Nikolai Alekseev: A conductor must be arrogant and self-confident. Missing conductors

For ten years now, Nikolai Alekseev has been the conductor of the Honored Ensemble of Russia, the Academic Symphony Orchestra of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic. In the 2010/2011 season, the conductor included in his extensive program the symphonies of Schubert and Mahler, Messiaen and Slonimsky, Scriabin's "Poem of Ecstasy" and Debussy's "The Sea", violin concertos by Berg and Korngold (first performance in St. Petersburg).

The most abstract of the arts
— Nikolai Gennadievich, for many years I have been your regular listener. For me personally, when the poster says “Honored ensemble of the Academic Philharmonic, conductor Nikolai Alekseev,” this means a 100% guarantee of the quality of performance of any work. What music from the academic repertoire do you feel is most in tune with our times?
“I believe that in no case should you follow the lead of the public, who today may not understand some music and consider it outdated. Maybe the public wants to listen to Strauss waltzes once a week rather than hear something new or, conversely, forgotten old things. You cannot blindly follow the tastes of your listeners. And if, God forbid, you ask me how I compose my repertoire (I literally recently thought about why I took this and not something else?), I will not be able to answer. I don’t know why I want to take this essay this year. When a conductor has a very large repertoire, the desire to conduct something from his repertoire arises on its own. But once a year I try to take on a completely new essay. This year it is Messiaen's Turangalila. I don’t know why either: out of thin air the desire to learn and conduct this particular composition appears. Sometimes you catch yourself thinking that you just don’t want to conduct a piece that you know well, just let it sit and become a little unfamiliar again. Not just new and fresh, no, just unfamiliar, so that there is a desire to play him again.
— When preparing some scores, do you use literary associations or, perhaps, images from the plastic arts for yourself or for the orchestra? And is there, from your point of view, absolutely non-programmatic music? Or, as many believe, can a hidden program be found in any music?
— The fact is that music in general is an extremely abstract art. It is even more abstract than abstract painting. If you can approach a painting and at least touch a stroke with your hands, then in music this is impossible. For example, Berlioz describes fantastic visions in his famous symphony. But music is not about that anyway, and, in my opinion, it was a mistake to put music into words.
I belong to that generation of conductors who never prepare any verbal images at home. I know how it should sound, but I never formulate or prepare comments for the orchestra in advance at home. That’s why sometimes some unexpected words and strange images come out to me. If an uninitiated person comes to a rehearsal, he may think that the conductor is slightly out of his mind.

Play cheese
— What verbal images do you use?
- Absolutely unexpected. In Tallinn, at one of the rehearsals, I had associations with Roquefort cheese. There is a legend about how this cheese originated. He and she went for a walk, they had cheese and wine with them. A few days later they remembered the cheese. But they made love so much that the cheese became Roquefort. I told this story to the orchestra, saying that in France even cheese comes from love, and you should play this symphony about love. In general, it’s a bit rude, although it seems to be a successful image. My teachers, especially Avenir Mikhailov, taught that in lessons you cannot repeat the same thing over and over again. When you learn a composition, you cannot memorize it the same way. Every time you play differently. To paraphrase Heraclitus, one could say this: you cannot enter the same music twice. For me, every performance is living matter, a sound that lives right now, in this moment.
“People come to the halls to witness creativity. And which of the conductors of the past whom you have heard in the halls or known to you from recordings are indisputable authorities for you?
— For the first time in my life I will try to answer this question seriously. Every year I understand more and more how difficult this profession is. The idea is banal, but there is no ideal. Absolutely everyone is not without sin - both the great and the small - sinners in every sense. That's why I don't have any idols. There is a deep respect for the profession and for the professionals who deal with this incredibly difficult business, and respect for the people who remain in the history of the performing arts.
It is much more interesting for me to attend a concert of a professional conductor than to listen to a recording of a great one. I rarely listen to records at all. Probably because there is already enough music in the course of everyday work. Was there such a desire - let me watch Karajan? No, probably not. But I saw Herbert von Karajan in two concerts in West Berlin - he conducted Mahler’s Ninth and Sixth. And this still comes as a shock to me, precisely because I heard him live. And canned food is just that – canned food.
— When I was at Valery Afanasyev’s press conference, he, answering a question about cell phone calls during concerts, said: “What do I need calls for? Where I, the music and the composer, are, nothing rings. And the public - whether there is one or not, I don’t care...” What is the public for you?
- Do you know when I felt the audience? Almost my first serious concert was in the final of the Karajan competition in 1982. For the first time, a tailcoat was rented. Herbert von Karajan was sitting in the hall, and willy-nilly I felt that He was sitting there. There was a huge responsibility, then Karajan was an incredible idol for me. And I felt that He was in the hall, and how He was listening. But you still need to treat yourself with some degree of irony. The director of the West Berlin orchestra then said: “Yes, he was sleeping.” Karajan was not entirely healthy at that time, his back was very painful, although he went on stage as if he was 30 years old, and behind the stage he felt bad, his back hurt wildly, and young conductors were no longer very interesting to him. Of course, he looked with half an eye, but that was enough for me. Since then I have always felt the audience, especially in St. Petersburg. But St. Petersburg is a different story. I don't get that nervous in any room.
— Do you think that the public in St. Petersburg is more demanding?
- It's not a matter of being demanding. When you go on this stage, every time you again prove to everyone that you have the right to conduct here. Somewhere, say, in Brussels (I don’t want to say anything bad about it), I feel calm and free. But here it’s hard.
- Provocative question. I was at the concert where you accompanied Alena Baeva in Berg’s Concert. Sometimes, out of curiosity, I listen to von Webern, Berg, sometimes I read the works of Schoenberg, it’s interesting to me, like any music lover. Have you ever had the seditious thought that atonal music is just a grandiose aesthetic fraud? I don’t take individual techniques, but as a whole as a theory? Or do you feel this music well, understand it, and could act as its advocate?
— I don’t accept all music. The dodecaphone system has long been established, long ago invented by Schoenberg. This really seems a little scholastic today. But these composers also produced absolutely brilliant works. Berg's violin concerto is like that for me. There, too, there are all sorts of cryptograms in the score - something that does not interest the audience at all. But this is woven into incredibly beautiful music. This was not the first time I conducted this, but the first time, of course, there was a feeling of horror. Then I was a very young conductor, and it was in Slovenia, in Ljubljana. This music is very close to the Slovenians, the fact is that they live in the area where the theme of the finale comes from - Carinthian. I can say approximately the same about Schoenberg. I didn’t play all of his works, and, to be honest, they did not cause me much enthusiasm, but with great pleasure I performed his works of the pre-dodecaphon period.

