The creative path of B. Okudzhava. Okudzhava Bulat

Bulat Okudzhava is a whole era in the Soviet author's song. It is so different and at the same time recognizable. Among his poems, each person will find some text that will touch the depths of the soul.

You can't say that 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 he 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.

Baby nickname

Okudzhava's childhood nickname was " Cuckoo". There are two main versions of origin. The first says that the infantile cooing of the poet resembled the cry of a cuckoo. So it seemed to his grandmother on his father's side. And according to the second version, Bulat was so named because he constantly wandered around the relatives of his father and mother. The bard wrote about this in his autobiographical novel Abolished Theatre. Reproaches that Ashkhen throws his 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, Lavrenty Beria was in love with the mother of Bulat Shalvovich, Ashkhen. Allegedly, one of the reasons for hatred for 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 will turn to Beria for help. He promises to help and quickly sends her out. But Shaliko Okudzhava was already dead by that moment (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 was arrested, sentenced to five years in the camps and to subsequent exile.

Shot

This fact of the poet's biography is known only from his novel " Abolished theater". But this is hardly intentional.

When Bulat was eleven years old, he was friends with thirteen-year-old Athanasius 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 found their own in each other. Bulat retold school lessons to Afonka. And Bulat himself was attracted to Dergach by a certain “maturity”. Still, he works at a construction site, lives an independent life.

And one far from perfect day, apparently wanting to show off like a boy, Okudzhava dragged off his father's Browning and, together with Afonka and his friends, went to the taiga. The autobiographical novel does not explain how the shot happened, but it did. 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. At the meeting, Afonka hit Bulat in the nose with his fist. This is where their paths diverged.

school ringleader

At twelve, Okudzhava was a far from quiet boy. The leader of the class, as they say, the first guy in the village. He will come up with French wrestling classes in the hallway of his house, where he acts as a gambling arbiter. That organizes the orchestra, and now all the students of his school represent the xylophone, trumpet or ukulele. Or he will persuade the whole class to hum softly, annoying the teacher and disrupting classes.

He also organized the Union of Young Writers (YuP), for entry into which it was necessary to write a story. All these pranks ended after the arrest of his father and the announcement of Bulat "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.

Recognition in "Spark"

Okudzhava, in an interview with Ogonyok magazine, recalls another of his unseemly acts. In 1945 he left home and settled with one of his college friends. A friend was a visitor and rented a room. Classmates lived in poverty, even hungry. And when a friend went away for a short time to relatives, Bulat stole a piece of fabric hidden in a suitcase from him.

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

Farewell to Anna Akhmatova

Few people know about it, 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 vivid image is clearly read in these verses.

"Deadly fire awaits us..."

According to the actor and director Andrei Smirnov, the co-author of the music for the song “We won’t stand up for the price ...”, which was performed for the first time in the film “Belorussky Station”, was the composer Alfred Schnittke, who almost completely changed the musical sequence of the work. At the same time, Schnittke insisted that his name should 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 trousers and skillfully imitated sciatica at customs if he suddenly had to bend over. He was never caught.

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, well, shared with him the responsibility for these acts. After that, many sharply condemned the bard, and Vladimir Gostyukhin publicly trampled on the record with Okudzhava's songs. These events left a significant mark not only in the soul of the poet, but also undermined his health. Until his death, these reproaches haunted the son of Shaliko.

Okudzhava and Poland

The poet has always been loved in the USSR, but not in the same way as in Poland. After all, the very first disc of Bulat was published just in Poland. True, it was not Bulat Shalvovich himself who performed the songs, but Polish artists. Since 1995, annual festivals in honor of the bard have been held in Poland.

There were many interesting events in the life of the poet, they cannot all be contained in one article, and in one book too.

The article is devoted short biography Bulat Okudzhava - a famous poet, performer and screenwriter. Okudzhava was a representative of a true intelligentsia, deeply feeling and understanding what was happening in the country. He rightfully enjoys great popular love.

