"Amidst the burning candles and evening prayers ..." The text of the song "Ballad of Struggle" by Vladimir Vysotsky begins in this way. The surprisingly beautiful, emotionally rich song has a very serious philosophical meaning. What is known about the creation of this song, its author and modern performance?
Vladimir Vysotsky
Vladimir Semenovich Vysotsky was born on January 25, 1938 in Moscow. In childhood, he studied music, after leaving school he entered first a technical university (at the insistence of his relatives), and then, leaving his technical education, he entered the B. I. Nemirovich-Danchenko School-Studio at the Moscow Art Theater.
Throughout his life, Vysotsky played in the theater, cinema, and, of course, composed songs on his own poems, the first of which appeared in the 60s of the XX century. Many of the songs were written for motion pictures. The fate of the poet, the bard is dramatic. He never received official recognition, the first collection of poems was published after the death of Vysotsky in 1980.
Song story
The Ballad of Struggle was written for the film by Sergey Tarasov, The Arrows of Robin Hood. There were six songs in total, for which, in fact, the film was shot:
- Ballad about time (“The castle is torn and wrapped up in time, sheltered ...”);
- Ballad of free arrows ("If they scour your disobedient head ...");
- Ballad of struggle ("Amidst the burning candles and evening prayers ...");
- Ballad of hatred ("Hurry! A skinny neck over the country is circling ...");
- The ballad of short happiness ("Blow the horns: hurry! Hurry! ..");
- Ballad of love ("When the water of the Flood ...").
Deep in meaning, all these songs touch the soul. Unfortunately, the Goskino did not think so in the USSR. After the shooting was completed, and the film was brought for approval, the author's performance of the songs was deemed not suitable for the film. For a month, the crew was supposed to replace the musical accompaniment. As a result, the film was released with compositions by Raymond Pauls, and only in 1997 did they show on television a version of the director where Vysotsky’s songs were used.
The text "Ballads on the fight"
Amidst the burning candles and evening prayers
Amid war trophies and peaceful bonfires
There lived book children who did not know the battle,
Disheartened by her minor disasters.
Children are always annoyed
Their age and way of life, -
And we fought to abrasions
To mortal insults.
But the clothes were patched
Us mother on time
We swallowed the books,
Drunk from the lines.
The hair on our sweaty foreheads was sticky,
And sucked in the spoon sweet from the phrases,
And the smell of struggle circled our heads,
From the pages of yellowing flying to us.
And tried to comprehend
We who did not know wars
For war cry
Accepted the howl
The secret of the word "order"
Border Assignment
The meaning of attack and clank
War chariots.
And in the boiling cauldrons of the former slaughter and distemper
So much food for our little brains!
We are traitors, cowards, judas
In children's games, they appointed their enemies.
And the villain's footsteps
Not allowed to cool
And the most beautiful ladies
They promised to love
And calming friends
And loving others
We are the heroes
Introduced yourself.
Only dreams cannot be completely escaped:
A short century of fun - so much pain around!
Try to squeeze the palms of the dead
And take weapons from weary hands.
Test capturing
Still warm sword
And wearing armor
What, how much!
Figure out who you are coward
Or the chosen one of fate
And taste it
The real fight.
And when a wounded friend collapses nearby
And you will howl over the first loss, mourning
And when you suddenly lose your skin
Because they killed him - not you -
You will understand that you learned
Distinguished, found
I took a grin:
This is a grin of death!
Lies and evil - look
How rude their faces!
And always behind
Crows and coffins.
If you didn’t eat a piece of meat from a knife,
If the arms are folded, watched from above,
And he did not enter the fight with the scoundrel, with the executioner, -
So in life you have nothing to do with anything!
If, cut through the path
Father's sword
You are salty tears
I wound it around my mustache
If in a hot fight
Tested that how much -
So the books you need
You read in childhood!
Ballad is a narrative genre. And in this song, the story begins from afar, about childhood and its fun, about books that children read. This is expressed in the musical language. The composition begins more calmly, measuredly. Gradually, the tension grows, which leads to a very vivid emotional climax, which is accompanied by a more stringent literary text. It is in it that morality is expressed: either you act in honor and fight with the enemy, or you sit aside, like a coward.
Modern designs
Vysotsky's music is soulful. He was not an outstanding vocalist ... But his rude singing could not fail to touch his sincerity. Vladimir Semenovich lived every song, put his heart and soul into every performance. Therefore, Vysotsky’s songs are difficult to perform: it’s difficult not to lose the penetration of the performance. Helavisa became an exception, she is Natalya O'Shey, leader of the Mill group. In the performance of this collective, “The Ballad of Struggle” acquired a new interesting interpretation, and instrumentation in the style of a musical collective supplemented the image that is created in the song.
The work of Vladimir Vysotsky is an amazing thing. He raised serious topics, including the theme of war. Although Vladimir Semenovich was never at the front, the veterans took him for their own: his songs were so bright. The eternal themes of honor, good and evil are relevant in all ages: after all, who are we now, if not book children among swollen swords and evening prayers?