At least two people in the room understand everything
— What music today expresses your worldview to the greatest extent?
— If we talk about me, then the one I’m conducting now: it’s both Schubert and Messiaen. Our job, as performing musicians, is quite simple - to talk as honestly as possible with the invisible composer who wrote it, try to do it first with the orchestra, and then bring it to the public. You told me that Afanasyev doesn’t care whether there is an audience or not. There is a Moscow director Anatoly Vasiliev (Theatre of Contemporary Play), who went to the West, so he generally had a theory that the ideal theater should be high in the mountains, so that the paths would exist and then end and so that the public would not find the way there. By the way, Evgeny Mravinsky said approximately the same thing. Glen Gould refused to perform, preferring the studio. There are such musicians, but I prefer to work for live listeners. On the other hand, I don’t care how many people there will be. It happens, for example, in Holland, you conduct in some provincial town where you go with an orchestra. And there the system of concert work is very different from ours. Orchestras travel all over Holland. You may end up in Rotterdam, or in some village.
— That is, you establish a dialogue with precisely the audience that came to listen to you that evening.
— My piano teacher, the late Sergei Nikolaev, said a phrase that I will always remember: no matter how many people come, no matter what kind of audience there is in the hall, and it may seem to you that it is bad, but at least two The person in the room is sure to be understood by everyone. Let four people come to the concert, or five thousand people in the hall, but at least two of them will definitely understand everything, and you need to play for them.
— If you weren’t a musician, what would you like to become?
— This question is a little not for me, because, like every musician who has had his creative destiny (or career), my life in music began at the age of seven. We practically didn’t even have a childhood. I can’t imagine who I would become, I can’t imagine anything else, the main thing is that I don’t want to. When you are in this happiness called Music, when you enjoy creativity, you simply don’t even want to think about what would have happened if I had taken a different path.

Interviewed Vyacheslav KOCHNOV

Help "Novaya"
People's Artist of Russia Nikolai Alekseev graduated from the Leningrad Conservatory, laureate of the international competitions of the Herbert von Karajan Foundation (West Berlin, 1982), named after V. Talich (Prague, 1985) and Min-On (Tokyo, 1985). The conductor led the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra, worked with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the orchestras of Rotterdam, Dresden, Stuttgart and Copenhagen, the Berlin and Baltimore, Liverpool and Scottish orchestras, and the New Japan Philharmonic. For nine seasons (2001-2010), Nikolai Alekseev led the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra. Currently, the artist’s concert activities cover European countries (Germany, France, Italy, Great Britain, Belgium, the Netherlands), Latin America, Japan and the USA. Today Alekseev holds the post of head of the department of orchestral conducting of the St. Petersburg Conservatory.

Announcement
On January 29, Nikolai Alekseev will conduct Gustav Mahler's Seventh Symphony in the Great Hall of the Philharmonic. Starts at 19.00.

How important it is for a specialist to be not only educated and knowledgeable, but also able to organize a business and skillfully lead it in the chosen direction. It is no coincidence that lately we have increasingly heard that “we have a lot of talent, but few professionals.” How can one not recall the catchphrase of Stalin: “Cadres decide everything!”

