Biography of Okudzhava. Bulat Okudzhava - biography, photo, personal life: visiting musician The most famous songs

Bulat Okudzhava was born in Moscow on May 9, 1924 in a family of communists who came from Tbilisi to study at the Communist Academy. Father Okudzhava Shalva Stepanovich, Georgian, mother Ashkhen Stepanovna Nalbandyan, Armenian.

First place of residence st. Arbat, 43, communal apartment on the 4th floor.

Soon after the birth of Bulat, 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, studied in the Russian class. Father was promoted to secretary of the Tbilisi city committee; because of a conflict with Beria, he wrote 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 a car building plant. Bulat's father sent the family to his place in the Urals.

After the parents were arrested in 1937, his father was shot on false charges in 1937, his mother was exiled to the Karaganda camp, from where she returned only in 1955. Bulat and his grandmother returned to Moscow. In 1940, Bulat Okudzhava moved to live with relatives in Tbilisi. He studied, then worked at the plant as a turner apprentice.

In April 1942, Okudzhava went to the front as a volunteer. He was sent to the 10th Separate Reserve Mortar Battalion. Then, after two months of training, he was sent to the North Caucasian Front. He was a mortar operator, then a heavy artillery radio operator. He practically did not take part in hostilities; was accidentally wounded near Mozdok.

His first song “We didn’t sleep in cold cars” (1943) dates back to this time, the text of which has not been preserved.

The second song was written in 1946 "An old student song" ("Furious and Stubborn").

After the war, Okudzhava entered the Tbilisi State University. Having received a diploma, in 1950 he began working as a teacher first in a rural school in the village of Shamordino Kaluga region and in district center Vysokinichi, then in Kaluga.

Since 1955, member of the CPSU.

In 1956 Okudzhava returned to Moscow. In the same year, he began to act as an author of poems and music for songs and perform them with a guitar, quickly gaining popularity.

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

In 1961, he left the service and no longer worked for hire, being engaged exclusively in creative activities.

Since 1962 Member of the Writers' Union of the USSR.

In 1970, the film "Belorussky Station" was released, in which a song was performed to the words of Bulat Okudzhava "Birds Don't Sing Here". Okudzhava is the author of other popular songs for films (the movie "Straw Hat", etc.)

The first disc with Okudzhava's songs was released in Paris in 1968. Since the mid-seventies, Okudzhava's discs have also been released in the USSR.

The songs of Bulat Okudzhava, spreading in tape recordings, quickly gained popularity, primarily among the intelligentsia: first in the USSR, then among Russian speakers abroad. The songs "Let's join hands, friends", "While the Earth is still spinning" ("Francois Villon's Prayer") have become the anthem of many KSP rallies and festivals. In addition to songs based on his own poems, Okudzhava wrote a number of songs based on poems by the Polish poetess Agnieszka Osiecka, which he himself translated into Russian.

In 1961, Okudzhava made his debut as a prose writer: his autobiographical story “Be Healthy, Schoolboy” was published in the almanac “Tarus Pages” (in a separate edition in 1987).

Published novels: "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 written on historical material early XIX century novels "Journey of amateurs" (part 1. 1976; part 2. 1978) and "Date with Bonaparte" (1983).
Monument on the Arbat
Monument on the Arbat

Since the beginning of perestroika, Bulat Okudzhava has been taking an active democratic position, participating in current politics.

Since 1989 founding member of the Russian PEN Center.

In 1990 he left the CPSU.

Since 1992 Member of the Pardon Commission under the President of the Russian Federation; since 1994 Member of the Commission for State Prizes of the Russian Federation.

* Member of the founding board of the Moscow News newspaper.
* Member of the founding board of the General Newspaper.
* Member of the editorial board of the newspaper "Evening Club".
* Member of the Board of the Memorial Society.

Since the early 1990s, he has lived mainly in Germany. On June 23, 1995 Bulat Okudzhava gave a concert at the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris.

June 12, 1997 Bulat Okudzhava died in Paris (in the suburbs of Clamart), in a military hospital.

Buried in Moscow Vagankovsky cemetery. At house 43 on the Arbat, where Okudzhava lived, a monument was erected to him.