Biography of Okudzhava: the first years

Bulat Shalvovich Okudzhava was born in 1924 on the Arbat. Born into an international party family (parents are Georgian and Armenian), the boy was to be named Dorian. According to party tradition, children were often given the names of famous personalities and literary heroes (Dorian Gray is the hero of O. Wilde's novel). However, the father insisted on a normal name. Bulat always recalled the Arbat and the childhood spent on it with great love and warmth. The Arbat theme was often used in the later work of the poet. In 1937, Bulat's family was repressed in connection with the "Great Purge" that had begun: as a result, his father was shot, and his mother was exiled to a camp. From 1940 he lived in Tbilisi.
During the Great Patriotic War Okudzhava went to the front as a volunteer, was a mortar man in the Caucasus. In 1945 he was wounded. After the end of the war, Bulat Okudzhava settled in Tbilisi. military theme also found its way into his work. Okudzhava passed the exams externally and entered the Pedagogical University, for several years he was a teacher at a Kaluga school. At the same time he was a correspondent for several newspapers. Bulat tried to write poetry in his childhood and did not stop these attempts. Some of his poems were published during the war. In Kaluga, Okudzhava's poems are already constantly appearing in newspapers. The first collection of poems - "Islands" - is published.
After Stalin's death, Okudzhava's parents were rehabilitated. He moves to the capital, works as a newspaper editor. In 1961, he quits his job and decides to fully concentrate on his creative activity.

Biography of Okudzhava: creative activity

During " Khrushchev thaw"Okudzhava's poems and songs began to be popular in certain circles. The songs were widely dispersed among the people, copied and memorized. Okudzhava's work was sharply criticized by official public institutions and it was semi-legal. However, no serious measures were taken against the poet. In the 60s. Okudzhava wrote most of his songs. In the future, he moved away from this type of creativity and took up prose. He continued to write songs for cinema. Songs for movies brought him real fame, official recognition and popularity among the people.
In Paris, the first official disc with recordings of Okudzhava's songs was released, which caused a protest in the Soviet leadership. Subsequently, Okudzhava's records began to be released in his homeland.
Okudzhava had no musical education, he was ironic about his songs. However, the main thing in his work is not musical accompaniment, but a deep philosophical meaning. Okudzhava for many has become a symbol of free creative personality capable of resisting the totalitarian system. A person should always remain himself and not adapt to the prevailing living conditions. People perceived his work as a breath of freedom in the stuffy Soviet society, subject to regulations and censorship. His songs do not contain frank political appeals and propaganda, so the poet had nothing to complain about with the harsh state eye. But the non-standard, liberalism of his work was obvious.
From the end of the 60s. Okudzhava is actively engaged in prose. Most of his writings are autobiographical. Having not received official recognition, Okudzhava turns to historical prose. He wrote stories about the Decembrist movement and novels about the times of the beginning of the 19th century.
Perestroika again pushed the poet to active work. He makes public appearances, participates in political life countries. In 1993, he supported Yeltsin in the fight against the opposition, which he later regretted. Okudzhava played in the majority largest countries peace. His works have also been translated into many languages ​​and are very popular.
Bulat Okudzhava died in 1997. He left behind over 200 songs and about 600 poems. The poet's poems were used not only in his own songs, many were set to music by famous composers.

Bulat Shalvovich Okudzhava was born on May 9, 1924 in Moscow. He is widely known as one of the most talented Soviet bards, composers and poets. Bulat Okudzhava performed songs based on his own poems. With his work, he forever left his mark on the history of the author's song. The bard and the poet have been dead for almost 20 years, but his songs and poems are still popular among lovers of bard songs.

After Okudzhava's father was shot in the camp, and his mother was arrested and exiled to the camp for 9 years, Bulat lived in Tbilisi with relatives. Bulat studied at school, then got a job as a turner at the factory. In 1943, participating in the battles near Mozdok, he was wounded. It was at this time that one of his first songs was released.

