Okudzhava Bulat - biography, facts from life, photographs, background information. To help schoolchildren Okudzhava during the war years

Bulat Okudzhava is a whole era in Soviet art song. He is so different and at the same time recognizable. Among his poems, every person will find some kind of text that will touch them to the depths of their souls.

This cannot be said about every poet. His texts are both simple and complex at the same time. The works of Bulat Shalvovich reflect the good and bad moments of the author’s life.

Name change

Bulat Okudzhava was born on May 9, 1924 in Moscow. Parents who admired the writer Oscar Wilde, and especially his work “The Picture of Dorian Gray,” named their newborn son Dorian. By the time of the necessary registration of his son, Shalva decided that the name “Dorian” was too pompous for a young Soviet citizen. And it was changed to a more modest and familiar to the Georgian ear name “Bulat”. Subsequently, Okudzhava will also name his son Bulat, but at home the child will be called “Antoshka”, in honor of his favorite toy.

Childhood nickname

Okudzhava’s childhood nickname was “ Cuckoo" There are two main versions of the origin. The first says that the poet’s infant crowing resembled the cry of a cuckoo. That's how it seemed to his paternal grandmother. And according to the second version, Bulat was called that because he constantly wandered among the relatives of his father and mother. The bard wrote about this in his autobiographical novel “The Abolished Theater.” Reproaches that Ashkhen throws her son to various relatives and does not raise him herself were attributed to Aunt Sylvia.

Lavrenty Beria and the Okudzhava family

According to the legend of the Okudzhava family, Lavrentiy Beria was in love with Bulat Shalvovich’s mother, Ashkhen. Allegedly, one of the reasons for hatred of Shalva Okudzhava was this love for a beautiful Armenian woman. It was because of disagreements with Beria that Shalva was transferred from Georgia to Russia. However, the conflict occurred more on political grounds than on personal grounds.

Subsequently, in 1939, being in complete obscurity after the arrest of Shalva, Ashkhen turned to Beria for help. He promises to help and quickly sends her away. But Shaliko Okudzhava was already dead by this time (the trial in his case took place on August 4, 1937, on the same day the sentence was carried out). The day after the visit to Beria, Bulat’s mother will be arrested, sentenced to five years in the camps and subsequent exile.

Shot

This fact of the poet’s biography is known only from his novel “ Abolished theater" But it’s unlikely that they come up with this on purpose.

When Bulat was eleven years old, he was friends with thirteen-year-old Afanasy Dergach, who worked at a construction site. The friendship was somewhat unequal, the son of the party organizer Okudzhava and the ragamuffin Dergach. But Afonka and Bulat each found their own in each other. Bulat retold Afonka's school lessons. And Bulat himself was attracted to a certain “maturity” in Dergach. Of course, he works at a construction site and lives an independent life.

And one day, apparently wanting to show off boyishly, Okudzhava stole his father’s Browning and, together with Afonka and his friends, went to the taiga. The autobiographical novel does not explain how the shooting happened, but it happened. Luckily for the party organizer’s son, the bullet did not hit Afonka’s vital organs and went right through. But Dergach never forgave Okudzhava. When they met, Afonka hit Bulat in the nose with his fist. This is where their life paths diverged.

School ringleader

At twelve years old, Okudzhava was far from a quiet boy. The leader of the class, as they say, is the first guy in the village. Then he will come up with French wrestling classes in the hallway of his house, where he acts as a gambling referee. Then he organizes an orchestra, and now all the students of his school imitate a xylophone, trumpet or ukulele. Or he will persuade the whole class to hum quietly, irritating the teacher and disrupting classes.

He also organized the Union of Young Writers (SYUP), to join which you had to write a story. All these pranks ended after his father was arrested and Bulat was declared “the son of an enemy of the people.” After these events, something inside the poet broke. And from a leader he turned into an inconspicuous and shy boy.

Confession in Ogonyok

Okudzhava, in an interview with Ogonyok magazine, recalls another of his unseemly acts. In 1945, he left home and settled with one of his institute friends. A friend was visiting and renting a room. My classmates lived poorly, even hungry. And when the friend went to visit relatives for a while, Bulat stole a piece of fabric hidden in his suitcase.

He later sold the cut at the market and spent the money very quickly. The returning friend discovered the loss, but did not openly blame Okudzhava for it. But it was precisely this circumstance that subsequently separated the friends.

Farewell to Anna Akhmatova

Few people know about this, but the song “Farewell to the New Year Tree” was written in memory of the wonderful poetess Anna Akhmatova, who died in March 1966. Her subtle and bright image is clearly read in these verses.

"A deadly fire awaits us..."

According to actor and director Andrei Smirnov, the co-author of the music for the song “We will not stand for the price...”, heard for the first time in the film “Belorussky Station”, was composer Alfred Schnittke, who almost completely changed the musical composition of the work. At the same time, Schnittke insisted that his name not be indicated in the credits and that the authorship belonged entirely to Bulat Okudzhava.