Awards, titles

* Laureate of the State Prize of the USSR. 1991.
* Booker Prize 1994, for the autobiographical novel The Abolished Theatre.

Collections

* "Lyric" (Kaluga, 1956),

"March magnanimous" (1967),

* "Arbat, my Arbat" (1976),

"Poems" (1984), "Selected" (1989),

* "Dedicated to you" (1988),
* "Grace of Fate" (1993),

"Waiting Room" (Nizhny Novgorod, 1996), "Tea Party on the Arbat" (1996),

* Bulat Okudzhava. 20 songs for voice and guitar. - Krakow: Polish Music. publishing house, 1970.- 64 p.
* Bulat Okudzhava. 65 songs (Musical recording, editing, composition by V. Frumkin). Ann Arbor, Michigan: Ardis, vol. 1 1980, vol. 2 1986.
* Songs of Bulat Okudzhava. Melodies and texts. The compiler and author of the introductory article L. Shilov, the musical material was recorded by A. Kolmanovsky with the participation of the author). - M .: Muzyka, 1989. - 224 p.

Screenplays

* "Fidelity" (1965; co-authored with P. Todorovsky; Production: Odessa Film Studio, 1965);
* Zhenya, Zhenechka and Katyusha (1967; co-authored with V. Motyl; Staging: Lenfilm, 1967);
* "The Private Life of Alexander Sergeyevich, or Pushkin in Odessa" (1966; co-authored with O. Artsimovich; film not staged);
* "We loved Melpomene" (1978; co-authored with O. Artsimovich; the film was not staged).

BULAT OKUJAVA - SYMBOL POET

With name Bulat Okudzhava associated with many legends. No wonder, because such personalities appear in the poetic and musical world infrequently and deservedly become legendary.

His poems are disassembled into quotes, the songs have become iconic and symbolic for the era of the sixties, and he Bulat Shalvovich was the brightest representative of his generation.

Unenviable childhood

It so happened in nature that the fate of talented people is full of personal tragedies, struggles, searches, wanderings and other hardships. Probably, only a person who has experienced and survived a lot can create works for centuries. Only then are they filled with true meaning, deep and meaningful, penetrate into souls and find a response there. Such was fate Bulat Okudzhava.

His life coincided with an era of change, the globality and consequences of which could be understood and appreciated only by a few. was born in 1924 in Moscow. His parents came to the capital to study on the party line. Father Bulat was Georgian, and his mother was Armenian. At the same time, they named their son Dorian in honor of the famous literary hero.

Two years later, the whole family returned to the capital of Georgia, where Shalva Stepanovich was moving up the party ladder. Then he had a conflict with Lavrenty Beria, after which his father Bulat Okudzhava asked to be sent to work in Russia. So the family ended up in Nizhny Tagil.

Thunder struck (as for many families of that bloody period Soviet history) in 1937, when Shalva Stepanovich was arrested on a false denunciation of his supposedly counter-revolutionary Trotskyist work. Then came the sentence and execution. The same fate befell his father's brothers. In 1939, the mother was also arrested. Okudzhava- Ashkhen Stepanovna. First, she was sent to the camps of the Karaganda region, and ten years later she was sentenced to eternal settlement in the vastness of the vast Krasnoyarsk Territory. Bulat My grandmother and my brother Victor moved to Moscow, and then my aunt from Tbilisi took him in to be brought up.

First successes

In Georgia, he graduated from high school, worked at a factory as an apprentice turner and was looking forward to coming of age to go to the front. In August 1942, he was sent to the mortar division, in which he participated in the battles, and in 1943 he was wounded near Mozdok. Okudzhava demobilized and sent to the rear. He passed the exams externally, received a secondary education and entered the philological faculty of Tbilisi University.

After graduation, he went to work as an ordinary teacher of Russian language and literature in the most ordinary Kaluga village. At home after work, he tried to write poetry, although he took his hobby completely frivolously, but over time, the poetic style Bulat became more and more confident. Some of his poems even began to be published in the newspaper, and after Stalin's death in 1953 he was offered to head the propaganda department in the regional newspaper. It was there, in Kaluga, at Okudzhava The first small book of poems was published.

The young poet had no creative competitors in the provincial town, so his first successes made him dizzy. Later Bulat Shalvovich said that his poems were mostly imitative, but the realization of his own success in the literary field gave him the strength to move forward.

