Many people know the songs of the composer Andrei Eshpay: “And it is snowing”, “Earring with Malaya Bronnaya” - he wrote more than a hundred songs and romances. But this is the son of the hero of the article, which will be discussed later.
Jacob Eshpay: nationality - Mari
Correctly his surname at birth sounded Ishpaykin. And he was born in 1890 in the village of Kokshamary, which is located where the Kokshaga River flows into the Volga. Musical hearing and the ability to sing and play were transmitted from generation to generation in this family, first on the harp and then on the harmonica. When the young man changed his surname, they began to call him Eshpai Yakov Andreevich. As a child, he carefully listened to how the grandfather-gusliar played and the grandmother sang lullabies and folk songs, playing along on her harp. His father, aunts and uncles also played on the harp. And their children were carried away by harmony. But not only Ishpaykins owned harmony. In their family were uncle, a teacher from Ufa, and a cousin, a teacher from Birsk, who played the violin. When everyone gathered together during the summer holidays, the singing and music did not end. Moreover, other relatives came who owned a concertina and knew how to organize choir singing. And such music affects the spiritual sphere, elevates a person. Together, in a huge company, we went out for picnics, rode boats in Kokshar, arranged walks in meadows and forests, but they also mowed hay. In the fall everyone dispersed, and in the village, except for Jacob, there were two more boys. They ran to the forest for mushrooms, played the flute-ocarina, which was presented to them by one of the uncles. Here in such an atmosphere, filled with the joy of life and music, Eshpai Yakov Andreevich grew up, playing from the age of five on the violin, which he mastered on his own.
Study
First, the boy studied at a rural school, then at a district school. In it, he played the violin in the orchestra and became assistant conductor in the school choir.
And the years are flying
Young Eshpay Yakov Andreevich has already become a teacher. He works in the village of Kukshenery, and in the neighboring village of Alekseevsky teaches singing. But he does not find understanding and support and therefore leaves the job. On the advice of a cousin, he leaves for Kazan and enters a music school.
Eshpai Yakov Andreyevich, despite the fact that there is neither money nor material support, nevertheless ends two departments: theoretical and regency. After graduating from college, all his work is directly related to music. Even in 1915, when he was drafted into the army, he was sent to a military band. And in 1917 he was elected to the Council of Soldiers' Deputies in Petrograd.
In native Kokshamara
And again he is a teacher, and again everywhere he is surrounded by music. And in his village, and in the teacher's seminary, and in the technical school of Kozmodemyansk. In it, he organizes a quartet and speaks to listeners with classical works, preceding the performance of stories about their authors. The year is 1925. He is already married to Valentina Konstantinovna, who is fond of collecting Mari, Chuvash and Mordovian songs. They have a son, Valentin, and then a second child appears - Andrei, who in the future will become a famous and beloved composer. Meanwhile, the birth of the composer Jacob Eshpai is taking place. He will process the folk song, and the violin and piano will develop its theme.
Moscow
At the age of 37, Yakov Eshpay, whose biography makes a turn, sits down on the student’s bench again. Only now is this happening at the Moscow Conservatory.
Here he is seriously engaged in composition and works as a researcher of native Mari music. In 1931 he created the “Mari Suite”, which will be the beginning for all subsequent Mari symphonic works. He and his friends were looking for ways to develop Mari folk music in new genres and forms.
Continuation of the great work
Arriving in Yoshkar-Ola in 1933, Yakov Eshpay teaches theoretical disciplines at the College of Arts and, in parallel, is looking for ways to create the Mari opera. He writes articles as a musicologist, and for thirty years he remains the only one in this field. At the same time, Y. Eshpai conducts serious research work on the study of Mari folklore. During the war years, when the eldest son died at the front, Y. Eshpay writes a dissertation on Mari folk instruments. And in the meantime, son Andrei, the future composer, is growing up.
This is how the biography of Jacob Eshpay develops - from a country boy to a music practitioner and theorist, candidate of art history. Throughout his life, Y. Eshpai (1890-1963) will faithfully serve Mari music.
His creative burning was marked by awards: orders of the Red Star and the Badge of Honor, two medals. Composer, folklorist, teacher buried at Vvedensky cemetery in Moscow.