The Astrakhan Conservatory, in the early days of its existence, was lucky to have highly qualified teaching staff. He was one of the most educated teachers (with diplomas from two conservatories - Leningrad and Ural), with many years of experience in leading orchestras (from military brass to symphonic philharmonic orchestras) and teaching experience in orchestral departments of various music educational institutions. A.V. Romanko , senior teacher at the Astrakhan Conservatory, artistic director and chief conductor of the symphony orchestra he created at the Philharmonic on the basis of the orchestral department of the conservatory (this orchestra existed in 1969 - 1971).

Alexander Vasilievich Romanko born on August 29, 1930 in Krasnodar, in the family of a military man. His father Romanko Vasily Foteevich , was a military conductor, and his mother, Romanko Anna Trofimovna - a housewife. In 1938, the eight-year-old boy immediately entered the second grade of a comprehensive school and at the same time began privately studying the violin. In 1942 Sasha He graduated from five classes, but then his studies were interrupted, since from August 1942 to February 1943 Krasnodar was under fascist occupation. But even after the liberation of the city by the Soviet Army, the teenager did not immediately continue his studies at school. The fact is that his father, older brother and older sister fought, and his mother and sister, weakened during the occupation, could not work for health reasons, so Alexander (who was 12-13 years old) went to work at a factory, providing food cards for his family. However, a year later, in 1944, Romanko continued his studies in the sixth grade of high school. In 1946, having graduated from the seven-year school, Alexander I spent a whole year preparing to enter the music school and in 1947 became a freshman at the Krasnodar Music School, studying trumpet here. At the same time, he studied at an evening comprehensive school, which he graduated in 1950.

In the summer of the same year Romanko was called up to serve in the Soviet Army. And since he was sent as a musician to the orchestra of a military unit stationed in Krasnodar, the command authorities allowed him, without interrupting his military service, to graduate from a music school and continue his studies at the conservatory. And since Alexander Romanko At that time he was a military man, he entered the Leningrad Conservatory at the Naval Faculty, which trained conductors for orchestras of the USSR Naval Forces. In 1956, after graduating from the conservatory, he was sent to Tallinn as a conductor of a military orchestra, where he served until April 1957, and then retired to the reserve (with the rank of senior lieutenant).

Returning to my homeland, A.V. Romanko began teaching trumpet and horn classes at the Krasnodar Music School, as well as an orchestral class, on the basis of which he organized a brass band. In addition, in September 1958, he was offered to work part-time as the conductor of the symphony orchestra of the Krasnodar Regional House of Education Workers and as the conductor of the opera studio in the House of Scientists.

In July 1961 A.V. Romanko received an offer from the directorate of the Altai Philharmonic to go as a conductor of a symphony orchestra on tour in Kuzbass, and at the end of the trip to take the vacant position of a full-time conductor of the same philharmonic ensemble. Having accepted the offer, Alexander Vasilievich He began working in Barnaul, but in the winter of 1962 he caught a severe cold and became seriously ill. Doctors recommended that he urgently move to the south. And since at that time the newspaper “Soviet Culture” announced a competition for the position of conductor of the city symphony orchestra, created on the basis of the orchestra department of the Astrakhan Music School (with the provision of living space), A.V. Romanko sent documents to the competition. Having received a telegram: “come,” he immediately left for Astrakhan. By the way, in addition to working with the orchestra, the director of the Astrakhan Music School VC. Nechaev offered Romanko teach, part-time, at the school in the orchestra department.

Working in Astrakhan, Romanko in 1963 he entered the Ural Conservatory, the class of opera and symphony conducting of professor M.I. Paverman . Organizer of the Ural (Sverdlovsk) Symphony Orchestra, founder of the Ural school of opera and symphony conducting, Mark Izrailevich trained many famous conductors, among whom N. Chunikhin, E. Kolobov, E. Brazhnik, P. Varivoda, M. Shcherbakov etc. And although Romanko studied with Paverman correspondence, four years of study in his class (1963-1967) allowed the conductor of a military orchestra (as he qualified with a diploma from the Leningrad Conservatory) to deeply master opera and symphony conducting and apply the acquired knowledge in practice, including in the Astrakhan City Symphony Orchestra (where he worked until October 1965) and the symphony orchestra of the Committee on Radio Broadcasting and Television under the Council of Ministers of Dagestan (then DASSR), which he directed in 1965-1969. It was during the Dagestan period, in 1966, A.V. Romanko was awarded the highest category conductor rating. In his description, signed by the chairman of the TV and radio committee of the DASSR G. Gamzatov , it was said that Romanko - “a conductor with a bright creative individuality, high performing culture, knows the classical and modern repertoire well” (from a personal file A.V. Romanko in the archives of the Astrakhan Conservatory).