Bard Bulat Okudzhava

In 1956, after the famous XX Congress of the CPSU, the parents Okudzhava leucorrhoea rehabilitated. Myself Bulat even joined the party, and in 1959 he moved to Moscow. There he met young poets - Andrei Voznesensky and others. Then he first picked up a guitar (paradoxically, but musical education Okudzhava did not have and did not even know musical notation) and began to accompany his poems. Thus began his bard creativity, or rather, he became one of the founders of the author's song.

When he already had several such songs behind him, Bulat began to invite friends and ordinary acquaintances to visit them to perform these author's songs. If there was a tape recorder in the house, singing Okudzhava definitely recorded. In this way, Moscow quickly became acquainted with his work.

He continued to work in newspapers, write poetry and try his hand at other literary genres. His story "Be healthy, schoolboy" Konstantin Paustovsky included in the literary almanac, and director Vladimir Motyl later made a film based on this work - "Zhenya, Zhenechka and Katyusha".

Bulat Shalvovich became popular in narrow circles of people who understand and think. During that period of time, he wrote the songs “Midnight Trolleybus”, “Not Tramps, Not Drunkards”, “Sentimental March”, “Song of Lenka Koroleva” and others.

System opposition

Creativity soon Bulat Okudzhava became interested in the "competent authorities", too unusual for many were his songs with a guitar. They began to publish custom feuilletons about him in newspapers, which means that his poems did not leave anyone indifferent. Resentment, irritation, rejection - this is also a reaction to Okudzhava, the main thing is that there was no indifference.

Myself Bulat experienced this period difficult, rushed about in search of the right solution, but he understood that it was now that he was on the right track and was doing something extraordinary, interesting, exciting, which ran into a wave of opposition from the system. Then he realized that art requires a lot of patience and endurance, only in this way time will put everything in its place, leaving the strongest in people's memory. creative work, and the weak ones will be relegated to the background of history.

took over Bulat and in the Writers' Union of the USSR. His songs were mercilessly criticized, believing that such art does not befit Soviet heroic youth, does not reflect its ideals, aspirations, aspirations. Criticism also attacked his novels "Poor Avrosimov" and "The Adventures of Shipov", but the intelligentsia, on the contrary, showed genuine interest in them. But it was membership in the Writers' Union that allowed him to print several books of his poems. His songs began to be performed by some other singers (there were not many of them, because often artistic the council did not let musical works inaccessible to its understanding pass to the masses).

However, for some reason the author himself did not like this, just as he did not like speaking in front of a large audience. He was a chamber singer, it was enough for him to have a hall with 200 seats, in which he could see the eyes of every spectator who came to listen to him. Sometimes he complained that on tour in different cities officials with their wives who did not understand anything in his work came to his concert, from which he became embarrassed.

Your Honor Bulat Okudzhava

Many at that time were annoyed by non-publicity Bulat Okudzhava, he had no signs of star disease, he did not pursue fame. Despite membership in the CPSU Bulat Shalvovich did not experience euphoria from the activities of the party, allowed himself some freethinking, but did not speak too critically of the top. He was never in the ranks of dissidents, although his whole family suffered from grief from Soviet power. Officials did not like him, but it is likely that they secretly listened to his songs, as was the case with. With his decency, he, as it were, challenged the existing system, never caved in under the system, but could work on the stage, receive decent fees, write songs to order, scripts for films.

with his first wife Galina

finest hour Bulat Okudzhava struck when the tape "Belorussky Station" came out on the screens, in which his piercing march "We need one victory" sounded. This so-called trench song was proposed to be included in the film by screenwriter Vadim Trunin. Okudzhava presented the composition to the judgment of director Andrey Smirnov and composer Alfred Schnittke. The reaction of the two masters was radically different - Smirnov did not like the melody at all, but Schnittke heard it in the melody Okudzhava future movie hit with a military theme. Schnittke wrote an orchestral version of this march and insisted that on the record that was released after the film, the authorship of the music was assigned to Bulat Shalvovich.

