Matvey Isaakovich Blanter |

Matvey Blanter

People’s Artist of the RSFSR (1965). He studied at the Kursk Musical College (piano and violin), in 1917-19 – at the Music and Drama School of the Moscow Philharmonic Society, violin class of A. Ya. Mogilevsky, in music theory with N. S. Potolovsky and N. R. Kochetov . Studied composition with G. E. Konyus (1920-1921).

Blanter’s activity as a composer began in the variety and art studio HM Forreger Workshop (Mastfor). In 1926-1927 he directed the musical part of the Leningrad Theater of Satire, in 1930-31 – the Magnitogorsk Drama Theater, in 1932-33 – the Gorky Theater of Miniatures.

Works of the 20s associated mainly with the genres of light dance music. Blanter is one of the prominent masters of the Soviet mass song. He created works inspired by the romance of the Civil War: “Partisan Zheleznyak”, “Song of Shchors” (1935). Popular are the Cossack songs “On the Road, the Long Path”, “Song of the Cossack Woman” and “Cossack Cossacks”, the youth song “The whole country sings with us”, etc.

Katyusha gained worldwide fame (c. M. V. Isakovsky, 1939); during the 2nd World War 1939-45 this song became the anthem of the Italian partisans; in the Soviet Union, the melody “Katyusha” became widespread with various text variants. In the same years, the composer created the songs “Goodbye, cities and huts”, “In the forest near the front”, “Helm from the Marat”; “Under the Balkan Stars”, etc.

Deeply patriotic content distinguishes Blanter’s best songs created in the 50s and 60s: “The Sun Hid Behind the Mountain”, “Before a Long Road”, etc. The composer combines lofty civic motives with a form of direct lyrical expression. The intonations of his songs are close to Russian urban folklore, he often combines lyrics with the genres of a dance song (“Katyusha”, “There is no better color”) or a march (“Migratory birds are flying”, etc.). The waltz genre occupies a special place in his work (“My Beloved”, “In the Frontline Forest”, “Gorky Street”, “Song of Prague”, “Give Me Goodbye”, “Couples are Circling”, etc.).

Blanter’s songs are written on the lyrics. M. Golodny, V. I. Lebedev-Kumach, K. M. Simonov, A. A. Surkov, M. A. Svetlov. More than 20 songs were created in collaboration with M. V. Isakovsky. Author of operettas: Forty Sticks (1924, Moscow), On the Bank of the Amur (1939, Moscow Operetta Theatre) and others. State Prize of the USSR (1946).