Viktor Gavrilovich Zakharchenko biography. How the steel character of a hereditary Black Sea Cossack was tempered

Who said that you need to give up singing during the war?

After the battle, the heart asks for doubly music!

from the film “Only old men go into battle”

The love of singing and music is an integral part of the soul of any people, but this is especially noticeable where folk poetry. An excellent example of this is the Ukrainian song folklore, which was adopted by the Black Sea Cossacks. The entire history of the people was vividly expressed in a number of folk songs, thoughts and epics. Every period of history, every important historical event, every glorious Cossack name is forever recorded in these songs and thoughts, and is passed on to us, today’s descendants of our glorious and heroic ancestors.

The Cossacks always loved to listen to their button accordions, blind kobza players, these true guardians of cherished folk legends and painters of “their knightly exploits.” The Cossacks, being in the Sich, in free time, in the winter in the kurens, and in the summer in the open air they gathered in small groups and had fun in their own way: some played kobzas, violins, harps, lyres, “rells”, basses, cymbals, goats, whistled on snaffles and immediately danced, others they just sang.

The soul of any people lives in its songs. From the distant past, from our grandfathers and great-grandfathers, they brought to us anxieties and joys, dreams and ideals. On weekdays and holidays, in happiness and misfortune, the song was always next to the Cossack, regardless of who he was - a grain grower or a defender of the Fatherland. A song is a connection with the Motherland, with the land on which you had the good fortune to be born.

To preserve this enormous spiritual heritage of our ancestors, in 1810, the educator of Kuban, Archpriest Kirill Rossinsky, petitioned the military chancellery to open a singing chapel at the Ekaterinodar Church “for the most magnificent worship.” A year later, in 1811, it was decided to create two choirs: a singing choir for church services in the temple, and later a symphony choir for holding Cossack holidays, parades and musical education of the residents of Kuban. And since the singers accompanied the service for the Intercession for the first time Holy Mother of God- a holiday especially revered by the Cossacks, October 14 began to be considered the birthday of the Military Choir and began to be celebrated annually.

But not everything is so simple with the founding date of both choirs. Ivan Ivanovich Kiyashko, Kuban local historian and archivist of the Kuban Cossack army, in his work dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the military singing and musical choirs, writes that “the military singing choir began its first church service October 14, 1810, on the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary... And the Musical Choir began its activities almost a year and a half later, on February 1, 1812.” However, as mentioned above, for some reason October 14, 1811 is considered the official founding date of both choirs. It is difficult to judge the reason for this decision of the military commanders. But according to the current director of the choir, Viktor Gavrilovich Zakharchenko, this is due to the above-mentioned causal factor - both choirs were not created at the same time, but with an indication of a time gap. It was decided to hold the 100th anniversary of the choirs together, so as not to celebrate two separate ones. And that’s probably why they shortened the time gap.

In his work “Military singing and musical choirs of the Kuban Cossack army (1811-1911): a historical outline of the formation of their existence,” Ivan Ivanovich Kiyashko explains the founding of the musical choir:

“Having established a singing choir at the end of 1810, the army did not stop there and already at the end of 1811 wished to form also sacred music in order to use the most mercifully granted to the army in 1792 by Empress CatherineIIsilver timpani and the same trumpets.

The words of the decree of the Black Sea Military Chancellery on this matter are not without interest...:

“December 1811, 22 days, by decree of HIS IMPERIAL MAJESTY, the Black Sea Military Chancellery, having in mind that this army has been HIGHLY bestowed upon the Blessed and Eternally worthy of memory by THE EMPRESS KATHERINEII- in the past 1792 with the HIGHEST CREDIT, for the use of silver kettledrums and the same trumpets, from which timpani have been used for all necessary occasions since ancient times, and trumpets, due to the lack of people in the army who can play them, remain unused to this day, As through these trumpets, most graciously granted to the army, of course, the HIGHEST will for the establishment of spiritual music in the army, for this purpose it was determined: spiritual music suitable for trumpets in this army should be composed of twenty-four people...”