At the end of August 1969 Alexander Vasilievich came to work in Astrakhan again - now as a senior teacher at the department of orchestral instruments of the young conservatory and artistic director of the symphony orchestra created at the regional philharmonic. And already two or three months after the start of work in Astrakhan Romanko , thanks to his excellent organizational skills and experience as a leader of various groups, was able to staff the city symphony orchestra with musicians and prepare two programs in a short time. “In December 1969, the orchestra’s first public performance took place. The program included the Coriolanus Overture and Beethoven's First Symphony, as well as Tchaikovsky's First Piano Concerto (soloist S.Lubart ). The concert attracted a large audience (in the Philharmonic concert hall - L.V.) and passed at a good professional level,” wrote an authoritative Astrakhan musicologist, candidate of art history, head of the department of theory and history of music of the Astrakhan Conservatory M.A. Etinger in the note “In the New Conservatory” (Musical Life, 1970, No. 5). It should be noted that most of the participants in the philharmonic ensemble were first-year students of the orchestral department of the conservatory, whose talent and enthusiasm were appreciated by Astrakhan listeners, who enthusiastically greeted the orchestra, the distinctive feature of which was “youthful freshness and spontaneity” (Rudenko V. The symphony sounds // Volga. - 1970. - August 23).

However, in January 1971, funding for the Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra was stopped and, having lost the leadership of the ensemble (which gave him not only creative satisfaction but also additional income), the conservatory teacher found himself in a difficult financial situation (his family had two small children growing up, and dependents were his wife and mother). In such a situation, he made a reasonable decision, agreeing to another offer from the Altai Regional Philharmonic to head the symphony orchestra, where he had worked before and continued in 1971-1977.

It is known that in 1992-2007 A.V. Romanko was the artistic director and chief conductor of the Nikolaev State Symphony Orchestra and a teacher at the Nikolaev Music School (Ukraine). It must be said that the Nikolaev Symphony Orchestra was revived, after a 30-year break, by Romanko, who attracted artists from the philharmonic chamber orchestra, music school teachers, as well as qualified music school teachers and gifted senior students of the school to collaborate. In 2007, when a gala evening was held in honor of the 15th anniversary of the orchestra, a detailed article appeared in the newspaper “Evening Nikolaev”, which stated that “from the first day and for all 15 years, the permanent conductor in the orchestra has been Alexander Romanko . This is a person who has two conservatory educations behind him, deep knowledge and extensive work experience” (Hristova N. Symphony orchestra: the Renaissance // Evening Nikolaev. - 2007. - June 7).

And no matter how much I would like to end the essay about Alexandra Vasilievich Romanko On a positive note, it is still impossible not to say that the Nikolaev Symphony Orchestra was recently dissolved again due to lack of funding. On May 12, 2014, his last concert, called the “Parade of Conductors,” took place in Nikolaev. On stage, following the artistic director and chief conductor Nikolai Nikolaychuk (successor A.V. Romanko , who worked as his second conductor), the conductors came out one after another Alexander Luuk , Lyudmila Kirsanova, Alexander Bogma And Vladimir Alekseev . Soloists and laureates of international competitions came to support the Nikolaev Orchestra Alexander Zheganov (clarinet), Tatiana Kravchenko (piano), Tatiana Orlova (pop vocals) and others. Both orchestra members and soloists performed with such professional and emotional dedication, as if for the last time. And the final words of the musicologist leading the concert Alena Mamedova – “Today was the last concert of the Nikolaev Symphony Orchestra. Our orchestra is disbanding. But we do not lose hope for the development of symphonic musical art in Ukraine, especially in the Nikolaev region,” the touched audience listened while standing...

L.P. Vlasenko

Honored Artist of the Russian Federation,

Professor

Next year the Ulyanovsk Academic Symphony Orchestra will celebrate its half-century anniversary. Behind the history of the team, first of all, of course, are people. But some of them are undeservedly forgotten. Blogger Mikhail Pavlov decided to restore justice and remember everyone who has stood at the conductor's stand for 50 years.

Pioneers are like astronauts. We remember those who were first, and then our eyes blur, and people replacing each other at an accelerated pace dissolve into the ether.

Remembering the amazing dynamic time when the brilliant Andrei Boreyko stood at the podium of the Ulyanovsk State Academic Symphony Orchestra, I began to recall the conductors in my memory. And I found out amazing things. “Amazing” in a sad way.

The Philharmonic, or, as it is now called, the House of Music, together with the Memorial, as the main venue where the orchestra is based, is rather indifferent to its history in the sense of popularization on the Internet. Perhaps now someone on whom it depends will read it, be indignant at my peremptory nature and shake dusty archival papers, saying that we have all the moves written down... But most likely they won’t shake it.

Yes, and then, I’m talking about the Internet, and here it is, right in front of me, and Google is helping me

The first thing I noticed was that there wasn’t even a trivial three-line article on Wikipedia. Meanwhile, next year marks the 50th anniversary of the creation of the orchestra. Write, my darlings, it’s time! And don’t listen to those who say that Wikipedia is bad manners.

