B.A.Mokrousov

B.A.Mokrousov [pronounced moh-kroh-OOssoff] (1909--1968) -- Russian Soviet composer, renowned for his songs. Biographical data in brief: born 1909 in Nizhny Novgorod, died 1968 in Moscow, in 1936, graduated from the Moscow Conservatory in the master class of composition given by Prof. N.Ya. Miaskovsky. in 1948, was awarded the Stalin Prize (see below), in 1962, was given the title of an Honoured Artist of the Chuvashian Republic.

At work

Once in the spring of 1998 my friends and I were riding home from forest in a small steam locomotive, commonly called a "cuckoo". We were in an elated mood, I took my "Yunost" camp accordion made by the Shuya factory out of its case and we began hollering "When Spring Comes", then "Vologda", then "To the Attack in Steel Ranks". The audience who, for the most part, were grannies from the neaby villages gave a benevolent ear to our performance. Some began to join in singing.
-- Boys, can you do "Near the City of Gorky"? And "Camp Fires are Burning Far Away"? And "A Lonesome Accordion"?
-- Sure we can. Sing along!

Music to all of the above-named songs has been written by Boris Andreyevich Mokrousov. In the 40s-60s the songs by Mokrousov were known to everybody in Russia. The songs were well-known and loved. And, I should say, they were worth it. His melodies and harmonies, for all their seeming simplicity, always have something unexpected, a trifling treasure, which by some miracle convey the atmosphere of the time and the human feelings packed in musical notes.

People loved Boris Mokrousov not only for his remarkable music but also for the fact that as a person he corresponded in the extreme to the traditional Russian archetype. Take for example the famous incident of 1948, when Boris Andreyevich, having been awarded the Stalin Prize, would not buy himself two of the "ZIM" luxury cars (today, that'd be Mercedes 600), but put the money in his pocket and rode to the House of Creative Work for Composers near the small town of Ruza. There he went straight to the local country pub and started to give a treat (drinks) to everybody present. The news of this flew round the neighborhood. People from neighboring villages were coming in flocks: some on foot, and some on a tractor. A national feast to celebrate a prize being awarded to the beloved composer went on until his money ran out and all of his songs were sung over and over again to the accompaniment of an accordion.

Apart from the numerous songs, from the pen of Boris Mokrousov have come the opera "Chapai (Chapayev)", compositions for a symphony orchestra, chamber and instrumental music works, incidental music to theater plays and movies ("Stalingrad", "25 Years of RKKA (Workers' and Peasants' Red Army)", "Poddubenskiye chastooshki", "Spring in Zarechnaya Street", "Our Neighbors", "Wedding with Dowry", "Whereabouts Unknown", "Elusive Avengers " and others.)

The following table provides access to the texts, notation (PostScript) and music as MIDI files for 48 selected songs of the great composer. For some of the songs recordings in RealAudio, MP3 or VQF format are also available. Most of the MIDI files have been keyed in by my son Vasya Duzhin from printed music listed below. The songs that we could not find in collected sheet music have been adapted by the ear after listening to their classic performances.

New: Two songs to the music of Mokrousov performed by Yves Montand (with French text).