In 1811, with the permission of the ataman General Bursak, the first choir director Konstantin Grechinsky was sent to the villages of the army to select voices for the singing chapel, for which he selected for bass - Cossack Pereyaslovsky kuren Mikhail Budarshchikov, for treble - youngsters: Shcherbinovsky kuren - Onisim Lopata , Umansky - Filipp Manzhelievsky and Kalnibolotsky - Semyon Dmitrenko, and for viola - young kurens: Kanelovsky - Pavel Sakhno and Shkurinsky - Andrey Kuchir.

On October 29, 1813, by decree of the military chancellery, a uniform for musicians was approved. It had the following appearance: a jacket and trousers made of blue factory cloth, and the collar must be, as they would say now, stand-up, and the jacket had to be fastened with hooks from the collar to the waist, and the trousers had to be worn with suspenders; a round cap with a black band, less than three and a half inches, and the top was made of red cloth, the belt was made of red Chinese cloth, the overcoat was made of gray plain cloth with a stand-up collar.

In 1861, Emperor Alexander I visited the Kuban region. He highly appreciated the work of the choir, renaming it the Kuban Military Singing Choir. From that time on, in addition to church services, the group began to give secular concerts in the region, performing for the people, along with spiritual classical works and folk songs. Highest praise for excellent performance music programs The choir was also honored in 1888 when Alexander III visited Kuban. The Tsar liked the team so much that he gave instructions to the military administration to expand it. Wealthy citizens invited the choir for a certain fee to perform both spiritual chants and secular music, Cossack songs.

In 1901, at the Military Music Choir, in addition to the brass band, a symphony orchestra appeared, the number of which sometimes reached 80 musicians. Experienced Italian and Russian bandmasters were invited from Moscow and St. Petersburg to lead the orchestra. According to contemporaries, on weekends the residents of Ekaterinodar hurried to the cathedral to listen to the “wonderful performance of prayer chants by the choir.” The repertoire included orchestral numbers from operas by M. I. Glinka, D. M. Bortnyansky, N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov, M. S. Berezovsky, R. Wagner, V.A. Mozart, D. Verdi suites and oratorios by Haydn and Grieg, symphonies L-V. Beethoven and other famous composers. Tchaikovsky's works were especially popular; even his First Piano Concerto and Sixth Symphony were performed.

The celebration in 1911 was evidence of the importance for Kuban of the many years of musical and professional activity of military choirs. 336 former military musicians and singers were invited to Yekaterinodar from different villages of Kuban. Ataman Mikhail Babych, in his anniversary order for the Kuban army, noting the importance of the singing service of the Cossacks, emphasized that for many decades, coming to the military cathedral and listening to the wonderful tunes of his “wonderful” church choir, the Cossack “renounced everyday worries, as if internally purified and I gained mental strength to fight on the battle lines for months again.”

Surviving documents and eyewitness accounts indicate that preparations were made for the centenary of the military choirs in advance, the history of the choir was written, a commemorative silver sign was issued, and a festive ceremony was organized in the squares of Ekaterinodar, Taman and other villages of Kuban. Essentially, the anniversary was celebrated throughout the autumn of 1911, but central events became three days in September - the 25th, 26th, and 27th, old style. A large concert was given at the Winter Theater, ending with Tchaikovsky's Solemn Overture of 1812. Specially for the anniversary it was staged and musical performance E. D. Esposito and G. V. Dobroskok “Cossack great-grandfathers” on the topic of the settlement of Kuban by Zaporozhye Cossacks.

In the spring of 1920, after the final establishment of Bolshevik power in Kuban, the fate of the choir changed radically. This occurs in connection with the resolution of the Kuban-Black Sea Revolutionary Committee, which in particular stated:

“...All former military orchestras and choirs, now renamed state ones, with all personnel, libraries, musical instruments, property and equipment, are transferred to the jurisdiction of the arts subdepartment of obotnarob (regional department of public education). All conductors, singers and others who have official instruments and notes should immediately hand them over to the heads of orchestras and choirs for registration. Persons hiding the above property will be handed over to the revolutionary tribunal.”