Political activities of Bulat Okudzhava

According to Alexander Ginzburg, the poet served as a liaison between the Solzhenitsyn Foundation in Paris and Soviet political prisoners. He gave them money from the fund.

Okudzhava carried anti-Soviet literature in his trousers and skillfully imitated sciatica at customs if he suddenly had to bend over. He was never caught doing this.

In 1993, on October 4, Bulat Okudzhava became one of those who signed the “letter of forty-two.” That is, he supported and, in his own way, approved the actions of the government, or shared responsibility for these actions with it. After this, many sharply condemned the bard, and Vladimir Gostyukhin publicly trampled the record with Okudzhava’s songs. These events left a significant mark not only on the poet’s soul, but also undermined his health. Until his death, these reproaches haunted Shaliko's son.

Okudzhava and Poland

The poet has always been loved in the USSR, but not nearly as much as in Poland. After all, Bulat’s very first record was published in Poland. True, the songs were performed not by Bulat Shalvovich himself, but by Polish artists. Since 1995, Poland began to hold annual festivals in honor of the bard.

There were many interesting events in the poet’s life; they cannot all be included in one article, or even in one book.

He once admitted: “All my life I have been doing what gave me pleasure - prose, poetry, songs. When some process ended, I moved on to another.” He was like that in love - sincere, intolerant of falsehood, unable to lie. This spring Bulat Okudzhava, a wonderful poet and bard, would have turned 88 years old.

Two eternal roads - love and separation - pass through my heart...” These lines Bulat Okudzhava I wrote, being wise from life experience, having repeatedly ignited and extinguished the fire of love in my heart. In a heart that did not know how to lie in anything - not in actions, not in poetry, and especially in love... Perhaps there are more of them - the heroines of his novels. But this is not the main thing. Each of them was His Majesty a Woman, as he wrote in his poems...

First love came early. Bulat was barely 11 years old. He was a handsome boy with huge brown eyes and thick curly hair. It was in his mature years that he seemed withdrawn and reserved. And then he was known as a ringleader and a favorite of girls. He and Lelya studied at a Nizhny Tagil school in the fourth grade. Lessons ended in the evening, it got dark early, and the lights at school were often turned off. As soon as the light went out, Bulat rushed headlong to Lyola’s desk, sat down next to her and, while no one was looking, pressed his shoulder to her. And he was silent.

He was transferred to another school. But he did not forget about his love. One day, Lelya’s mother received a letter, and in it was a photograph of a boy. On back side it was written: “Lele from Bulat.” He was waiting for an answer from her. And without waiting, he ran away from classes and came to school, to Olya. After class, I walked her home. Their next meeting took place 60 years later! Lelya kept his photo all these years. They met again in 1994. For three years, until his death, he wrote letters to her.

Sara Mizitova is also one of her school hobbies. He was impressed by her rosy cheeks and slanting Tatar eyes. At first they just looked at each other with Sarah, and then they began to walk together. She was the first to take his hand, which completely conquered him...

In 1942, as a 17-year-old boy, Bulat volunteered for the front. And, sitting in the trenches, he yearned for the girl with whom he lived in the same Arbat courtyard. He even burned her initial – the letter “K” – on his hand. When the war ended, he returned to Moscow and wanted to see her. He came to that same yard and met a fat, unkempt woman hanging laundry on a line. She did not recognize Bulat. He left, realizing that in love one can never return to the past.

His next novel took place in post-war Moscow. Valya lived on Arbat. She was studying at the Moscow Art Theater School when she met a short guy. He didn't seem very handsome to her, and he wasn't tall enough either. But he was cheerful and smart.

The guy wrote her amazing poems. Then he left for Leningrad, and she was sent to the Tambov theater. When Valya became the famous TV presenter Valentina Leontyeva, and Bulat Okudzhava became a symbol of the generation, they met again.

Leontyeva called him to invite him to her program “With all my heart.” He refused, and then the TV presenter read him that same poem. He never published it. As he later explained, the poems were too personal. On his last book, Okudzhava wrote to her: “We met 50 years later. I now terribly regret that we lost these years without seeing each other - how many things could have been different!”

Bulat lost his family early - his father was shot on a false denunciation, and his mother was exiled to Karlag. This is probably why he got married so early - in his second year, apparently, he was in great need of family warmth. He and Galya, his future wife, studied at the university together. After graduating, we went together to teach in the Kaluga region, in the village of Shamordino. Galina was simple, sincere and loved Bulat recklessly. Their first child, a girl, died as soon as she was born.