In 1950, Okudzhava received the profession of a teacher, graduating from the University of Tbilisi. After working as a teacher in a rural school, Bulat ended up in the village of Shamordino, Kaluga Region, where he wrote many poems that later became songs.

Okudzhava's literary career begins in 1954. For 40 years, about 15 collections with poems by Bulat Okudzhava were born. Stories, including for children, the play also took place in the work of the author.

In 1958, Okudzhava began to perform songs written by him, and over a fairly short period of time won the hearts of millions of people living in the Soviet Union. His work had a strong influence on the formation of bard songs.

Bulat Okudzhava was noted not only for his participation in episodic roles in Soviet cinema, but also wrote many famous compositions for films, and also visited the role of a screenwriter.

In the period from 1967 to 1985, five records were released with Okudzhava's author's songs (one in France, the rest in the USSR).

During his life, the bard and composer was awarded many awards, prizes and honorary titles.

As for the personal life of the bard, he had two wives. With the first wife, Galina Smolyaninova, they divorced in 1964, their son and daughter died. With his second wife, Olga Artsimovich, he lived in marriage until the end of his days, their son became a musician and composer.

Bulat Okudzhava. Biography

Bulat Shalvovich Okudzhava is a musical and literary figure of the Soviet period. He was born on May 9, 1924 in Moscow and died on June 12, 1997 in Clamart (France). His work is known to this day soviet man loved his songs and poems.

His father is Georgian (Mingrelian) by nationality, and his mother is from Armenia. Mother and father lived in Tiflis, but they left for Moscow to study, Bulat was also born there. Then, with his father, little Bulat went to live in Tbilisi, and his mother worked in the city of Moscow. As participants in the assassination attempt on the director of the Uralvagonstroy plant, his father and his two brothers were shot in 1937. Therefore, Bulat was returned to Moscow to his mother and grandmother, where they lived on Arbat Street. But in 1938 his mother was arrested, she was exiled to Karlag. She returned from the Gulag only in 1947.

Bulat Okudzhava was mobilized into the army in August 1942, since he only then turned 18. In 1944 he was demobilized, because his health deteriorated after being wounded. In 1985 he was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st class. Bulat was enrolled after the war at the University of Tbilisi as a philologist, and at the end he worked as a teacher for several years.

Poetic and singing activity

In 1956, the debut collection of Bulat Okudzhava was released, where his poems were collected. At the same time, he moved to Moscow and became popular thanks to his songs. At the same time, his most famous songs were written, such as "Sentimental March" and others. In 1962, he was approved for a small role in "The Chain Reaction", where he was the performer of his own song "Midnight Trolley". In 1968, his record appeared in France, he also recorded songs for this record in France. In 1970, his song also plays in the film "Belarusian Station". The songs of his authorship were played in the cinema more than 80 times. Already in the mid-70s, his records began to appear on the shelves of the Soviet space.

In addition to working on his works, he took up translation activities. Studied poetry and prose by various authors different countries. Together with Isaac Schwartz, he created a huge number of popular songs. Also, in one almanac, an autobiography was published, stories were printed on historical themes. He also wrote war stories for children and worked as an editor for a well-known publishing house.

Bulat Shalvovich recently lived in the Moscow region, performed with his works in different cities Soviet Union and in the West. He completed his performances in Paris.

Okudzhava died in 1997 due to complications from pneumonia in France, but his body was moved to Moscow and buried.

Biography by dates and Interesting Facts. The most important.

Secondary School No. 2, Rossosh

Essay

on the topic of:

"Life and work of Bulat Okudzhava"

Completed by: Alexander Bastrygin,

student 6 "A" class

Rossosh

2016

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

Until 1940 he lived on the Arbat. Both the date and place of birth of the poet acquired a symbolic character over time. May 9 was the day of the end of the most terrible and inhuman war, about which the front-line soldier Okudzhava managed to say a new word in his songs. Arbat, in the poet's lyrical system, has become a symbol of peace, goodness, humanity, nobility, culture, historical memory - everything that opposes war, cruelty and violence. A significant part of Okudzhava's lyrics was 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, depriving a person of the given right to life by nature. I was wounded by it for life, and still often see in a dream dead comrades, the ashes of houses, the earth torn apart by funnels ... I hate war. Before last day, looking back, admiring the victory, proud of the participants in the Great Patriotic War, the poet did not cease to hope that we, the people, would learn to do without blood, solving our earthly affairs. In the last poems of Okudzhava there are lines:

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

But here is what strangeness is going on in his soul:

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

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

And yet: “The war is so ingrained in me, it’s hard for me to get rid of it. All of us, probably, would be glad to forget about the war forever, but, unfortunately, it does not subside, it is on the heels ... How long will we, people, win 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 the 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, machine gunner, and after being wounded, a heavy artillery radio operator. From 1945 to 1950, Okudzhava studied at the Faculty of Philology of Tbilisi University. Then his first song "Furious and stubborn, burn, fire, burn ..." was born.

In this small, but extremely dynamic and rich text, one can see the original grain of the genre, which will then be widely developed. Here the combination of external simplicity, apparent artlessness with the depth of thought and experience is striking. What is the song about? Yes, about everything in the world: about the inexhaustible mystery of life, about that fullness of being, which we comprehend only on the path of tragic trials. The most serious things are discussed here with artistic lightness, almost carelessness. The song creates an atmosphere of sincerity, trust, inner freedom. The song was born in a student environment, but its author was not yesterday's schoolboy, but a man wise in 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 "violent" and "stubborn" fire through the decades.

After graduating from the university, Okudzhava worked as a teacher of Russian language and literature in a rural school near Kaluga. In 1956, his first poetry collection, Lyrica, was published in Kaluga. Okudzhava moved to Moscow, where his mother returned after rehabilitation. Soon, in the circle of Moscow writers, many of the poet's songs became famous, which he first performed in a friendly circle, and since about 1959 - in public. In the 60s, the need for a genre that would later be called "author's song" turned out to be extremely great. The pattern of its appearance, the 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 a recognized founder of the author's song. Success came to Okudzhava because he turned not to the masses, but to the individual, not to everyone, but to each individual. The subject of poetry in his world was ordinary, everyday life.

Poems began to write in childhood. For the first time, Okudzhava's poem was 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 also published during 1946. In 1953-1955, Okudzhava's poems regularly appeared on the pages of Kaluga newspapers. In Kaluga, in 1956, the first collection of his poems, Lyrica, was also 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 wrote more than 800 poems. Many of his poems are born along with music, there are already about 200 songs.

For the first time he tries himself in the genre of song during the war. In 1946, as a student at Tbilisi University, he created the "Student Song" ("Furious and stubborn, burn, fire, burn ..."). Since 1956, one of the first begins to act as an author of poetry and music songs and their performer. Okudzhava's songs attracted attention. There were tape recordings of his speeches, which brought him wide popularity. Recordings of his songs were distributed throughout the country in thousands of copies. His songs were heard in films and performances, in concert programs, in television and radio programs. The first CD was released in Paris in 1968 despite opposition Soviet authorities. Disks came out noticeably later in the USSR.

At present, the State Literary Museum in Moscow has created a fund of Okudzhava's tape recordings, numbering over 280 items.

Professional composers write music to Okudzhava's poems. An example of luck is V. Levashov's song to Okudzhava's verses "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 Cavalier Guard", "Road Song", songs for the TV movie "Straw Hat" and others).

Books (collections of poems and songs): "Lyric" (Kaluga, 1956), "Islands" (M., 1959), "Cheerful drummer" (M., 1964), "On the road to Tinatin" (Tbilisi, 1964), "Magnanimous March" (M., 1967), "Arbat, my Arbat" (M., 1976), "Poems" (M., 1984, 1985), "Dedicated to you" (M., 1988), "Selected" (M., 1989), " Songs (M., 1989), Songs and Poems (M., 1989), Drops of the Danish King (M., 1991), Mercy of Fate (M., 1993), Song about my life (M., 1995), "Tea drinking on the Arbat" (M., 1996), "Waiting room" (N.Novgorod, 1996).