It determined the fate of the team. Now it began to be called the Kuban-Black Sea State Singing Choir and only thanks to the desperate efforts of the partially preserved group (27 people of the Singing Choir were forced to emigrate to Belgorod) continued its existence. Its former regent, and now choirmaster Ya. M. Taranenko, even developed a program for the development of the ensemble in new conditions. The choir became mixed, as they began to accept chorus girls, the first intake of which was in December 1918. They were Fyokla Ovcharenko and Maria Belyaeva. This program provided for weekly concerts in the city center in one of the theater premises, one concert per week “in the outlying parts of the city - Dubinka, Pokrovka and tanneries,” one concert per month for each city trade union, and the like. The first point of the repertoire he put “Russian, Ukrainian and Cossack folk songs in simple arrangements”, then also in “artistic” arrangements, then “choirs” (free composition) of composers, opera choirs and the fifth point - revolutionary songs.

However, the plan could not be realized. This is what is written in the last minutes of the collective meeting dated July 7, 1921:

“Taking into account that... many of the orchestra members are completely naked, barefoot and eking out a half-starved existence, cases of illness due to malnutrition are repeated very often; many of the orchestra members, being forced to sell their last belongings and living exclusively on loans, have come to an absolute dead end... and in the future there are no firm guarantees... that many of the orchestra members, being grain growers, have farms in the villages, but incessant requests for leave to harvest grain were systematically rejected, DECIDED: to demand the dissolution of the symphony orchestra from July 10 this year.”

It took 15 long years before the choir was revived. This happened on July 25, 1936, after a resolution of the presidium of the Azov-Black Sea Regional Executive Committee, the Kuban Cossack Choir was created. Out of 800 participants - amateur artistic activists who came to the competition, the commission selected 40 people. The newly revived choir was headed by Grigory Mitrofanovich Kontsevich and Yakov Taranenko, who for a long time were the regents of the Kuban military singing choir. Grigory Mitrofanovich specially traveled to the villages, auditioned musically gifted village residents, youth, and children. During these trips, he worked on collecting folk songs - he published several collections of folk songs and dance tunes Circassians

In February 1937, in the premises of the music school, the group began working on a concert program. On June 30, 1937, the first concert of the choir took place in the assembly hall of the Kuban Agricultural Institute (now Kuban State Agrarian University). The concert program included revolutionary and ancient Cossack songs, “Peasant Choir” from P. Tchaikovsky’s opera “Eugene Onegin”, chorus “From Edge to Edge” from I. Dzerzhinsky’s opera “Quiet Don” and other works. “Glory to the Soviet pilots” by A. Gedike, “Anchar” by A. Arensky, and Kuban folk songs “You, Kuban, you are our homeland” and “Shchedryk-Vedryk” were especially warmly received by the listeners. From July 30 to August 10, 1937, the choir with concerts visited the villages of Dinskaya, Plastunovskaya, Vasyurinskaya and Ust-Labinskaya, as well as the cities of Anapa, Sochi, Novorossiysk, Gelendzhik, Maykop, Armavir, Tikhoretsk and Rostov-on-Don. After each performance, programs and concert performances were discussed with local residents.

The tragic events of the 30s of the twentieth century did not bypass the illustrious team. In 1937, during the band's tour in Moscow, Grigory Mitrofanovich Kontsevich was repressed on the basis of a false denunciation for allegedly preparing an attempt on Stalin's life. Here are excerpts from this absurd and tragic case, compiled three months after the arrest, given in the book “Ekaterinodar - Krasnodar”:

“The Kontsevich case. The famous Kuban folklorist Grigory Mitrofanovich Kontsevich lived on the Karasun hillock, near the Dmitrievskaya dam. They came for him on the night of August 30 1937. Kontsevich was accused... of an attempt on the life of the “leader of all nations” I.V. Stalin.

From the arrestee's profile: Kontsevich Grigory Mitrofanovich, Russian, born November 17 1863. in the village of Staronizhesteblievskaya, from the Cossacks. My father served as a sexton in the church. Graduated from a teacher's seminary. Was not a member of parties. Removed from military registration due to age. The place of detention is a special building of the Krasnodar prison.”