Further. It turns out that the founding father and first chief conductor of the orchestra from 1968 to 1977, Eduard Serov, died last September 2016, but this sad fact was not awarded a single line in our media. Meanwhile, Eduard Afanasyevich Serov, starting as an assistant to Evgeny Mravinsky himself in the Symphony Orchestra of the Leningrad Philharmonic, subsequently created two orchestras from scratch: in 1968 - our symphony orchestra of the Ulyanovsk Philharmonic and in 1987 - the Volgograd Academic Symphony Orchestra, whose permanent director was until his death...

It turned out that on the websites of the Lenin Memorial and the Philharmonic it is completely impossible to trace the history of the orchestra’s conductors. Some appear under a false name, while others are not mentioned at all.

Immediately after Eduard Serov, who left the orchestra in 1977, for some reason Nikolai Alekseev appears, although chronologically they are separated by 8 years - he took up the conducting stand in 1985.

That is, at least a part of the life of the orchestra, which was led by Alexander Alekseev, who was the second conductor under Serov, from 1978 to 1982, has completely fallen out of history. Now Alexander Vasilyevich Alekseev is the dean of the conducting faculty of the St. Petersburg Conservatory.
However, the Philharmonic on its website, without hesitation, cleverly combined the two Alekseevs into one and called him Nikolai for short.

There is no information at all about who led the orchestra from 1982 to 1985.

Historical information is also silent about the wonderful Andrei Boreyko, who was the second conductor and a ray of light in the dim time of Nikolai Alekseev. Boreyko was the first with whose light hand rock music combined with a symphony orchestra in one program began to sound in the pathetic Great Hall of the Lenin Memorial.

In the same way, the wonderful conductor and flautist Vladimir Kudrya, who led the orchestra for eight years - from 1996 to 2004, fell out of history. But it was under his leadership that the ensemble became a laureate of the All-Russian Competition of Symphony and Chamber Orchestras of Russia in two categories: “Nobility of timbres and an ideal ensemble of orchestral groups” and “For the best choice of concert programs.”

In short, we still owe a great debt to art.

Well, in order to somehow fill in these black holes, I’ll try to restore the chronology here and show everyone (or almost everyone) involved.

Historical photo:
Eduard Serov with Mstislav Rostropovich and Alexander Alekseev

Eduard Serov - chief conductor (1968 - 1977)

Alexander Alekseev - chief conductor (1978 - 1982)

Nikolai Alekseev - chief conductor (1985 - 1996)

Andrey Boreyko - conductor (1986 - 1989)

Vladimir Kudrya - chief conductor (1996—2004)

Sergey Ferulev - chief conductor (2005 - 2012)

Oleg Zverev - chief conductor (2012 - ...)

Dmitry Russu - conductor (2013 - ...)

Mikhail Pavlov

photo: gg34.ru, muzkarta.info, gco.vydr.ru,

Contribution to music

Spiritual music

For soloists, choir and orchestra

Other works

Filmography

Alexander Vasilievich Alexandrov(real name - Koptelov or Koptelev; April 1 (13), 1883, p. Plakhino, Ryazan province, Russian Empire - July 8, 1946, Berlin, Germany) - Soviet Russian composer, choral conductor, choirmaster, teacher. People's Artist of the USSR (1937). Winner of two Stalin Prizes of the first degree (1942, 1946). Major General (1943).

Biography

Alexander Alexandrov was born on April 1 (13), 1883 (according to other sources - March 20 (April 1), 1883) in the village of Plakhino (now Zakharovsky district, Ryazan region, Russia) into a peasant family.

In 1890-1892 he studied at the zemstvo school and sang in the school choir.

In 1891 he moved to St. Petersburg, where he sang in the choir of the Kazan Cathedral. In 1898 he graduated from the singing course at the Kazan singing parochial school in St. Petersburg.

Since 1897, he was a student of the regency (conducting) classes of the Court Singing Chapel (now the M. I. Glinka Choral School), after which he received the title of regent in 1900. After some time, he entered the St. Petersburg Conservatory (composition class of A.K. Glazunov and A.K. Lyadov), but in 1902, due to illness and difficult financial situation, he was forced to interrupt his studies and go to Bologoye, where he worked as regent of the cathedral choir , as well as a choral teacher at railway and technical schools.

Since 1906 - in Tver, he worked as a regent of the bishop's choir, and led choirs in a number of educational institutions. At this time he wrote a symphony and a symphonic poem “Death and Life”.

In 1909, he continued his studies at the Moscow Conservatory, which he graduated in 1913 with a large silver medal in composition class with S. N. Vasilenko, and in 1916 - in singing class with U. Masetti.

Since 1913 - again in Tver, where, with an orchestra, soloists and choir, he staged the opera “The Queen of Spades” (1913), performed fragments from the operas “Eugene Onegin” (1914) (both by P. I. Tchaikovsky), “Faust” Gounod, “A Life for the Tsar” by M. I. Glinka and “The Mermaid” by A. S. Dargomyzhsky. In these productions he was a director, a conductor, a choirmaster, and sometimes a singer. I sang a part in one of the home musical performances Lensky(“Eugene Onegin”), performed the part in “The Queen of Spades” Chekalinsky. In Tver he organized and headed a music school (later transformed into a music school).