Then a son, Igor, was born. But the marriage has already cracked. In the late 50s, they felt like strangers to each other. But Okudzhava did not dare to divorce for a long time - he felt like a traitor. When the family moved to Moscow, he met Olga Batrakova. It was to her that he dedicated “Song about the Moscow Ant”,

"And when surprisingly close." And although his relationship with his wife was bursting at the seams, he behaved indecisively with Olga - she was fourteen years younger than him. He got her a job at Litgazeta, where he worked and took her to visit friends. But he never decided to get married. She married someone else, but their romance continued for several more years... In 1989, Okudzhava accidentally met her and found out that she did not have his “Chosen One”. Soon Batrakova received the parcel. On the volume with poems it was written: “Ole with thirty years of love.” For the sake of truth, it must be said that in 1960 Okudzhava experienced another love. This time his queen was actress Zhanna Bolotova, he dedicated the song “On the Smolensk Road” to her. And immediately after he began a relationship with another actress, Larisa Luzhina. This romance lasted for a whole year. But Larisa chose someone else...

A company of academicians invited him to the apartment on Pekhotnaya, 26. In this community he was especially favored. Among the guests were Pyotr Kapitsa and Artem Alikhanyan, some of their students, about fifteen people in total. Okudzhava came with his wife Galina. At that time, they already lived in different apartments, but maintained a relationship, the bard took her with him to performances.

In this company was Olga Artsimovich, the niece of a famous physicist and herself a physicist by training. At that time she was already married. But, noticing the famous poet’s interest in herself, she reciprocated. True, I didn’t think that the acquaintance would continue. Okudzhava called the next morning her uncle, with whom Olga was staying in Moscow, because she lived in Leningrad. By chance, Bella Akhmadulina became their pimp. It was she who asked her to call her to the phone at Bulat’s request. He invited Olga to meet at the Central House of Writers. They talked for three hours. Artsimovich later admitted that she had never felt so comfortable with anyone. She felt an absolute kinship with the poet. Only at 12 o'clock at night did they leave the House of Writers. Okudzhava hugged her and timidly asked: “Will you marry me?” She agreed. She had to return home to her husband and explain to him. Soon Okudzhava arrived in Leningrad, stayed at a hotel and a month later moved to Olga for good.

A year later, his first wife, Galina, died of acute heart failure. She had a heart defect since her youth.

In appearance, she calmly reacted to the final break with her husband. But it seems that this external calm was difficult for her. Okudzhava considered himself guilty of her premature departure. He also blamed himself for the tragic fate of his son Igor.

After the death of his mother, the boy lived with her relatives. Okudzhava wanted to take his son to live with him, new family, but with Olga they lived in a cramped apartment, they had a child, Bulat Jr., and Galina’s relatives protested.

However, Okudzhava did not show much persistence. Igor later began to see his father regularly. He grew up kind, soft, but weak-willed. I never found myself in life. He was either a musician or a butcher. And then he started drinking, became a hippie, used drugs, got into a criminal history, and lost his leg. He died early, at 43 years old. And all the time he was the inconsolable pain of his father.

...It happened on April 3, 1981. Okudzhava was invited to speak at the Institute of Soviet Legislation. Natasha Gorlenko, who was barely 26 years old, worked there after graduating from MGIMO. She loved his songs since childhood.

Especially "Prayer". After the concert, they drank tea, and Natasha’s friends praised her to the bard: “You should listen to how she sings!” The girl came out to see him off. Her husband was waiting for her; she was pregnant. They exchanged phone numbers. But her child died as soon as he was born. Natalya and Bulat have not seen each other for a year. Gorlenko called Okudzhava herself. Thus began their secret meetings. He was encrypted - he left the house supposedly to walk the dog. And in 1984 they began performing together. Sang " Grape seed" and "After the Rain" for two voices. As Natalya assures, there was a period when Bulat Shalvovich left home and they lived together. And then they decided to break up. But we met again and again...

Olga could not stand the gossip and demanded that Okudzhava leave his family. The bard admitted that it was difficult for him to live a double life. But I couldn’t make a final decision. In May 1997, Bulat and Olga went on their last trip abroad. First to Germany, where he received treatment, and then to Paris. There, Bulat Shalvovich developed an ulcer, the bleeding did not stop, and he was transferred to intensive care. On June 11, doctors warned that his situation was very serious.

His wife decided to baptize him, giving him the name John. He was unconscious.

Secondary school No. 2 in Rossoshi

Essay

on the topic of:

“The life and work of Bulat Okudzhava”

Completed by: Bastrygin Alexander,

student of class 6 "A"

Rossosh

2016

Bulat Shalvovich Okudzhava (1924 - 1997) is one of the most original Russian poets of the 20th century, the recognized founder of the art song.

Until 1940 he lived on Arbat. Both the date and place of the poet’s birth acquired a symbolic character over time. May 9 was the day of the end of the most terrible and inhumane war, about which front-line soldier Okudzhava managed to say a new word in his songs. Arbat, in the poet’s lyrical system, became a symbol of peace, goodness, humanity, nobility, culture, historical memory - everything that opposes war, cruelty and violence. A significant part of Okudzhava’s lyrics were written under the impressions of the war years. But these songs and poems are not so much about war as against it: “War, you see, is an unnatural thing, taking away from a person the right to life given by nature. I am wounded by it for the rest of my life, and in my dreams I still often see dead comrades, ashes of houses, the earth torn apart by craters... I hate war.” Before last day, looking back, admiring the victory, proud of the participants in the Great Patriotic War, the poet never ceased to hope that we, people, will learn to do without blood when solving our earthly affairs. Okudzhava’s last poems contain the lines:

The soldier walks with a rifle, he is not afraid of the enemy.