In the column “service in the white and other counter-revolutionary armies, participation in gangs and uprisings against Soviet power (when and as whom)” it is written: “Regent of the Kuban Cossack Choir.” Special external features - “the appearance of a decrepit old man...”

Then - on the first and last time- Grigory Mitrofanovich was interrogated by junior lieutenant of state security Kogan. Judging by the protocol, the investigator himself perfectly understood the absurdity of the accusation, and therefore recorded his testimony without distortion. “Your arrest,” Kontsevich told him, I see it as some kind of misunderstanding. I am deeply convinced that the investigation itself will come to this conclusion.”.

Here is an excerpt from the indictment:

«… Kontsevich Grigory Mitrofanovich, being an active participant in the counter-revolutionary Cossack rebel organization operating in the Kuban, on whose instructions he was part of a terrorist group that was preparing to carry out a terrorist attack against members of the Soviet government and, first of all, against comrade. Stalin.

Being the artistic director of the Kuban Cossack Choir, in the fall of 1936 he was specially sent by the counter-revolutionary Organization to Moscow to carry out a terrorist act, timed to commit it at the time of the choir’s performance at a gala evening at the State Academic Bolshoi Theater dedicated to the anniversary of the Great October Revolution...”

In the indictment signed by State Security Captain G.M. Serbinov, Deputy Head of the NKVD Directorate for the Krasnodar Territory, Kontsevich’s position before the revolution is underlined in red pencil: former regent of the Kuban Cossack Choir . This was the “crime” that cut short the life of a talented person.

Kontsevich Grigory Mitrofanovich was arrested on August 30, 1937 and “...sentenced to capital punishment - execution, the sentence was carried out on December 26. 1937» . The exact burial place of Grigory Mitrofanovich is unknown, although there are some assumptions that he was buried at the All Saints Cemetery in Krasnodar. On August 18, 1989, Grigory Mitrofanovich Kontsevich was completely rehabilitated (posthumously) by Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated January 16, 1989.

In 1939, a dance group was included in the choir, and the group itself was renamed the Song and Dance Ensemble of the Kuban Cossacks, which in February 1961, on the initiative of N. S. Khrushchev, was disbanded along with other state choirs and ensembles of the USSR. At this time, being many kilometers from his native Kuban, V. G. Zakharchenko, an aspiring musician, wrote in his diary: “The goal for me is now clear and defined - to revive the Kuban Cossack Choir. The road ahead is long. With God!

On January 4, 1969, the executive committee of the Krasnodar region decided to create the Kuban folk choir. Honored Artist of the RSFSR S. Chernobay, who worked for 15 years in the State Northern Folk Choir, was invited to the position of artistic director. Sergei Alekseevich, a native of the Stavropol Territory, has been familiar with the South Russian dialect and style of singing since childhood, graduated from the conducting and choral faculty of the Moscow Musical - pedagogical school. The dance group was led by Honored Artist of the Kabardino-Balkarian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic G. Galperin, former leader of a well-known ensemble in the country folk dance"Kabardinka".

Choir performances are always bright and original musical numbers. The dance numbers “Cossack Dance”, “The Blacksmith Forged the Cossack Saber”, “The Masurians Are Coming from Beyond the Mountains”, “Wing” (the dance of the Nekrasov Cossacks), “Khutorskaya Polka” and many other small dance performances turn into a real extravaganza. Cossacks with early childhood learned the art of wielding a saber. This is probably why the bright solo parts, which demonstrate virtuosic saber control, make the audience greet these numbers with a flurry of applause.

In 1967, it was released on the screens of the country musical comedy“Wedding in Malinovka” by Andrei Tutyshkin, based on the operetta of the same name by Boris Alexandrov, which became the box office leader. Over the course of the year, it was watched by 74.6 million viewers. In it, performed by Nikolai Slichenko, the Ukrainian folk song “Unharness, boys, horses” sounded, which for many years has been business card choir.

And from 1974 to the present day, its permanent leader is Viktor Gavrilovich Zakharchenko.

