Boris Andreyevich Mokrousov [pronounced moh-kroh-OOssoff] (1909--1968) -- Russian Soviet composer, renowned for his songs.
Biographical data in brief:
-born 1909 in Nizhny Novgorod,
-died 1968 in Moscow,
-in 1936, graduated from the Moscow Conservatory in the master class of composition given by Prof. N.Ya. Miaskovsky.
-in 1948, was awarded the Stalin Prize (see below),
-in 1962, was given the title of an Honoured Artist of the Chuvashian Republic.
Once in the spring of 1998 my friends and I were riding home from forest in a small steam locomotive, commonly called a ”cuckoo”. We were in an elated mood, I took my “Yunost” camp accordion made by the Shuya factory out of its case and we began hollering “When Spring Comes”, then “Vologda”, then “To the Attack in Steel Ranks”. The audience who, for the most part, were grannies from the neaby villages gave a benevolent ear to our performance. Some began to join in singing.
-- Boys, can you do “Near the City of Gorky”? And “Camp Fires are Burning Far Away”? And “A Lonesome Accordion”?
-- Sure we can. Sing along!
Music to all of the above-named songs has been written by Boris Andreyevich Mokrousov. In the 40s-60s the songs by Mokrousov were known to everybody in Russia. The songs were well-known and loved. And, I should say, they were worth it. His melodies and harmonies, for all their seeming simplicity, always have something unexpected, a trifling treasure, which by some miracle convey the atmosphere of the time and the human feelings packed in musical notes.
People loved Boris Mokrousov not only for his remarkable music but also for the fact that as a person he corresponded in the extreme to the traditional Russian archetype. Take for example the famous incident of 1948, when Boris Andreyevich, having been awarded the Stalin Prize, would not buy himself two of the “ZIM” luxury cars (today, that'd be Mercedes 600), but put the money in his pocket and rode to the House of Creative Work for Composers near the small town of Ruza. There he went straight to the local country pub and started to give a treat (drinks) to everybody present. The news of this flew round the neighborhood. People from neighboring villages were coming in flocks: some on foot, and some on a tractor. A national feast to celebrate a prize being awarded to the beloved composer went on until his money ran out and all of his songs were sung over and over again to the accompaniment of an accordion.
Apart from the numerous songs, from the pen of Boris Mokrousov have come the opera “Chapai (Chapayev)”, compositions for a symphony orchestra, chamber and instrumental music works, incidental music to theater plays and movies (“Stalingrad”, “25 Years of RKKA (Workers' and Peasants' Red Army)”, “Poddubenskiye chastooshki”, “Spring in Zarechnaya Street”, “Our Neighbors”, “Wedding with Dowry”, “Whereabouts Unknown”, “Elusive Avengers” and others.)
(S.V. Duzhin, english translation made by Nikolay Pautov, 2003)