But here’s the strange thing going on in his soul:

He hates guns, and he is not happy about wars...

Of course, if it’s not a bast shoe, but a soldier.

And yet: “The war has become so ingrained in me that it is difficult for me to get rid of it. We would all probably be glad to forget about the war forever, but, unfortunately, it does not subside, it follows on our heels... How long will we, people, defeat this war?

Bulat's life was not easy. In 1937, the poet's father, a major party worker, was arrested and then shot. The mother was sent to a camp. Bulat Okudzhava himself barely managed to avoid being sent to an orphanage as the son of an “enemy of the people.” From the ninth grade of a Moscow school, he went to the front, where he was a mortar man, a machine gunner, and, after being wounded, a heavy artillery radio operator. From 1945 to 1950, Okudzhava studied at the Faculty of Philology at Tbilisi University. That’s when his first song “Fierce and stubborn, burn, fire, burn...” was born.

In this small, but extremely dynamic and rich text, one can see a kind of grain of the genre, which will then receive widespread development. What is striking here is the combination of external simplicity, apparent artlessness with the depth of thought and experience. What is the song about? Yes, about everything in the world: about the inexhaustible mystery of life, about the fullness of being that we comprehend only on the path of tragic trials. The most serious things are spoken here with artistic ease, almost carelessness. The song creates an atmosphere of sincerity, trust, and inner freedom. The song was born among students, but its author was not yesterday’s schoolboy, but a man wise with life and military experience, who knew not from books what “the most doomsday" It is no coincidence that today, so many years later, Okudzhava’s first song is not at all outdated; its romantic and philosophical mood is still close to many. Both the poet himself and the knights of the author’s song who followed him carried this “fierce” and “stubborn” fire through the decades.

After graduating from university, Okudzhava worked as a teacher of Russian language and literature in a rural school near Kaluga. In 1956, his first poetry collection “Lyrics” was published in Kaluga. Okudzhava moves to Moscow, where his mother returned after rehabilitation. Soon, many of the poet's songs became famous among Moscow writers, which he first performed in a friendly circle, and from about 1959 - publicly. In the 60s, the need for a genre that would later be called the “art song” turned out to be extremely great. The pattern of its appearance, its natural entry into the culture of that time was accurately expressed by David Samoilov:

Former defenders of the state,

We missed Okudzhava.

Bulat Okudzhava is the recognized founder of the original song. Success came to Okudzhava because he addressed not the masses, but the individual, not everyone, but each individual. The subject of poetry in his world became ordinary, everyday life.

He began writing poetry in childhood. Okudzhava's poem was first published in 1945 in the newspaper of the Transcaucasian Military District "Fighter of the Red Army" (later "Lenin's Banner"), where his other poems were published during 1946. In 1953-1955, Okudzhav’s poems regularly appeared on the pages of Kaluga newspapers. In Kaluga, in 1956, the first collection of his poems, “Lyrics,” was published. In 1959, Okudzhava’s second collection of poetry, “Islands,” was published in Moscow. In subsequent years, Okudzhava’s poems were published in many periodicals and collections, books of his poems were published in Moscow and other cities.

Okudzhava owns more than 800 poems. Many of his poems are born together with music; there are already about 200 songs.

For the first time he tries himself in the song genre during the war. In 1946, as a student at Tbilisi University, he created the “Student Song” (“Furious and stubborn, burn, fire, burn...”). Since 1956, he was one of the first to act as the author of poetry and music, songs and their performer. Okudzhava’s songs attracted attention. Tape recordings of his performances appeared, which brought him widespread popularity. Recordings of his songs were sold throughout the country in thousands of copies. His songs were heard in films and plays, in concert programs, on television and radio broadcasts. The first disc was released in Paris in 1968, despite resistance Soviet authorities. Noticeably later, discs were released in the USSR.

Currently, the State Literary Museum in Moscow has created a collection of tape recordings of Okudzhava, numbering over 280 storage units.

Professional composers write music to Okudzhava’s poems. An example of luck is V. Levashov’s song to Okudzhava’s poems “Take your overcoat, let’s go home.” But the most fruitful was Okudzhava's collaboration with Isaac Schwartz ("Drops of the Danish King", "Your Honor", "Song of the Cavalry Guard", "Road Song", songs for the television film "Straw Hat" and others).