"And don't forget about me"

After this recognition Okudzhava allowed to go on tour abroad. There, he began to release records, and then he began to try his hand at prose works. Thus began the white streak of his literary life, when he could publish what he wrote. Five of his historical novels, several collections of poems were published, he wrote scripts for four films, released several records with new songs. This allowed Bulat Okudzhava feel happy, having gone through years of trials, retaining humanity, integrity, self-esteem, and his voice with a hoarse voice to become one of the symbols of a bygone era.

with his second wife Olga

The songs “Your Honor, Lady Luck” (from the film “White Sun of the Desert”), “Take an overcoat, let's go home” (from the film “Aty-bats were soldiers”), compositions from the films “Pokrovsky Gates”, “Dagger”, “ Straw Hat", "The Adventures of Pinocchio" and others Bulat Okudzhavu popular favorite. But his first records in his homeland appeared only in the mid-1970s, although before that they had been released in Poland and France.

During foreign tours, he was often offered to stay forever in European countries, but he loved Moscow and could not imagine his life in another city or outside the country in which his ancestors lived. Only once did he decide to stay in France to improve his failing health. There he died in a military hospital in the suburbs of Paris in 1997 after suffering from the flu.

He was idolized, envied and hated. This is a typical situation for outstanding person, which was . Time judged everyone and (as he himself said) preserved his best works for people. He managed to capture the hearts of several generations and gave hope to many with his prayerful poetry.

with Natalia Gorlenko

DATA

The famous song "The Prayer of Francois Villon" Okudzhava dedicated to his first wife Galina, whom he left for another woman. Galina died of cancer, and Bulat blamed himself for her illness.

At his dacha, which has now become a museum, he collected bells. They occupied the entire ceiling of the room. The beginning of the collection was laid by the poetess, who brought an exquisite bell from a distant country. Since then, all the guests periodically brought Bulat Shalvovich it is these ringing objects.

Updated: April 8, 2019 by: Elena

Okudzhava Bulat Shalvovich (1924-1997) - Soviet and Russian poet, prose writer and screenwriter, bard and composer. The brightest representative of the author's song in the USSR. On the basis of poems of his own composition and the folk epic of the Caucasus, he composed more than 200 author's and pop songs.

Childhood

Bulat was born on May 9, 1924 in the famous Grauerman maternity hospital in Moscow. The family where the boy was born was Bolshevik. His father, Shalva Stepanovich Okudzhava, was sent from Tiflis to the Moscow Communist Academy for party studies. His father was Georgian by nationality, and his mother, Nalbandyan Ashkhen Stepanovna, was Armenian.

On the Moscow Arbat, in a five-room apartment, the family was allocated two rooms. Six months after the birth of Bulat, Shalva Okudzhava was again summoned to Georgia in connection with party work. His wife, with her young son and nanny, remained in Moscow.

Basically, Bulat was brought up by a nanny, since his mother worked in the party apparatus. As an adult, Okudzhava recalled that dad was so distant, as if painted, and mom was almost a ghost that appeared only in the evenings. A tired woman came home when her baby was already asleep, tightly pressed the warm lump to her, and she continued to think about her party affairs.

When the boy was 5 years old, his father came to Moscow. But a year later he was appointed to new position- First Secretary of the Tiflis City Party Committee. This time, the Okudzhavs all left together for Georgia.

Youth

Bulat began his studies at the Tiflis Russian School. Since by that time he had perfect pitch, he was additionally sent to study at a music school.

His father did not stay long in party work in Georgia, as he had a conflict with Beria, and Shalva Okudzhava himself turned to Ordzhonikidze to be transferred to work in Russia.

In 1932, the family moved to Nizhny Tagil, where Bulat's father headed the construction of the largest Ural carriage plant. The Okudzhavs now lived far from the center of the USSR, and in Leningrad it was at this time that the wheel of political terror was already beginning to spin. Everything was calm in the Bulat family, in 1934 his brother Viktor was born.

But in 1937 this bloody wheel reached Nizhny Tagil. Shalva Stepanovich was arrested, and his wife and two sons again moved to Moscow. She was expelled from the party and soon arrested. Bulat recalled how he was afraid then that he and his brother would not be handed over to an orphanage. But the boys were taken in by their maternal grandmother Maria Vartanovna.