Viktor Zakharchenko - inexhaustible creative personality: musician, composer, teacher, conductor, folklorist, public figure. Listing his awards and titles is a waste of time. He is simply a person who brings back to our soul.

Viktor Gavrilovich was born on March 22, 1938 in the village of Dyadkovskaya in the family of Natalya Andreevna (nee Noskova) and Gavriil Ivanovich Zakharchenko.

Natalya Andreevna's parents died of typhus, and therefore at the age of eight she was left an orphan. Natasha lived at Liski station Voronezh region in the family of Father Tikhon, a local priest. He brought her into the house and said: “She will be our nanny.” Mother, clasping her hands, said: “What kind of nanny is she? She needs it herself.” But the girl, out of fear that her owners would drive her away, tried to please them, so that they, having taken a closer look at her, noticing little Natasha’s dexterity and efficiency, kept her. Father Tikhon and mother were so kind to her, therefore, when Civil War Father Tikhon was taken out of the house and driven barefoot through the snow, she sobbed along with his children.

And then Natalya got to Kuban on the roof of the train. Running away from the police who were catching street children and jumping from roof to roof, the 12-year-old girl was on the verge of death more than once. But fate protected her. Or maybe not only fate? One day, on the eve of Easter, when Natalya was getting ready to go and bless the Easter cakes, the following story happened to her. Realizing that the time had not yet come, she sat down at the threshold, on a bench, and took a nap. And the girl saw heaven and John the Baptist, and then heard a voice asking: “Do you now believe that there is a God?” Until the end of her days, she remembered this vision in every detail.

Viktor Gavrilovich’s father, a native of the Chernigov or Poltava province, like his mother, experienced an orphan childhood. He was a Cossack. He mastered the art of cutting vines, participated and took first places in competitions. True, he was a poor Cossack, horseless. Gavriil Ivanovich was a shoemaker by profession, and people came to him not only to repair old shoes, but also to order new ones. In Dyadkovskaya he met Natalya Noskova, together they started a family, built a hut and lived together... And then the war began.

Viktor Gavrilovich still remembers how a charabanc drove up to the house, how his father got into it, and how his mother cried desperately with five-month-old Boris in her arms. While the children were small, the mother was afraid of one thing - to die. Who will they be left with then? After all, in November 1941, first a funeral came, and then they reported that my father was missing. What remains of him as a souvenir is a Kubanka, photographs and a couple of letters in which he supported his family and wrote: “We have fun here...” “When I first found them, there was one at home.”,” Zakharchenko later recalled.

From the memoirs of Viktor Gavrilovich about how he found out his father’s burial place:

“Mom waited for her father all her life. I decided that he was captured and went abroad. She told me when I was leaving on tour: “You ask there, what if Father Twiy...?” Mom really wanted to tell her father about her whole life without him. And I found out about my father’s death... In the Book of Memory I saw the entry: “Gavriil Ivanovich Zakharchenko...Private man...Died...Village of Krasnaya Balka, Rostov region.” Now I know where my father is buried.”

But Natalya Alekseevna still waited and hoped for her husband’s return. And she believed so much that when she lit the stove, she called the children together. They shouted into the stove, calling their father: “Daddy, come!” The sign was this: smoke will spread sadness throughout the world, the person they are waiting for will hear and return. Post-war years were hungry. Especially 1947. There are four children left in the Zakharchenko family: Nikolai (born in 1927), Zoya (1935), Victor (1938), Boris (1941). The eldest Vera and Galina died in infancy. Natalya Alekseevna had to exchange old things for food, but there was not enough of it. Everyone in the family thought that Victor would definitely die. His mother gave him beets, which he could no longer eat. Boris said just that: “Vitka is dead, he didn’t waste anything.” But death chose the youngest.

To survive, Zoya and Victor had to walk around the farms (which seemed shameful in their village) and beg for bread. It happened that the dogs would attack, and, tired, having walked more than one kilometer, the children would return without having eaten too much. Sometimes they fed on milkweed.