Books (collections of poems and songs): "Lyrics" (Kaluga, 1956), "Islands" (M., 1959), "The Cheerful Drummer" (M., 1964), "On the Road to Tinatin" (Tbilisi, 1964), "Magnanimous March" (M., 1964) 1967), "Arbat, my Arbat" (M., 1976), "Poems" (M., 1984, 1985), "Dedicated to you" (M., 1988), "Favorites" (M., 1989), " Songs" (M., 1989), "Songs and Poems" (M., 1989), "Drops of the Danish King" (M., 1991), "Grace of Fate" (M., 1993), "Song about My Life" (M., 1995), "Tea Party on Arbat" (M., 1996), "Waiting Room" (Nizhny Novgorod, 1996).

Since the 1960s. Okudzhava works a lot in the prose genre. In 1961, his autobiographical story “Be Healthy, Schoolboy” (published as a separate edition in 1987), dedicated to yesterday’s schoolchildren who had to defend the country from fascism, was published in the almanac “Tarussky Pages”. The story received a negative assessment from supporters of official criticism, who accused Okudzhava of pacifism.

In subsequent years, Okudzhava constantly wrote autobiographical prose, compiling the collections “The Girl of My Dreams” and “The Visiting Musician” (14 short stories and tales), as well as the novel “The Abolished Theater” (1993), which received an award in 1994. International Prize Booker Award as the best novel of the year in Russian.

At the end of the 1960s. Okudzhava turns to historical prose. In 1970-80 The stories "Poor Avrosimov" ("A Sip of Freedom") (1969) about the tragic pages in the history of the Decembrist movement, "The Adventures of Shipov, or Ancient Vaudeville" (1971) and the novels "The Journey of Amateurs" (1971) were published in separate editions. Part 1. 1976; Part 2. 1978) and “Date with Bonaparte” (1983).

Books (prose): “The Front Comes to Us” (M., 1967), “A Breath of Freedom” (M., 1971), “Lovely Adventures” (Tbilisi, 1971; M., 1993), “The Adventures of Shipov, or Ancient Vaudeville” (M. , 1975, 1992), “Selected Prose” (M., 1979), “Travel of Amateurs” (M., 1979, 1980, 1986, 1990; Tallinn, 1987, 1988), “Date with Bonaparte” (M., 1985 , 1988), “Be healthy, schoolboy” (M., 1987), “The Girl of My Dreams” (M., 1988), “Selected Works” in 2 vols. (M., 1989), “The Adventures of a Secret Baptist” (M., 1991), “Tales and Stories” (M., 1992), “Visiting Musician” (M., 1993), “Abolished Theater” (M., 1993), 1995).

Okudzhava's performances took place in Australia, Austria, Bulgaria, Great Britain, Hungary, Israel, Spain, Italy, Canada, Poland, USA, Finland, France, Germany, Sweden, Yugoslavia, Japan.

Okudzhava’s works have been translated into many languages ​​and published in many countries around the world.

Books of poetry and prose published abroad (in Russian): "Song about Fools" (London, 1964), "Bless you, Schoolboy" (Frankfurt am Main, 1964, 1966), "The Merry Drummer" (London, 1966), "Prose and Poetry" (Frankfurt am Main) , 1968, 1977, 1982, 1984), “Two Novels” (Frankfurt am Main, 1970), “Poor Avrosimov” (Chicago, 1970; Paris, 1972), “Lovely Adventures” (Tel Aviv, 1975), "Songs" in 2 volumes (ARDIS, vol. 1, 1980; vol. 2, 1986 (1988).

Dramatic performances were staged based on Okudzhava’s play “A Sip of Freedom” (1966), as well as his prose, poetry and songs.

Productions : “A breath of freedom” (L., Youth Theater, 1967; Krasnoyarsk, Youth Theater named after Lenin Komsomol, 1967; Chita, Drama Theatre, 1971; M., Moscow Art Theater, 1980; Tashkent, Russian dram. Theater named after M. Gorky, 1986); "Mercy, or ancient vaudeville" (L., musical comedy theater, 1974); “Be healthy, schoolboy” (L., Youth Theater, 1980); "Music of the Arbat Courtyard" (Moscow, Chamber Musical Theatre, 1988). Films: cinema and television.

Since the mid-1960s. Okudzhava acts as a film playwright. Even earlier, his songs began to be heard in films: in more than 50 films, more than 70 songs based on Okudzhava’s poems were heard, of which more than 40 songs were based on his music. Sometimes Okudzhava acts in films himself.

Film scripts:

“Zhenya, Zhenechka and Katyusha” (1967; co-authored with V. Motyl; Production: Lenfilm, 1967);

"Private life Alexander Sergeich, or Pushkin in Odessa" (1966; co-authored with O. Artsimovich; film not produced);

Songs in films (most famous works):

to your own music:

"Sentimental March" ("Zastava Ilyich", 1963)

“We will not stand behind the price” (Belorussky Station, 1971)

"Wish to Friends" ("Untransferable Key", 1977)

"Song of the Moscow Militia" ("The Great Patriotic War", 1979)

"Happy Draw" ("Legitimate Marriage", 1985) to the music of I. Shvarts:

"Drops of the Danish King" ("Zhenya, Zhenechka and Katyusha", 1967)

"Your Honor" ("White Sun of the Desert", 1970)

"Song of the Cavalry Guard" ("Star of Captivating Happiness", 1975) songs for the film "Straw Hat", 1975

"Road Song" ("We were not married in church", 1982) to the music of L. Schwartz

"The Cheerful Drummer" ("My Friend, Kolka", 1961) to the music of V. Geviksman

"Old Pier" ("Chain Reaction", 1963) to music by V. Levashov

“Take your overcoat, let’s go home” (“From Dawn to Dawn”, 1975; “Aty-Bati, the soldiers were walking...”, 1976).