From 1918 to 1922 - regent of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. In 1919-1930 - teacher of composition and choral singing at the Music College named after A. N. Scriabin (now the Academic Music School at the Moscow Conservatory), at the same time, from 1919 - assistant director of the 2nd group of the First State Choir, in 1921-1923 (in 1926-1930 - conductor) - State Choir Chapel (now the State Academic Choir Chapel of Russia named after A. A. Yurlov), choirmaster of the Chamber Theater (1922-1928), consultant of the State Opera Theater named after People's Artist of the Republic K. S. Stanislavsky and the Musical Theater named after People's Artist of the Republic V.I. Nemirovich-Danchenko (now the Moscow Academic Musical Theater named after K.S. Stanislavsky and Vl. I. Nemirovich-Danchenko) (1928-1930) (all in Moscow).

Since 1918 - teacher (solfege, polyphony, conducting and choral skills), in 1926-1929 - taught a choral class at the instructor-pedagogical faculty, in 1932-1934 - head of the choral department, since 1940 - dean of the conducting and choral faculty, since 1942 - Dean of the combined conducting-choral and music-pedagogical faculties of the Moscow Conservatory (since 1922 - professor). Among his many students are K. B. Ptitsa, V. G. Sokolov, D. B. Kabalevsky, K. P. Kondrashin and others.

Initiator (together with V. M. Blazhevich) of the creation in 1928 of the military bandmaster class, which became the basis of the military faculty of the Moscow Conservatory (1935, since 2006 - Military Institute (military conductors) of the Military University of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation), in 1929-1936 - deputy Dean of the Military Faculty.

Since 1928 - organizer (together with F.N. Danilovich and P.I. Ilyin) and musical director, since 1935 - chief, artistic director and chief conductor of the Red Army Song Ensemble of the Central House of the Red Army. M. Frunze (now the Song and Dance Ensemble of the Russian Army named after A. V. Alexandrov), with whom he traveled throughout the Soviet Union and a number of foreign countries (Czechoslovakia, Mongolia, Finland, Poland), won the “Grand Prix” at the World War II in 1937 exhibition in Paris.

At the same time, since 1936, he has been the artistic director of the Song and Dance Ensemble of the CDKZh; since 1937, he has been the initiator and artistic director of the Song and Dance Ensemble of the Moscow City Palace of Pioneers and Octobrists (now the Song and Dance Ensemble named after V. S. Loktev).

During the war he created the famous songs “Holy War”, “On the Campaign!” Let’s go!”, “Indestructible and Legendary”, etc.

In 1943, based on his “Hymn of the Bolshevik Party,” he created a majestic melody, which in 1944 officially became the anthem of the USSR. The words were written by G. A. El-Registan and S. V. Mikhalkov, partially edited by I. Stalin himself. The same melody has been the Russian Anthem since 2000.

Member of the Union of Composers of the USSR.

Alexander Vasilyevich died of a broken heart on July 8, 1946 (according to other sources - July 9) in Berlin, during the European tour of the Red Banner Ensemble. He was buried at the Novodevichy cemetery (site No. 3, photo of the grave).

Family

Wife - Ksenia Morozova, chorus member of the cathedral choir in Bologoe.

Son - Alexandrov Boris Alexandrovich (1905-1994) - composer, conductor, teacher, People's Artist of the USSR (1958), laureate of the Lenin (1978) and Stalin Prizes (1950), Hero of Socialist Labor (1975), Major General (1973), head, artistic director and chief conductor of the Red Banner Ensemble (1946-1986).
Son - Alexandrov Vladimir Alexandrovich (1910-1978) - composer, conductor, Honored Artist of the RSFSR (1949), Honored Artist of the RSFSR (1960), director and conductor of the Red Banner Ensemble Orchestra (1942-1968).
Son - Alexandrov Alexander Alexandrovich (1912-1942) - composer, conductor, director of the orchestra of the Red Banner Ensemble (1938-1942).

Grandsons - Yuri Alexandrovich and Oleg Borisovich, also worked in the Ensemble, Evgeniy Vladimirovich, director and curator of the Museum of the Red Banner Ensemble and the Alexandrov family.

Son - Alexandrov Yuri Alexandrovich (born 1939) from his common-law wife Lyudmila Lavrova, a ballerina.

Awards and titles

Honored Artist of the RSFSR (1933)
People's Artist of the USSR (1937)
Stalin Prize, first degree (1942) - for “Hymn of the Bolshevik Party” and Red Army songs
Stalin Prize, first degree (1946) - for concert and performing activities
Order of Lenin (1943) - in connection with the 60th anniversary and 40th anniversary of creative activity.
Order of the Red Banner of Labor (1939)
Order of the Red Star (1935)
Order of the White Lion, 3rd class (Czechoslovakia, 1946)
Medal "For the Defense of Moscow"
Medal "For victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945"
Medal "For Valiant Labor in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945"
Doctor of Art History (1940).