Title	Poet	Lyrics	Score	MIDI	Recording
I'll wait for you	V.Haritonov			-	V.Nechaev
Vologda	M.Matusovskij				Pesnjary
You are always beautiful	N.Glejzarov				V.Nechaev
A forest pathway is winding into the distance	N.Labkovskij				V.Nechaev
Where are you?	N.Cherkez			-	R.Sikora
Let's meet today	S.Smirnov				V.Goncharov
A small house in Baikonur	- ? -	-	-	-	V.Troshin
Wait for the soldier	S.Ostrovoj				-
The sacred stone	A.Zharov				L.Utesov
They started singing	A.Sofronov		-	-	Soundtrack of the movie
A drinking song	M.Isakovskij	-	-	-	Abramov and Bunchikov
The steppe is breaking into bloom with woods	A.Fat'janov				V.Nechaev
A willow	A.Sofronov		-	-	Soundtrack of the movie
When spring comes...	A.Fat'janov				N.Rybnikov
When a distant friend is singing	Ja.Helemskij		-	-	M.Bernes
Camp fires are burning far away	I.Shamov				V.Nechaev
Couplets of Kurochkin	A.Fat'janov				V.Doronin
My beloved lives in Kazan	Vl.Solov'ev				-
Noise of the sea	V.Balashov, Vl.Karpov				G.Abramov
We are high-flying people	A.Fat'janov				Nechaev and Bunchikov
You and I were not friends	M.Isakovskij				K.Shul'zhenko
On your little porch	A.Fat'janov				V.Krasovitskaja
Summer lightnings die out	L.Kondyrev			-	-
Invite me to a date	S.Smirnov				N.Avdeeva
Lonely accordion	M.Isakovskij				G.Abramov
Autumn leaves	M.Lisjanskij				V.Nechaev
Song of a driver in love	N.Labkovskij		-	-	M.Bernes
Song about Satan	R.Rozhdestvenskij		-	-	Soundtrack of the movie
Song of an army truck driver	N.Labkovskij, B.Laskin				M.Bernes
Yura's song (iz k-f "Vesna na Zarechnoj ulitse")	A.Fat'janov				Soundtrack of the movie
Song of the defenders of Moscow	A.Surkov				Krasnoznamennyj ansambl'
Song of the elusive avengers	R.Rozhdestvenskij		-	-	Soundtrack of the movie
My song is dedicated to	Ja.Helemskij		-	-	M.Bernes
Song of Yashka the Gipsy	R.Rozhdestvenskij		-	-	Soundtrack of the movie
Dance of Chapayev soldiers	D.Furmanov :-)	-			-
Along the planked footway	A.Fat'janov		-	-	V.Nechaev
By a direct wire	V.Haritonov	-	-	-	G.Abramov
Nightingales sing in the forest	A.Sofronov			-	-
A romance sung by Josie	R.Rozhdestvenskij		-	-	Soundtrack of the movie
Lyric song of Sormovo	E.Dolmatovskij				G.Ots I.Shmelev and P.Kirichek I.Shmelev and B.Mokrousov
My Soviet land	M.Matusovskij				-
You are by my side	N.Glejzarov				V.Nechaev
You must hear me	M.Isakovskij		-	-	G.Abramov
Beautiful are garden flowers in spring	S.Alymov				G.Abramov
What feelings	A.Sofronov		-	-	Soundtrack of the movie
Wide are you, my dear Russia	A.Churkin				-
Looking across the river	V.Malkov, G.Stroganov				-
I had a darling	A.Sofronov		-	-	Soundtrack of the movie

Our MIDI files do not claim to be anything but true to the original notation. In order to improve their sound, the reader is free to add the parts of string, percussion and wind instruments. I am grateful to Vadim Smolensky, who listened to all of the music and offered some useful criticism. In particular, he insisted that in the accompaniment to the "Vologda" song the change to the dominant should occur in the 23rd bar, and not in the 25th bar as I had it originally.

Here is a catalog of all songs by B.Mokrousov I know of, with references to printed music publications. The catalog, currently listing 168 songs, will hopefully be corrected and supplemented.

In May 2003, a remarkable official site of B.Mokrousov has appeared. It is maintained by the composer's nephew B.G.Onusaitis and his wife Zh.V.Vasilieva with the help of the webmaster N.Kruzhkov.

Internet addresses containing lyrics, notations and sound files of the songs by Soviet composers of the classical period:

• Vitaly Brousnikin. Collection of gramophone records.
• Sergey Grenke. Songs from motion pictures.
• Grigory Ofman. Nostalgic Music Collection.
• Alexei Kochanov. Old gramophone record.
• Roman Sinelnikov. Alexandra Pakhmutova in Internet.
• Nikolai Kruzhkov. Virtual retro disk collection..

Main URL: http://www.pdmi.ras.ru/~duzhin/Mokrousov/. Mirror: http://www.botik.ru/~duzhin/PESNI/Mokrousov/. This page appeared on 21-Jan-00. Last update 13-Aug-03. Author: S.V.Duzhin. English translation made by Nikolay Pautov (npautov@fer.ru) with some editing on my part.