Books:

"Zhenya, Zhenechka and Katyusha..." (M., 1968)

"Drops of the Danish King". Film scripts and songs from films (M.: Kinotsentr, 1991).

Works in the frame:

Feature (fiction) films:

"Ilyich's Zastava" ("I am twenty years old"), Film Studio named after. M. Gorky, 1963

"The key without the right of transfer", Lenfilm, 1977

"Legitimate Marriage", Mosfilm, 1985

"Keep me safe, my talisman", Film Studio. A.P. Dovzhenko, 1986

Documentaries:

"I remember wonderful moment"(Lenfilm)

"My contemporaries", Lenfilm, 1984

"Two hours with bards" ("Bards"), Mosfilm, 1988

"And don't forget about me", Russian television, 1992

His life became a legend. No tape recording will convey the full richness of the intonations of his wonderful voice, although, of course, there is nothing elaborate or pretentious in his voice. Bulat Okudzhava's poems and songs reflect Big world human values ​​that exist both in time and in space; it would be more accurate to say - universal human values.

On June 12, 1997, tragic news came from France to Russia - Bulat Okudzhava died. A decade later, any brief Internet encyclopedia will give every curious person dry information: “Poet, prose writer, film scriptwriter. Author and performer of songs, founder of the art song movement.” But then it was immediately clear to several generations of people that another great era had become only a “property.”

Bulat Okudzhava pitied everyone in his songs: both good and bad. He felt sorry for himself, tired travelers, girls, married women and grandmothers, he felt sorry for the “blue ball”, the infantry, the boys, again himself, again the women, and finally, his soul.

The life and work of Bulat Okudzhava

Report on literature by Pavel Danilov

I think everyone has heard the name Bulat Okudzhava. I will ask: “Who was he?” Someone will answer me: “poet.” Someone: “prose writer.” Someone else: “film screenwriter.” Even someone who says: “the author and performer of songs, the founder of the art song movement,” will still not be mistaken.

This is what Bulat Shalvovich himself told Ogonyok correspondent Oleg Terentyev about his life:

Well what can I tell you. I was born in Moscow, on Arbat in 1924. I am Georgian by origin. But, as my Moscow friends say, Georgians are of the Moscow flood. My native language is Russian. I am a Russian writer. My life was ordinary, the same as the life of my peers. Well, except for the fact that in 1937 my father, a party worker, was killed here in your wonderful city (Sverdlovsk). I lived in Nizhny Tagil for three years. Then he returned to Moscow. Studied at school. After ninth grade, at the age of seventeen, he voluntarily went to the front. Fought. He was a private. Mortarman. Was injured. Remained alive. He studied at the university at the Faculty of Philology. Graduated. Went to a village school in the Kaluga region. Worked as a teacher. He taught Russian language and literature. Well, like most, I wrote poetry. Of course, he didn’t take this seriously. But gradually, gradually it all intensified in me. He began to publish in the regional Kaluga Newspaper. Then, when Stalin died and democratic norms of normal life began to improve in our country, I was offered to work at the regional Komsomolskaya Gazeta. I was in charge of the propaganda department. And there, in Kaluga, my first small book of poetry was published. But since there were no other poets in Kaluga, I was considered the best. I felt very dizzy. I was very arrogant. It seemed to me that I had already reached the greatest heights. Although these poems were very weak, imitative. They were dedicated mainly to holidays and seasons. Then I moved to Moscow. There I got into one literary association. There were very strong young poets there who beat me soundly. At first, in the first minutes, I thought that they were jealous. Then I realized that I myself was to blame for this. I didn’t write anything for about a year in despair. But then nature took its toll. I started writing. Whether it's good or bad is not for me to judge. But the way I write to this day. At the end of 1956, that is, exactly thirty years ago, in the fall of 1956, I first picked up a guitar and sang my comic poem to the accompaniment. This is how the so-called songs began. Then there were more of them, and finally, when there were already six or seven of them, they began to be heard... And at that time the first tape recorders appeared. And at work - I worked at the publishing house "Young Guard" - calls began to ring in, and people invited me home to sing their songs. I happily took the guitar and drove to an unknown address. About thirty quiet intellectuals gathered there. I sang these five songs of mine. Then I repeated them again. And he left. And the next evening I went to another house. And so it dragged on for a year and a half. Well, gradually - the tape recorders worked - it all spread very rapidly, quickly. Well, people appeared who found it necessary to fight me. Now I understand that these songs were very unusual after what we usually sang. Some people thought it was dangerous. Well, as always, the Komsomol was the skirmisher. The first feuilleton about me was published in the Leningrad newspaper "Smena" on instructions from Moscow. But since it was hastily made, there was a lot of humor in it. Well, for example, there was this phrase: “A suspicious man came onto the stage. He sang vulgar songs with a guitar. But girls won’t follow such a poet. Girls will follow Tvardovsky and Isakovsky.” This is a way to determine the quality of literature - who girls will follow. Now it all sounds funny, but then, believe me, it wasn’t very funny to me. It was very difficult. This means there were a lot of incidents and absurdities. I was rushing about. I felt like I was doing something interesting, but I was met with opposition. One day I was invited to a very high authority. And I had one of my first songs - “Song about Lenka Queen”. Maybe you've heard it. Well, I was told by a high authority, a person who was burdened with great knowledge about culture, he said that this song should not be sung, because it incorrectly orients young people. “How is she oriented incorrectly?” - I asked. - “But you have these lines there: “he went to fight and died, and there is no one to mourn his life.” How, that is, there is no one? After all, there are people left, all sorts of organizations ... "