All relatives helped as much as possible, but still there was not enough food. Grandmother gave all her strength to looking after little Vitya, and 13-year-old Bulat was completely left to himself. He grew up as an ordinary "red" boy, idolized the pilot Chkalov and the Spanish communist Dolores Ibarruri, dreamed of becoming a hero of the Arctic, rejoiced at the successes of socialism, was sure that he lived in the best advanced camp in the world. And he did not know that by that time his father had already been shot.

Since it was hard for my grandmother with two boys, Bulat was taken to Tbilisi by his mother's sister Silvia. On the summer holidays he used to go there often, but now he has moved to a permanent place of residence and in the fall he went to a Georgian school.

By this time, the young man had already begun to write poetry. Uncle, after listening to his writings, jokingly said that it was time to publish it, like Pushkin. The naive boy believed and went to the publishing house. The secretary listened attentively to the boy and said that he would gladly publish his poems, but, unfortunately, the publishing house ran out of paper.

And then it was no longer up to paper: the war began. Bulat Okudzhava volunteered for her. Near Mozdok he was wounded, he ended up in the hospital. Having recovered, Bulat returned to the front, but the wound tormented him constantly, and he was demobilized in 1944.

Okudzhava returned to Georgia, graduated from high school as an external student and became a student of the philological faculty at the university.

creative path

In 1950, having received a diploma and distribution, Bulat and his wife Galya went to the village of Shamordino, Kaluga Region, they were sent there to rural school teach.
He did not like work at school at all, and Okudzhava suffered from this. But he did not have to work in the village for long: he was soon transferred to Kaluga. After working there a little as a teacher at the school, Bulat got a job in a local newspaper.

In 1956, N. S. Khrushchev came to power, many were rehabilitated, including Bulat's parents. Dad posthumously, and mom returned from Siberia to Moscow and received a two-room apartment on Krasnopresnenskaya embankment. Bulat with his wife and younger brother went to their mother in Moscow.

There he began labor activity in the publishing house "Young Guard", then headed the department of poetry in the "Literary Gazette". At evenings at Literaturka, Bulat performed songs on his own poems with a guitar for a close circle. Colleagues predicted a great future for him and repeatedly persuaded him to go on stage. But he did not attach much importance to their words.

Soon the family of Bulat Okudzhava was given a dacha in Sheremetyevo. Living in the country, they had a certain ritual: in the evenings, neighbors, colleagues and friends gathered around the fire and listened to the poet's poems and songs. The Moscow intelligentsia began vying to invite him to their homes for evenings, the songs were recorded on tape reels. So the author and performer of songs went to the people. Okudzhava himself was still poorly known, but half of the country was already singing songs. "Grape Seed" and "Prayer" were copied on paper by hand from each other.

Only in 1961 did the first solo concert of Okudzhava take place. The Leningrad Hall was packed.

In 1965, the first disc with Bulat's songs was released.

In 1967 for the verse " Tin soldier my son" Bulat received the "Golden Crown" at the poetry festival in Yugoslavia. With great success, his performances were held in Paris, Germany, but in the Soviet Union he did not give big concerts, he performed in houses of culture, institutes and libraries.

But in 1970, Okudzhava received all-Union fame after the release of the film "Belarusian Station", where his song "Birds Don't Sing Here..." sounded.
For my creative life Bulat wrote songs for many popular Soviet and Russian films:

• "Zhenya, Zhenechka and Katyusha";
• "White sun of desert";
• "Straw hat";
• “Aty-bats, the soldiers were walking”;
• "Star of Captivating Happiness";
• "The Pokrovsky Gate";
• "Legal marriage";
• "Turkish gambit".

Personal life

Okudzhava was very amorous in his youth. The girls also did not pass by the brown-eyed handsome guy with a mop of black curls. By himself, he was charming, and he treated the girls with such respect that it immediately bribed them. But most importantly, why there were always crowds of girls around him - he sang amazingly with the guitar.

At the age of 23, he began a stormy relationship with Galya Smolyaninova, who studied with him at the same faculty. Bulat and Galya got married, then he no longer lived with his uncle and aunt, but rented a room in a communal apartment.

In 1954, the couple had a son, Igor. In 1962, Bulat and Galya broke up.

