the little girl was especially struck by the lamentations of her grandmother when her father went to the Russo-Japanese War. Since then, no, no, yes, and she asked: "Cry, woman, for tyatenko".

Father did not return home from the war, and soon his mother fell ill from hard work. To cheer up her mother, the daughter sang to her, imagining that the stove was a stage. But three children still remained orphans, and then the song helped to earn a living. At the age of eight, Lidia Ruslanova ended up in an orphanage. There was a unique opportunity to study and sing in the church choir - immediately as a soloist. People came from all over the city to listen to the orphan sing.

“In the complete silence of the majestic temple, against the fading background of an adult choir, a voice arose. Its sound grew, not for a moment losing its primordial purity... And I was frightened, having come into contact with this magic, I trembled when I heard the whisper of a nun standing next to me: “Angel! Heavenly Angel!

Playwright and screenwriter Iosif Prut, 1908

Songs of the war years

Lydia Ruslanova sang at the furniture factory, where she ended up after the orphanage. The repertoire was enriched with urban romances. Almost immediately after the first public speech before the Saratov deputies, 16-year-old Lida went to the front - she worked as a nurse on an ambulance train and spoke to the wounded. During the Civil War, she sang for the soldiers of the Red Army. It was in those years that the singer chose a peasant costume for her stage image - she tied a scarf, put on bast shoes, put on a warm jacket. The audience affectionately called her "Saratov Bird".

The conquest of the capital Ruslanova began with a performance in the theater "Skomorokhi". Since the 1920s, the artist has traveled around the Urals, Siberia and the Far East. Having earned national fame, she again went to the front in the Soviet-Finnish war. She gave dozens of concerts a month, sang in field conditions. The stage became either a tank, or a sleigh, or a railcar, or a truck body. Protecting her health and taking prophylactic medications in a thirty-degree frost, she received the nickname "Lidochka-streptocide."

Lidia Ruslanova with her husband Vladimir Kryukov. Photo: maxpark.com

Front brigade of Moscow artists on the Southern Front. Speech by Lidia Ruslanova. Photo: chrono.ru

Lidia Ruslanova and Vladimir Kryukov. May 1945. Photo: portal-kultura.ru

The singer received the baptism of fire of the Great Patriotic War near Yelnya, sang under fire from the air. “I see that no one leads with their ears, they listen, as in the Hall of Columns. I don't think it's right for me to sit in a trench.". Ruslanova not only raised morale - the singer gave the money she earned before the war to the production of two "Katyushas", which the soldiers dubbed "Lidushi".

For one of the performances, Lidia Andreevna was awarded the Order of the Red Star. She sang on a camping radio station, and the loudspeaker broadcast the sound to the whole district. The Germans, listening, ceased fire, and our troops reorganized for the offensive. There were also unusual concerts in the life of Lidia Ruslanova - for one listener, a wounded soldier who could not move. The singer sang right in the ward.

The most famous concert of Lidia Ruslanova ... 1120 was at the walls of the Reichstag. The best poster for the "People's Artist's Guard", as it was called in those heroic years, was a charcoal painting on a column, next to the names of other soldiers. On May 2, 1945, the singer performed with a Cossack ensemble. They sang until late at night. The soldiers asked to sing their favorite songs, more often than others - "Valenki".

"You will get exhausted until you comprehend the soul of the song"

With a smile, in a singsong voice, from the first musical phrase, the song "Valenki" became one of Lidia Ruslanova's favorites in the repertoire. The once gypsy song was released on phonograph records three times before it got a completely new sound. She settled down on her own. As the singer herself said, on one of the soldiers she saw just such felt boots - “not sewn up, old ones.” Ruslanova sang "Valenki" on the front line, at each of the thousand front-line concerts. Also for an encore.