But I didn’t believe this man’s taste and continued to sing this song. About three years later I came up with the song “About Fools.” This man invited me again and told me: “Listen! You had a wonderful song about Lenka Korolev. Why do you need to sing about fools?” Well, I realized that time does its job. This is the best judge. It removes weak things, but leaves good things. Therefore, we do not need to fuss, judge, decide. Everything will be resolved by itself. Art is such a thing. Long-suffering. Well, then, after these feuilletons and all the noise began to appear, my friends in the Writers' Union decided to discuss me. There was a very heated discussion. And I was accepted into the Writers' Union. But after that I felt a little better, books of poetry began to come out. Some singers began to sing my songs. Although a very small number, because the songs were unusual, and they had to go through the artistic council. And the artistic councils were afraid of these songs and rejected them. But someone sang. Then these songs sounded in films, in some, in plays. Then they began to get more used to them. I started traveling around the country to perform. Then I was sent abroad. I performed abroad. I started releasing records. Then I began to write prose... And they got so used to me that even one summer day, when, according to tradition, tenth graders go out to the embankments of Moscow at night to say goodbye to school, there was such an occasion. A television machine rushed to the embankment to record the songs of these young people. We approached one group. There's rock and roll. We drove up to another group - there was also something of this type. They began to rush about. And finally we saw - near St. Basil's Cathedral there was such a small group with a guitar, and they were singing my song. They were so happy to hear theirs that they recorded it and broadcast it. And so I was legitimized. Here you go. And then a normal period of literary life began. And now I already have five novels and several books of poetry and records under my belt. And now a record with new songs should be released. So in my literary life I am a happy person, because I went through fire, water, and copper pipes. And he resisted. And I remained myself, as far as my character allowed me to. And I continue to work. Alive and well.

short biography

Bulat Shalvovich Okudzhava was born on May 9, 1924 in Moscow into a family of party workers (father - Georgian, mother - Armenian). He lived on Arbat until 1940. In 1934 he moved with his parents to Nizhny Tagil. There, his father was elected first secretary of the city party committee, and his mother was elected secretary of the district committee. In 1937, the parents were arrested; the father was shot, the mother was exiled to the Karaganda camp. O. returned to Moscow, where he and his brother were raised by their grandmother. In 1940 he moved to relatives in Tbilisi.

IN school years from the age of 14 he was an extra and stage worker in the theater, worked as a mechanic, at the beginning of the Great Patriotic War- a turner at a defense plant. In 1942, after finishing the ninth grade of high school, he volunteered to go to war. He served in a reserve mortar division, then after two months of training he was sent to the North Caucasus Front. He was a mortarman, then a heavy artillery radio operator. He was wounded near the city of Mozdok. In 1945 he was demobilized.

Graduated as an external student high school and entered the philological faculty of Tbilisi University, where he studied from 1945 to 1950. After graduating from the university, from 1950 to 1955 he was assigned to teach in the village of Shamordino and the regional center of Vysokinichi, Kaluga region, then at one of the secondary schools in Kaluga. There, in Kaluga, he was a correspondent and literary contributor to the regional newspapers "Znamya" and "Young Leninist".

In 1955, the parents were rehabilitated. In 1956 he returned to Moscow. Participated in the work of the literary association "Magistral". He worked as an editor at the Molodaya Gvardiya publishing house, then as head of the poetry department at Literaturnaya Gazeta. In 1961 he left the service and devoted himself entirely to free creative work.

Lived in Moscow. Wife - Olga Vladimirovna Artsimovich, physicist by training. Son - Bulat Bulatovich Okudzhava, musician, composer.