When Okudzhava was 38 years old, he met Olga Artsimovich, who later became his second wife and gave birth in 1964 to a son named after his father Bulat.

In 1997, Okudzhava and his wife went on a trip to Europe. He did not like to stay in Moscow for his birthday, because he hated all these celebrations. They visited Germany, then went to Paris to visit friends. There he fell ill with the flu, the poet was admitted to the hospital, but they could no longer help, he died on June 12, 1997.

Bulat Okudzhava is known in our country as a poet and composer, as well as a screenwriter, prose writer and simply very talented and interesting person. He claimed that the creation of songs is a great mystery, as incomprehensible as love. We will talk about the fate of this great bard in our article.

Origin

Okudzhava Bulat, whose biography is of interest to many, was born in 1924, on May 9. He grew up in a family of staunch Bolsheviks. His parents came to Moscow from Tiflis to study at the Communist Academy. The father of the future celebrity - Shalva Stepanovich - is Georgian by nationality. He was a prominent party leader. Mom - Ashkhen Stepanovna - is an Armenian by birth. She was a relative of the famous Armenian poet Vahan Teryan. On the mother's side, the celebrity had relatives with a combative and ambiguous past. His uncle, Vladimir Okudzhava, being a terrorist, made an attempt on the life of the governor of Kutaisi. Later, he happened to appear on the passenger lists of the mysterious sealed carriage that brought leading revolutionary leaders from Switzerland to Russia in 2017.

distant ancestors

Okudzhava Bulat Shalvovich was aware of the fate of his ancestors from childhood. His paternal great-grandfather Pavel Peremushev settled in sunny Georgia in the middle of the 19th century. Before that, he served 25 years in Russian army. By nationality, he was either Russian, or Moldavian, or Jewish. It is only known that Paul was a tailor, married a Georgian woman named Salome and produced three daughters. The eldest of them subsequently married Stepan Okudzhava. He served as a clerk. Eight children were born in his marriage. Among them was future father our hero - Shalva Stepanovich.

Childhood and youth

From childhood, Okudzhava Bulat endured various trials. The biography of the future poet was associated with constant moving. The fact is that his father was a party leader. Immediately after the birth of his son, he was sent to the Caucasus to command a Georgian division. Bulat's mother, meanwhile, remained in Moscow. She held a position in the party apparatus. The boy was sent to study in Tiflis. He attended a Russian-speaking class. His father was soon promoted. He became secretary of the Tiflis city committee. However, he failed to stay in this position due to conflicts with Beria. With the assistance of Ordzhonikidze, Shalva Stepanovich was transferred to work in Nizhny Tagil. He moved his entire family to the Urals. Bulat studied at school number 32. It was not easy for him to get used to the harsh Siberian conditions after living in a friendly and sunny region.

Arrests

In 1937 tragedy struck. The boy's father was arrested. He was accused of having links with the Trotskyists, as well as an attempt on the life of Ordzhonikidze. On August 4 of the same year, he was shot. After that, Bulat, together with his mother and grandmother, moved to Moscow. The family settled in a communal apartment on the Arbat. But the troubles didn't end there. In 1938, Ashkhen Stepanovna was taken into custody. She was exiled to Karlag. From there she returned only in 1947. Aunt Bulat was shot in 1941. In 1940, our hero moved to Tbilisi. Here he graduated from high school and got a job at the plant as an apprentice turner.

War years

Bulat Okudzhava, whose poems are known to everyone, in April 1942 sought to be drafted into the army. However, he was drafted into the ranks Soviet troops only upon reaching the age of majority. In August of the same year, he was sent to the tenth reserve mortar division. Two months later he was sent to the Transcaucasian Front as a mortar man. He served in the cavalry regiment of the 5th Guards Don Cossack Cavalry Corps. At the end of 1942, the future poet was wounded in the battle of Mozdok. After treatment, Bulat Shalvovich did not return to the front line. In 1943, he joined the Batumi reserve rifle regiment, and was later involved as a radio operator in the 126th howitzer artillery brigade, which at that time covered the border with Iran and Turkey. In the spring of 1944, our hero was demobilized. For conscientious service, he was awarded two medals - "For the Defense of the Caucasus" and "For the Victory over Germany". In 1985 he was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War of the first degree.