During the war, Lydia Andreevna met her fourth husband, cavalry general Vladimir Kryukov. In 1948, he was arrested in connection with a "military conspiracy". On tour in Kazan, the singer herself was detained for "anti-Soviet propaganda." Removed from production and banned in open concerts and radio broadcasts all the recordings of Lidia Ruslanova. The singer was sentenced to ten years in labor camps and sent to the Irkutsk region. There, on the stage of the camp dining room, she sang for the prisoners. In 1953, Lidia Ruslanova and her husband were released. The very first concert from the Tchaikovsky Hall was broadcast on the radio throughout the country. “To whom is the foxtrot, and to whom is the Russian song,” Ruslanova answered.

After one of the concerts at Rosselmash, when the workers did not let the singer leave the stage, and the lunch break was long over, they promised to work. And they worked - they overfulfilled the plan by 123 percent. Ruslanova carried her love for Russian song through her whole life. She collected folk Siberian, Central Russian and Cossack songs. Numerous song contests from Saratov to Kozelsk are dedicated to her memory.

Before foreign guests, the singer performed only in peasant clothes, for which she was called "the queen of Russian folk songs." Yes, and in everyday life, Lidia Andreevna loved the Russian style - from furniture to dishes and paintings. The singer said that she respects Europe, but she loves her country to the point of pain.

Author: Aut.st. A. Novikov, Comp. N. Koltsov, Lyric N. Nekrasov, A. Veltman, Isp. L. Ruslanova, Aut. Yu. Slonov, P. Kulikov and others Place of publication: M. Publisher: Muzyka Year of publication: 1973 Number of pages: 93 p. Content note: Contents: Down the Volga River / Processed by Yu. Slonova. Meadow duck / Recorded and processed by P. Kulikov. It's raining outside. Along Piterskaya. Steppe and steppe all around. Behind the mountain at the well / Edited by S. Tulikova. Goodbye affectionate glances / Processed by M. Matveeva. The Moscow fire was noisy / Processed by N. Budashkin. the shepherd plays well. The moon turned crimson. Linden is age-old. Kamarinskaya/Zap. and edited by A. Shirokov. Between high loaves / Processed by A. Novikov; Sl. N. Nekrasov. As from the evening of powder / Zap.and processed by V. Kalinin. Between steep banks. Along the bridge street. Why do you sit until midnight / Processed by I. Ilyina. I went up the hill. Grow my Kalinuk. From under the oak from under the elm. Poor little boy. When I had golden mountains. Deaf unknown taiga / Processed by N. Gubarkova. Charming eyes / Processed by V. Volkov. On the wild steppes of Transbaikalia / Edited by S. Bulatova. Here is a large village on the way / Processed by N. Ivanova. Oh, you are a wide steppe. That the clear dawn is clouded / Music by V. Osipov; Word by A. Veltman. Felt boots. The moon shines. My beauty lives / Processed by A. Zhivtsova. General note: Contents: Down the Volga River / Edited by Yu. Slonova. Meadow duck / Recorded and processed by P. Kulikov. It's raining outside. Along Piterskaya. Steppe and steppe all around. Behind the mountain at the well / Edited by S. Tulikova. Goodbye affectionate glances / Processed by M. Matveeva. The Moscow fire was noisy / Processed by N. Budashkin. the shepherd plays well. The moon turned crimson. Linden is age-old. Kamarinskaya/Zap. and edited by A. Shirokov. Between high loaves / Processed by A. Novikov; Sl. N. Nekrasov. As from the evening of powder / Zap.and processed by V. Kalinin. Between steep banks. Along the bridge street. Why do you sit until midnight / Processed by I. Ilyina. I went up the hill. Grow my Kalinuk. From under the oak from under the elm. Poor little boy. When I had golden mountains. Deaf unknown taiga / Processed by N. Gubarkova. Charming eyes / Processed by V. Volkov. On the wild steppes of Transbaikalia / Edited by S. Bulatova. Here is a large village on the way / Processed by N. Ivanova. Oh, you are a wide steppe. That the clear dawn is clouded / Music by V. Osipov; Word by A. Veltman. Felt boots. The moon shines. My beauty lives / Processed by A. Zhivtsova. BBC: 85.94ya436