As a child, Vitya was interested in pigeons and chess. But he had one passion that remained with him throughout his life. The name of this passion is music. How could it be otherwise, because he, in the full sense, absorbed it with his mother’s milk. Natalya Alekseevna sang beautifully in the first voice. Gabriel Ivanovich could imitate any wind instrument. Father's sister Elena and her husband Vasily sang well. Mother's brother, Roman Alekseevich, played the balalaika, which he made while fleeing from his wife to Kuban, and sang in the church choir in the choir and in the large choir. When he came to Dyadkovskaya, the whole village gathered to listen to him. And if he sang “There is a cliff on the Volga,” then everyone cried.

From early childhood he was surrounded folk music. Since all household work was done collectively, people lived like one big family. Together they kneaded adobe, together they built a house. And the song constantly sounded, which was a spiritual need in work. These were not only labor songs, but also bitter widow songs of mothers and fellow villagers whose husbands did not return from the front. But these were definitely folk songs, which suggested a life calling to little Vita, who had dreamed of becoming a musician since childhood. We bought our first accordion when Victor was at school. From then on, he became the most welcome guest at village holidays. The future famous musician began to play any music - waltzes, polkas, crokawiak, foxtrots. I played everything by ear, since I didn’t know how to read music.

Music attracted Victor. His childhood dream was to play an accordion. Back in 1942, when Kuban was occupied, Germans lived in Zakharchenko’s house. One day they brought a captured accordion into the hut. Four-year-old Vitya approached her and... began to play. The mother, having heard, then said: “This is probably dying.” She was so amazed that she decided: such abilities are an abnormal phenomenon, which means her son is destined to die.

While studying in the second or third grade, Victor heard a brass band for the first time in his life. The boy was in the steppe, and music was coming from the village. When he ran to the village, he saw that in the center of the village, near the club, there was a pre-war lorry, musicians sat in it and played the march “Farewell of the Slav”. For a long time afterwards, Victor imitated and sang this march, and all the time he continued to dream of an accordion. This dream became the boy’s first goal in his life. Therefore, the mother decided: we will raise a bull, sell it and buy an accordion. Vitya helped take care of the bull and took care of it. And he always remains a boy. He had a desire to ride this bull. He began to train him: he put a bag of sand on his back and taught him to be heavy. I carried these bags until Vitya one day decided: enough is enough. He jumped on the bull, and it rushed along the thorny acacia tree. The unlucky rider fell off the bull covered in splinters. They then sold the bull and bought an accordion. The happiness was incredible. Victor tried to play all the music he heard right away. And when it was not enough, he began to compose himself. And it was wonderful to him at first that people danced to his music.

In 1945, the film “Hello, Moscow” was released in the USSR, and in 1950 in France, “Prelude of Glory”, telling about the musical achievements of Viti’s peers. He watched these films and wrote a letter to Stalin. On the pages of his student notebook, Vitya sincerely, like a child, spoke about how he wanted to become an artist, but at school there was no music club or musical instruments. Three months passed - and suddenly a large commission descended on Dyadkovskaya, and straight into Zakharchenko’s house. And the mother did not even know that her son wrote a letter to Stalin: she disappeared all day at work. People in the village remembered this incident for a long time. After him, he sent a new director to the school, Ivan Petrovich Rybalko, who left a bright mark on the soul of young Victor. He was a real teacher who was able to recognize talent in his student. Ivan Petrovich bought a button accordion for school and allowed him to take it home until Vitya bought his own.

In 1956, I read an advertisement for enrollment in a music school. Fired up. He took a light suitcase and an accordion, a knapsack with food and went to enroll in the Krasnodar music school. Mom didn’t have any money; she earned pennies for her workdays. I went without money, hitchhiking. From Dyadkovskaya to Korenovskaya. From there to Plastunovskaya. From Plastunovskaya to Dinskaya. And there it’s just a stone’s throw from Krasnodar.