Contribution to music

A. V. Alexandrov, combining in his ensemble the traditions of Russian everyday, chamber, opera, church and soldier singing, brought domestic choral art to the international professional stage. The male polyphonic choir with soloists, a mixed orchestra consisting of symphonic and folk instruments, and the ballet ensemble are recognized and remain among the best in the world. Based on the model of the Alexandrov group, a number of military musical and choreographic ensembles have been created and operate in Russia and abroad. He wrote music for 81 original songs, made masterful arrangements of dozens of songs of peoples from different countries, and over 70 arrangements of Russian folk and revolutionary songs.

The most famous works of 1911-1946

Songs

Hymn of the Five Year Plan
Armored train
Transbaikal (lyrics by S. Alymov)
Hit the planes from the sky (lyrics by S. Alymov)
Anthem of the Bolshevik Party (lyrics by V. Lebedev-Kumach, 1938)
Rifle
Cantata about Stalin (lyrics by M. Inyushkin)
Let's go on a hike! Let's go on a hike!
Let's remember, comrades (lyrics by S. Alymov)
Holy War (lyrics by V. Lebedev-Kumach, 1941)
Blow by blow
For the great Soviet land (lyrics by V. Lebedev-Kumach, 1941)
Song about the Soviet Union (lyrics by M. Golodny, 1942)
Holy Lenin Banner (lyrics by O. Kolychev, 1942)
Glory to the Soviet Union
25 years of the Red Army (Indestructible and legendary) (lyrics by O. Kolychev)
Song about the Motherland
Glory to our Soviet country
Tsveti, Soviet country (lyrics by V. Lebedev-Kumacha, 1943)
Our Guard (lyrics by A. Argo, 1944)
Song of Victory (lyrics by A. Shilov, 1945)
Life has become better (lyrics by V. Lebedev-Kumach, 1936)
Echelonnaya (Combat Red Guard) (lyrics by O. Kolychev)
Song about the military commissar (lyrics by O. Kolychev)
Blue Night (lyrics by S. Alymov, 1933)
Volzhskaya Burlatskaya (lyrics by O. Kolychev, 1933)
Song about Stalin (lyrics by S. Alymov)
Partisan battle song
Song of the Red Navy (Sea Song) (lyrics by N. Labkovsky, 1943)
Battle at Lake Khasan (lyrics by S. Alymov)
Far Eastern ditties
On the Caspian Gray Sea (lyrics by S. Alymov)
Corvids flew into Tsaritsyn (Death of a Partisan) (lyrics by O. Kolychev)
About the Papanins (Glory to the brave) (lyrics by V. Lebedev-Kumach)
Eagle tribe (lyrics by B. Lebedev-Kumacha)
Partisan
Song of the 5th Division (lyrics by S. Alymov)
Song of the 11th Army
Song of the 2nd Amur Division (lyrics by S. Alymov, 1929)
Song of the 32nd Division (lyrics by S. Alymov)
Song of the Red Guard Division (lyrics by A. Meyer, 1941)
Song about Lazo (lyrics by B. Zernit, 1938)
Dear side
Song about Marshal Rokossovsky
Solemn victory cantata
Ditties about a ditty (lyrics by A. Irkutov, 1931)
Song about Donbass (Shakhterskaya)
Heroic flight (lyrics by S. Alymov, 1934)
The death of "Chelyuskin"
Transbaikal ditties (lyrics by S. Alymov, 1935)
Song about Klim Voroshilov (lyrics by O. Kolychev and A. Shilov, 1938)
March of the Artillerymen (lyrics by A. Shilov and I. Shuvalov, 1941)
Marching Dance (lyrics by D. Sedykh, 1944)

Spiritual music

“Christ is Risen”, poem for choir, orchestra, organ and soloists (1918)
Concert “Have Mercy on Me, O God” (1926)
6 hymns of the Liturgy
2 hymns of Holy Week “The Prudent Thief”
8 chants of the All-Night Vigil
"Glorification" of Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker
"Praise the name of the Lord"

Operas

“Rusalka”, opera, after A. Pushkin (thesis work, 1913)
“The Death of Ivan the Terrible”, opera in three acts based on the play by A. Tolstoy (1913, unfinished)

For soloists, choir and orchestra

“Poem about Ukraine” (lyrics by O. Kolychev)

For orchestra

Symphonic poem "Death and Life" (1911)
"Symphony fis-minor" in 3 movements (1912)