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

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

In the late 1960s Okudzhava turns to historical prose. In 1970-80s. separate editions published the story "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 "Journey of Amateurs" written on the historical material of the early 19th century ( Ch. 1. 1976; Ch. 2. 1978) and "Date with Bonaparte" (1983).

Books (prose): "The Front Comes to Us" (M., 1967), "A Sip of Freedom" (M., 1971), "Charming Adventures" (Tbilisi, 1971; M., 1993), "Shipov's Adventures, or Ancient Vaudeville" (M. , 1975, 1992), "Selected Prose" (M., 1979), "Journey 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., 1995).

Okudzhava's performances were held 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 of Fools" (London, 1964), "Be Healthy, Schoolboy" (Frankfurt am Main, 1964, 1966), "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), "Charming Adventures" (Tel Aviv, 1975), "Songs" in 2 volumes (ARDIS, vol. 1, 1980; vol. 2, 1986 (1988).

Drama performances were staged based on Okudzhava's play "A Sip of Freedom" (1966), as well as his prose, poems and songs.

Productions : "A sip 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 drama. theatre. M. Gorky, 1986); "Merci, or an old vaudeville" (L., musical comedy theater, 1974); "Be healthy, schoolboy" (L., Youth Theater, 1980); "Music of the Arbat Yard" (M., Chamber Music Theatre, 1988). Films: film and television.

From the mid 1960s. Okudzhava acts as a screenwriter. Even earlier, his songs begin to sound in films: in more than 50 films, more than 70 songs based on Okudzhava's poems are heard, of which more than 40 songs are based on his music. Sometimes Okudzhava is removed himself.

Screenplays:

"Zhenya, Zhenechka and Katyusha" (1967; co-authored with V. Motyl; Staging: Lenfilm, 1967);

"Private life Alexander Sergeevich, or Pushkin in Odessa" (1966; co-authored with O. Artsimovich; the film was not staged);

Songs in films (most famous works):

to own music:

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

"We will not stand up for the price" ("Belorussky Station", 1971)

"Wishing Friends" ("Key without the right to transfer", 1977)

"Song of the Moscow militia" ("Great Patriotic", 1979)

"Lucky Lot" ("Legal Marriage", 1985) to music by I. Schwartz:

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

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

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

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

"Merry 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-bats, soldiers were walking ...", 1976).

Books:

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

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

Works in the frame:

Feature (feature) films:

"Zastava Ilyich" ("I'm twenty years old"), Film Studio. M. Gorky, 1963

"Key without the right to transfer", Lenfilm, 1977

"Legal marriage", Mosfilm, 1985

"Keep me, my talisman", Film Studio im. 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 TV, 1992

His life has become a legend. No tape recording will convey all the richness of the intonations of his wonderful voice, although, of course, there is nothing pretentious in his voice. Poems and songs of Bulat Okudzhava reflect Big world existing both in time and space of human values, 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 short Internet encyclopedia will give every curious dry information: "Poet, prose writer, screenwriter. Author and performer of songs, founder of the author's song direction." But then it was clear to several generations of people at once - another great era became only a "property".

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

According to a brief biography, Bulat Okudzhava was born on May 9, 1924 in Moscow into a multinational family: his father, Shalva Okudzhava, was of Georgian blood, and his mother, Ashkhen Nalbadian, was Armenian.

Two years after the birth of their first child, the whole family moved to their father's homeland - in Tbilisi. There, Shalva Okudzhava, a staunch communist, simply rose through the ranks. At first he served as secretary of the Tbilisi city committee, and then in 1934 he was asked to accept the post of first secretary of the Nizhny Tagil city party committee.

However, in those years, the Soviet repressive machine was already established and worked non-stop. In 1937, Okudzhava's father was arrested and sentenced to death on false evidence. And Ashkhen was exiled to the Karaganda camp in 1938. She returned after 12 long years.