Upon admission, the young harmonica player thought that during the exam he would be asked to play funny songs - so he could perform this with ease. Without his accordion there was no celebration in the village. He could pick out any melody by ear, immediately found music for good poems, and composed it himself. But they gave him notes. The guy didn’t know how to read them from a sheet of paper, or what to be disingenuous about. He had no teachers who would know musical notation. But there was Cossack stubbornness. And so, after no luck with the music school, he tried his luck at the music pedagogical school, also in Krasnodar. It’s not for nothing that they say about people like Viktor Zakharchenko: “A person can do anything if he wants, if all his will is directed towards the goal. Then he can, will, win.” After graduating from music education, he left for Siberia, where he graduated from the Novosibirsk State Conservatory and his mentor was V.N. Minin. While studying in Novosibirsk, Viktor Gavrilovich learns about the closure of the Kuban choir in 1961 and then he writes in his diary: “Now my goal is clearly defined: I must create a Kuban folk choir. Well, with God!” Then there were ten years of work in the State Siberian Russian Folk Choir. It is worth noting that at this time Viktor Gavrilovich received an offer to lead the main choir of the country three times - State Academic Russian Folk Choir named after. M. E. Pyatnitsky. But he rejected them, since even in early childhood a dream sprouted like a green shoot and over the years became increasingly stronger about the revival of the State Kuban Cossack Choir, which Viktor Gavrilovich headed in 1974 and since then has been its permanent leader.

Curious, but true. To get to the first All-Russian review-competition of Russian folk choirs in Moscow in 1975, Viktor Gavrilovich, then the young director of the Kuban Cossack Choir, had to cheat a little. Before the trip to the capital, the speeches were reviewed by a special commission,which included party workers. And since in the 70s it was impossible to even think about going somewhere and performing without promoting Soviet ideology, Zakharchenko included works about Lenin in the program. Party officials approved the repertoire, and when the choir had already arrived in Moscow, it showed a completely different program, performing Cossack songs. The jury was shocked, but still awarded first place to the artists from Kuban, calling the group’s performance “revolutionary.”

In the mid-90s of the twentieth century, the Kuban Cossack Choir was on tour in Samara. Viktor Gavrilovich was unable to go on tour with the choir in Russian cities, as he was in the Regional Clinical Hospital after another operation. But fate is always favorable to Viktor Zakharchenko. After a concert in Samara, a small old man approached the director of the orchestra, F. Karazhov, and asked about the artistic director. And since Viktor Gavrilovich was not there, he ordered a collection of Cossack songs to be given to him, as it later turned out it was the manuscript of G. M. Kontsevich. Unfortunately, the choir artists did not ask for the surname, first name, patronymic, or address of this old man, since he could have other materials from Grigory Mitrofanovich.

This is how Viktor Gavrilovich himself recalls it: “When I picked up the book that was handed over with trepidation, it turned out to be a large-format manuscript by G. M. Kontsevich on thick paper. I couldn't believe my eyes. A miracle and nothing more! I’m reading: “Songs of the Kuban Cossacks. It was collected by the singing teacher at the Kuban military singing choir and collector of Kuban Cossack songs G. M. Kontsevich. In the period from January 15 to February 17, 1911.” I was struck by the amazing beauty of Grigory Mitrofanovich’s calligraphic handwriting. Each letter is written in ink with love, as if by the hand of an artist. In the upper right corner of the manuscript there is written in his hand in purple ink: “To Kuban Science Museum as a gift from G. M. Kontsevich. 1927 3/VII. Autograph manuscript." This is truly a gift from God for me.

The first thing that caught my eye when I began to carefully look through the manuscript was the fundamental difference between G. M. Kontsevich’s handwritten collection of Cossack songs and all his published collections. There, all the songs were published in three- and four-voice arrangements for the military singing choir. In the handwritten collection, which includes 56 Cossack songs, almost all the songs are given in a monophonic presentation. Three songs - in two voices. And only one No. 18 “Oh, dudu, oh dudu,” recorded in the village of Sergievskaya, is given in a four-voice arrangement for a singing choir.

Second: G. M. Kontsevich, for the first time in this collection, indicated the place of recording of each song, the last name, first name and patronymic of their performers and the time of recording: day, month and year. Thus, in this manuscript, the collector showed himself not so much as a regent and a talented composer-arranger of the military singing choir, for which he collected and arranged songs, but as a real folklorist-ethnographer, who carefully recorded the authentic sound of the songs.