Last interview

The last interview given by Okudzhava to Denis Levshinov, a student of the Faculty of Journalism at Moscow State University, in the spring of 1997 and published in Izvestia on June 14 of the same year.

Bulat Shalvovich, how do you feel about your popularity?

You know, I am not a vain person, but an ambitious one. A vain person tries to be known, and an ambitious person tries to be. I've never been interested in the buzz around my name. But as an author, of course, it’s nice to know that they treat me well.

Many consider you almost a folk hero.

If I lived on a desert island, I would do the same thing - this is my profession, my calling. I can’t live any other way, and then, the real admirers of my work, thoughtful and serious people, they don’t throw up their hands when they see me. Some, especially earlier, when I started performing with a guitar, perceived me as a pop performer - they made noise, squealed, but quickly calmed down and went to other halls, and not very many remained with me, but very faithful and thinking people.

Are you writing anything now, I see you have drafts of poems scattered everywhere?

I write all the time and work all the time.

Biography

Bulat Okudzhava born in Moscow on May 9, 1924 into a family of communists who came from Tiflis to study at the Communist Academy. Father - Shalva Stepanovich Okudzhava, Georgian, famous party leader, mother - Ashkhen Stepanovna Nalbandyan, Armenian, relative of the famous Armenian poet Vahan Teryan.

Soon after Bulat's birth, his father was sent to the Caucasus to work as a commissar of the Georgian division. Mother remained in Moscow, worked in the party apparatus. Bulat was sent to Tbilisi to study and studied in a Russian class. Father was promoted to secretary of the Tbilisi City Committee; Because of a conflict with Lavrenty Beria, he sent a letter to Sergo Ordzhonikidze with a request to send him to party work in Russia, and was sent to the Urals as a party organizer to build a carriage factory in the city of Nizhny Tagil. Then Shalva Stepanovich became the 1st secretary of the Nizhny Tagil city party committee and soon sent his family to live with him in the Urals. Bulat began studying at school No. 32.

In 1937, Okudzhava's father was arrested and executed on false charges (August 4, 1937). Soon after his father's arrest, in February 1937, his mother, grandmother and Bulat moved to Moscow. First place of residence in Moscow - st. Arbat, 43, communal apartment on the 4th floor. Okudzhava’s mother was arrested in Moscow in 1938 and exiled to the Karaganda camp, from where she returned only in 1955. Bulat Okudzhava rarely spoke or wrote about his ancestors and his fate; only towards the end of his life, in the autobiographical novel “Abolished Theater” (1993), he spoke about the hardships of his family.

In 1956, after the rehabilitation of both parents and the 20th Congress, he joined the CPSU.

In 1959 Okudzhava returned to Moscow. In the same year, he began performing as a songwriter (poems and music) and performing them with a guitar, quickly gaining popularity. The composition of many of the most famous early songs dates back to this period (1956-1967). Okudzhava(“On Tverskoy Boulevard”, “Song about Lenka Korolev”, “Song about the Blue Ball”, “Sentimental March”, “Song about the Midnight Trolleybus”, “Not tramps, not drunkards”, “Moscow Ant”, “Song about the Komsomol goddess”, etc.).

He worked as an editor at the Molodaya Gvardiya publishing house, then as head of the poetry department at Literaturnaya Gazeta. Participated in the work of the literary association "Magistral".

In 1961, he left the service and no longer worked for hire, focusing exclusively on creative activities.

In 1961, the first official evening of art songs on the territory of the USSR took place in Kharkov. Bulat Okudzhava. The evening was organized by literary critic L. Ya. Livshits, with whom B. Okudzhava had friendly relations. In 1962, Okudzhava became a member of the USSR Writers' Union. In the same year, Okudzhava first appeared on screen in the film “Chain Reaction”, in which he performed the song “Midnight Trolleybus”.

In 1970, the film “Belorussky Station” was released, in which the song was performed Bulat Okudzhava"We need one victory". Okudzhava- author of other popular songs for such films as “Straw Hat”, “Zhenya, Zhenechka and Katyusha” (in which Okudzhava, in a cameo role, sings with a guitar in a soldier’s uniform), etc. In total, Okudzhava’s songs and his poems are heard in more than 80 films. Okudzhava became one of the most prominent representatives of the genre of Russian art song (along with V. S. Vysotsky and A. A. Galich), which was soon developed by bards and which gained enormous popularity with the advent of tape recorders. Okudzhava formed his own direction in this genre.

Historical novels

1969 - “Poor Avrosimov”
1970 - “The Adventures of Shipov, or Vintage Vaudeville”
1976 - “Journey of Amateurs”
1983 - “Date with Bonaparte”
1993 - “Abolished Theater”

Collections

1967 - “Magnanimous March”
1976 - “Arbat, my Arbat”
1984 - “Poems”
1989 - “Favorites”
1988 - “Dedicated to you”
1993 - “Mercies of Fate”
1996 - “Waiting Room”
1996 - “Tea Party on Arbat”