First creative experiences

After demobilization, Okudzhava Bulat returned to Tbilisi. The biography of the poet was scorched by the war. However, he was determined to return to habitual life and do what you love. First, the young man received a certificate of secondary education. Then, in 1945, he entered the Faculty of Philology at Tbilisi University. He successfully graduated in 1950 and worked as a teacher in the Kaluga region for two and a half years. All this time our hero wrote talented poems. His first song is considered to be the composition “We couldn’t sleep in cold cars”. It was created during the poet's service in the artillery brigade. The text of the work has not been preserved. But the second creation has come down to our days. This is an "Old Student Song" written in 1946. The author's writings were first published in the garrison newspaper under the title "Fighter of the Red Army". It was published under the pseudonym A. Dolzhenov.

Career development

In the Kaluga region, he collaborated with the publication "Young Leninist" Bulat Okudzhava. The poet's poems were first published in large circulation in 1956 in the collection Lyrics. In the same year, the father and mother of the poet were rehabilitated. After the XX Congress of the CPSU, he joined communist party. Three years later he moved to Moscow and began to give concerts of the author's song. As a bard, he quickly gained popularity. In the period from 1956 to 1967, the most famous songs of Bulat Shalvovich were written - “On Tverskoy Boulevard”, “Song about the Komsomol goddess”, “Song about the blue ball” and others.

official recognition

Okudzhava Bulat Shalvovich first performed at his official evening in 1961. The benefit performance was held in Kharkov. In 1962, the poet made his debut as an actor. He played in the film Chain reaction". Here he happened to perform one of his most famous songs - "Midnight Trolleybus". In 1970, Soviet viewers saw the film "Belarusian Station". In it, the actors sang the unspoken anthem of Soviet citizens who overcame the monstrous trials of the Great Patriotic War, - "We need one victory". Okudzhava also became the author of other favorite songs from the films Straw Hat and Zhenya, Zhenechka and Katyusha. The author wrote musical compositions for eighty paintings.

Records

In 1967, Bulat Okudzhava made a trip to Paris. The poet's songs became known not only in Russia, but also abroad. In France, he recorded twenty of his songs at the Le Chant du Monde studio. A year later, based on these tracks, the first disc of the bard was released. In the same period, another Okudzhava album was released. It included songs performed by Polish singers. The composition "Farewell to Poland" was recorded in the author's interpretation.

The work of Bulat Okudzhava was gaining more and more popularity. In the mid-1970s, his records were also released in the Soviet Union. In 1976 and 1978, Soviet giant discs with recordings of the singer and poet appeared on sale. The mid-1980s were also very fruitful for Bulat Shalvovich. He created two more albums - "Songs and poems about the war" and "The author performs new songs."

The poet Bulat Okudzhava composed several songs based on the texts of the Polish author - Agnieszka Osiecka. He himself translated into Russian the poems he liked. In collaboration with the composer Schwartz, our hero created thirty-two songs. Among them - "Your Honor, Mrs. Luck", "Cavalier Guards are short-lived ...", "Love and separation".

Cultural heritage

Became one of the brightest representatives art song genre in Russia Okudzhava Bulat. The biography of the poet became the subject of close study. His work was admired, they tried to imitate him. With the advent of tape recorders, soulful author's compositions became known to a wide audience. Vladimir Vysotsky called Bulat Shalvovich his teacher. A.A. Galich and Y. Vizbor became his followers. The author and performer managed to create a unique direction in the Russian song culture.

Among the intelligentsia, Bulat Okudzhava won a strong authority. Celebrity songs were distributed in tape recordings. First they became famous in the USSR, then they became popular abroad among Russian emigrants. Some compositions - "Let's join hands, friends ...", "Francois Villon's Prayer" - have become iconic. They were used as anthems at rallies and festivals.

Personal life

Bulat Okudzhava was married twice. The personal life of the poet was not easy. For the first time he was married to Galina Smolyaninova. However living together spouses from the very beginning did not ask. Their daughter died as an infant, and their son became a drug addict and ended up in prison.

The second attempt was more successful. The poet married the physicist Olga Artsimovich. The son of Bulat Okudzhava from his second marriage - Anton - followed in the footsteps of his father, became a rather famous composer.