Okudzhava was brought up by his grandmother, and in the 40th he moved to relatives in the capital of Georgia.

War years

With the beginning of the war against the fascist invaders, Bulat Okudzhava decided to get to the front at all costs. But young age did not allow to carry out the plan. Only in 1942, straight from the ninth grade, did he volunteer to serve. First, two months of training, and then - a mortar in the 5th Guards Don Cavalry Cossack Corps.

Participated in the battles near Mozdok. But at the end of 1942 he was seriously wounded. It is worth briefly noting that, according to the poet himself, he was wounded by stupidity - a stray bullet. It was insulting and bitter, because so many times under direct fire he remained unharmed, and here, one might say, in a calm atmosphere and such an absurd wound.

After his recovery, he never returned to the front. He served as a radio operator in a heavy artillery brigade. The first song in Okudzhava's biography appears at the front - "We couldn't sleep in cold cars."

Prose writer, poet and bard

IN post-war years Okudzhava returns to his native Tbilisi, takes his high school exams and enters the specialty "philologist" at Tbilisi University. During his studies, he met Alexander Tsybulevsky, a student and aspiring lyricist, who greatly influenced his development as a poet. In the 50th he receives a diploma of higher education and teaches Russian language and literature in high school in the village of Shamordino, located near Kaluga. In 1956, the first collection of poems "Lyric" was published.

Moscow

In the same year, 1956, the 20th Congress of the CPSU was held, the main result of which was the condemnation of Stalin's personality cult.

It was after him that the poet's mother was rehabilitated and the two of them were allowed to move back to Moscow. In the capital, Bulat Okudzhava first holds the position of deputy editor for the literature section at Komsomolskaya Pravda, then works as an editor at Young Guard, and finally moves to Literaturnaya Gazeta.

The work of a young poet and novice prose writer does not stand still either. In 1961, Konstantin Paustovsky published the collection Tarusa Pages, which included Okudzhava's work Be Healthy, Schoolboy. Despite sharp negative criticism for its pacifist content, four years later the story was filmed under a new title - Zhenya, Zhenechka and Katyusha. But criticism went not only to the author's prose. In the 60s, bard songs were also persecuted. According to the conclusion of the official commission, they could not fully express the moods and feelings of the Soviet youth. However, the youth themselves did not know about this, and always sought to get to the concerts and creative evenings of the famous bard.

National fame came to Okudzhava after the release of the feature film "Belarusian Station". It contains a powerful, deep and at the same time subtle song "Birds don't sing here ...".

Personal life

On a personal level, the poet and bard was not and could not be alone: ​​"on account" - two official marriages. Unfortunately, Bulat Shalvovich's first marriage to Galina Smolyaninova ended in divorce. The background was largely served by two tragedies that happened in the family: a daughter dies at a very young age, and her son subsequently became addicted to drugs.

Olga Artsimovich, a physicist by profession, becomes Okudzhava's second wife. This marriage was much happier. In it, the son Anton is born - a wonderful composer in the future.

Other biography options

• There were many legends about Bulat Shalvovich during his lifetime. For example, many believed that his talent was born and flourished during the war. However, his wife Olga argued otherwise. At the front, his lyrics were amateurish, and most of them have not survived. Most the best works were created in the 50s.
• Creative people, as a rule, do not pay any attention to everyday life. But Bulat Okudzhava was not one of them. He knew how to do everything: wash dishes, cook, and work with a hammer. At the same time, Olga Okudzhava was still the head of the family. She decided how to act and when. He loved her and listened to her.
• In 1991, Bulat Okudzhava was diagnosed with a serious heart disease. An operation was immediately required, which at that time cost more than tens of thousands of dollars. Of course, the family did not have such an amount. Best friend poet Ernst Neizvestny was even going to take a loan secured by his house. But the money was collected by the whole world: one dollar, one hundred.
• Okudzhava was an atheist and kept saying that he did not believe in God. But just before his death, he was, at the insistence of his wife, baptized. She believed that a man of such a huge soul could not be an unbeliever.