Other works

Sonata for violin and piano (1st edition - 1913, 2nd edition - 1924)
Concerto for choir in four movements (1917)
Song compositions (montages) - “22nd Krasnodar Division” (1928), “First Cavalry” (1929), “Special Red Banner Far Eastern Army” (1929), “Red Fleet in Songs” (1929), “Song of Magnitogorsk” (1930), “7th Red Banner Division” (1931), “Perekop” (1932), “Paths of Victory” (1933), “Song of Tsaritsyn” (1933)
Musical arrangements of revolutionary and soldier songs, folk songs, songs of different nations, works of opera and chamber classics: “Oh, you, the wide steppe”, “Meadow duck”, “Night, Dunyushka”, “Down along Mother Volga”, “Across the valleys and along the hills”, “Deaf, unknown to the taiga”, “Hero Chapaev walked through the Urals”, “From behind the forest”, “Oh, you’re Kalinushka”, “Gay on the road”, “Deaf, unknown to the taiga”, “Zucchini "(American soldier's song), "Listen, worker", "Our locomotive", "There, far beyond the river", "Cold waves are splashing", "Varyag", "Night", "There was a birch tree in the field", "Not autumn fine rain”, “You rise, red sun”, “Don’t make noise, mother, green oak tree”, “Oh, in the meadow, in the moonlight”, “Kalinka”, “Suliko”, “Susidko”, “If only I could take a bandura” , “La Marseillaise”, “Marching”, “Tipperary”, “Chorus of Soldiers” by C. Gounod, “Ode to Joy” by L. Beethoven, “Hush, Hush” by G. Verdi, “Echo” by O. Lasso, etc.
Music for the cartoon "Little Red Riding Hood" (1937)

Filmography

1942 - Concert to the front (concert film) - Director of the Red Banner Song and Dance Ensemble

Memory

The name of A. V. Alexandrov was given to the Song and Dance Ensemble of the Russian Army.
A school in the village of Plakhino, Ryazan region, is named after A.V. Alexandrov.
The State Concert Hall “Alexandrovsky” (Moscow) bears the name of A.V. Alexandrov.
In 2003, a bust and a museum were opened in the musician’s homeland in the village of Plakhino.
A memorial sign to A. V. Alexandrov was installed on the “Avenue of Stars” in Moscow.
In 1971, the Ministry of Culture of the USSR and the Union of Composers of the USSR established a Gold and 3 Silver medals named after A.V. Alexandrov for success in creating military-patriotic music, and in 2005, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation established the medal “Major General Alexander Alexandrov”.
A number of Russian conservatories have established scholarships named after A. V. Alexandrov.
There is a memorial plaque installed on the house in which A.V. Alexandrov lived.
On April 13, 2013, on the day of the 130th anniversary of Alexandrov’s birth, a monument to him was unveiled in Moscow, in the park in front of house No. 20 on Zemledelchesky Lane, where the ensemble is located today (sculptor A. Taratynov, architect M. Corsi).
In 2014, in Ryazan, in the park on Soviet Army Street, a monument to A.V. Alexandrov was unveiled. The square itself now bears his name.

The famous maestro came to Ulyanovsk to congratulate his girlfriend on her anniversary

Nikolai Alekseev, conductor of the Academic Symphony Orchestra of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, is a well-known person in Ulyanovsk. For many years - for 17 years - he led our UlGASO. And then he returned to his homeland - St. Petersburg. This time Nikolai Gennadievich came to congratulate his old friend, the chief director of the Ulyanovsk Puppet Theater Lyudmila Gavrilova, on her anniversary.

- This holiday cannot be missed! We also have “church” ties with her family. Luda is the godmother of my son Artem. In addition, I planned the concert in Ulyanovsk with a specific goal - to give myself a gift as well.

Ulyanovsk is one of Alekseev’s “home” cities. This is where he spent his youth. The maestro learned to play tennis from us.

— I didn’t dream of becoming a musician. I was simply presented with a fait accompli - my parents sent me to study in the choir department at the age of seven. So all the dreams ended there,” Nikolai Gennadievich admitted. — The choir school is general education and music education at the same time. There was no other way. Usually 25 people entered there, but only 13 graduated.

— Was it difficult to study?

“It’s hard to say, I didn’t know any other life.” The piano teacher brought me to his home before the exam and locked me up. His mom listened to see if I was studying!

— What qualities should a conductor have?

— Impudence, confidence or, if you like, self-confidence. Without them he will not be able to go on stage. If a person is too soft, he can play music at home as much as he likes, but he will never become a conductor.

— How many orchestras do you “command” today?

Three: Dutch, Estonian (with him next year we will celebrate 25 years since my first arrival in Tallinn) and St. Petersburg. This is the orchestra I grew up with. Around the age of ten I started going to concerts regularly and sang in a boys choir.

— Do you have any problems with languages?

“We were taught the craft of conducting very well, so the Russian maestro is distinguished by his ability to work with his hands, and not speak. And abroad, conductors are called lecturers. They love to tell you how and where to play. But they can't show anything.

- How do you manage to do everything?

Some take five orchestras for themselves. But this is no longer serious. We have to keep up. I know what I will do in 2009. This is probably why I get sick less.

— Will the concert in Ulyanovsk be for charity?

- Yes, that's in the order of things. Many famous musicians, who work for substantial fees, give several concerts a season for free. You just need to define the goal. We are still thinking about where the money from the performance will go. Perhaps to the Ulyanovsk Children's Home.