There was another beloved woman in the life of the bard. His civil wife for a long time was Natalya Gorlenko. She herself very subtly felt the music, sang songs. Bulat Okudzhava was happy with her. The personal life of this remarkable person at that time is associated with the most pleasant impressions.

Social activity

Perestroika in the Soviet Union captured Bulat Shalvovich. He began to take an active part in political life countries. He showed a negative attitude towards Lenin and Stalin, had a negative attitude towards the totalitarian regime. In 1990, the bard left the CPSU. Since 1992, he has worked in commissions under the President of Russia. He dealt with issues of pardoning and conferring State Prizes of the Russian Federation. Was a member of Memorial. Acutely dressed up military operations in Chechnya.

Completion of life

In the 1990s, the poet settled in his own dacha in Peredelkino. During this period, he actively toured. Traveled with concerts to Moscow, St. Petersburg, Canada, Germany and Israel. In 1995, he took the stage for the last time. The speech took place in Paris, at the UNESCO Headquarters.

In 1997 the poet died. He died at the age of 74 in a military hospital in the suburbs of Paris. Before his death, he was baptized with the name John in honor of the holy martyr John the Warrior. This happened after the blessing of one of the spiritual leaders of the Pskov-Caves Monastery.

Our hero is buried in Moscow, at the Vagankovsky cemetery. His grave is decorated simply and unpretentiously - a block of stone with the bard's name written in handwritten script.

Monuments

The first monument to Bulat Okudzhava was opened in 2002 in the capital. It stands at the intersection of the Arbat and Plotnikov lane. Its author is George Frangulyan. The creation of the monument was timed to coincide with two anniversaries- Victory Day and poet's birthday. The creators recreated a piece of the old Arbat courtyard: a gate, two benches, living tree... In the center of the composition is the figure of a bard. This sculptural complex recalls the work of the bard and his nostalgic memories.

The second monument was erected on Bakulev Street. The monument represents the young poet. He fearlessly looks to the future. On his shoulders is a frilly jacket thrown over. Seen from under the floors faithful companion- guitar. The composition is on the rise. A hill-flower bed serves as a pedestal. Two paths lead to its foot. This is connected with the bard's unforgettable lines about two roads, one of which is "beautiful, but in vain", and the other - "apparently in earnest".

Conclusion

Now you know what kind of life Bulat Okudzhava lived. The poet's family kept the best memories of him. This man lived and worked at the behest of his heart. And his heartfelt poems are about you and me. About love, temptations, duty, personal participation, about the ability to empathize, overcome difficulties, not be afraid of future trials. About a quivering dream, reckless youth and touching, full of memories, maturity. The legacy of the bard has forever entered the fund of Russian and world culture.

Poet, bard. He acted in films as an actor, screenwriter, songwriter and poet.

Parents were repressed, the boy grew up with his grandmother in Moscow, in 1940 he moved to relatives in Tbilisi.
Member of the Great Patriotic War.
Graduated from Tbilisi State University (1950). Worked as a teacher.
Published since 1953, gave concerts. One of the generally recognized founders of the "author's song". He wrote songs for the films of Marlen Khutsiev, Valery Rubinchik, Pyotr Todorovsky, Vladimir Motyl, Dinara Asanova, Andrey Smirnov and other directors.
The author of unforgettable songs: “Spring again in the world”, “I met hope again”, “Sentinels of love”. Collections of poems: "Lyrics" (1956), "Islands" (1959), "The Merry Drummer" (1964), "On the Road to Tinatin" (1964), "Magnanimous March" (1967), "Arbat, my Arbat" ( 1976). Novels: "Be healthy, schoolboy" (1961), "The front is coming to us" (1967). Historical novels: “Poor Avrosimov” (1969, “A Sip of Freedom” - 1971), “Merci, or the Adventures of Shipov. Ancient vaudeville "(1971). The novels "Journey of amateurs" (1-2 books., 1976-1978), "Date with Bonaparte" (1983).
In 1997, by decree of the President of the Russian Federation, the regulation on the Bulat Okudzhava Prize was approved for "the creation of works in the genre of author's song and poetry that contribute to Russian culture."
In Peredelkino (Moscow region) a museum of B.Sh. Okudzhava.