Well, the third thing that struck me in the handwritten collection was that the first musician-folklorist and composer who recorded folk songs in my native village of Dyadkovskaya, Korenovsky district, in which I was born and raised, turned out to be none other than the first artistic director of the State Kuban Cossack Choir Grigory Mitrofanovich Kontsevich! This amazing coincidence cannot be explained by any logic other than Conduct.

And one more amazing fact. The performer of the five songs recorded in the village of Dyadkovskaya G. M. Kontsevich was the Cossack Arkhip Ivanovich Misko. And when I asked my mother if she knew that Cossack and if she knew the hut where he lived, she answered: “Well, yes. I myself was still a little girl, but I was already the nanny of Arkhip Ivanovich’s child. Because I’m a bull, I’m all damp, but I can’t live like that.” After this, the name of Grigory Mitrofanovich became not only even more dear to me, but also much closer. My mother also knew the songs recorded by Arkhip Ivanovich. And I recorded many other songs in this collection in my youth in the village of Dyadkovskaya, in particular, my mother’s favorite song “My Brothers, My Brothers, Nightingale Brothers.” Your works are truly wonderful, O Lord.”.

How composer, Viktor Gavrilovich writes mainly on classic poetry. The maestro already has several hundred original songs. At the same time, Zakharchenko is not afraid of exp experiment. Not long ago, the choir recorded a joint single with the American rock band Ring Star. The lead singer of the group, having attended the band’s concert, burst into tears, and then approached Viktor Gavrilovich and offered to collaborate.

Now all of Viktor Gavrilovich’s dreams and thoughts are aimed at reviving the two orchestras that were part of the Military Singing Orchestra: the brass and symphony. This would make it possible to perform the classical repertoire, both world and domestic music.

Speaking about Viktor Zakharchenko, I would like to say that he is a happy person because he does what he loves. Here's how Viktor Gavrilovich himself talks about it:

- I consider myself happy man, because all my life I have been doing what I love beyond measure, unspeakably. My happiness is that I work as the director of the Kuban Cossack Choir, and not some other one. I would not like to be either the chairman of the government, or the president, or a minister. I'm not interested in positions. I live only by folk songs.

It’s not for nothing that they say that a folk song is the soul of the people, and the soul, as you know, “... you can’t strangle, you can’t kill.” So is the Kuban Cossack Choir, which, together with the residents of Kuban, went through all the times and trials. He survived and gives us the richest cultural heritage our heroic ancestors.

Viktor Gavrilovich and the Kuban Cossack Choir are not only the pride of Kuban, but of all of Russia. This is the embodiment of that very national idea that is so painfully lately looking for the best minds in Russia. And Viktor Gavrilovich, together with the choir, offers us this idea, because they are doing necessary and important work: they are returning themselves to us. They are trying to prevent us from becoming Ivans who do not remember our kinship. They protect and return to us folk culture, without which great Russia is impossible. Thank you very much, To you, for this wonderful gift and long years to you.

I want to end my story with a poem, which was published on May 19, 1913 in the Kuban Cossack List. Its author O. Aspidov dedicated it to G. M. Kontsevich. This poem, in my opinion, best reflects the role of song in the life of the Cossacks:

Cossack song, dear song,

What else can compare with you!

You are more beautiful than a nightingale's trill,

How can I not love you with all my soul!

You will immediately dispel the heavy grief,

Your eyes will immediately fill with tears,

Or you will make a noise like a roaring sea,

Or you will groan like a seriously ill person.

There is a lot of bitter sadness in your words,

There is more Cossack prowess in them:

Then your ancestors laid you down in captivity,

Then in the kurens you were born relatives.

The life of our ancestors, the life of battle,

You, like an artist, paint with yourself,

Cossack bravery, dashing daring

You, like a kobzar, sing with your soul.

The article was prepared by Sofia Apetyan

especially for the project "Virtual Korenovsk"

(photo from the Internet)

The following materials were used when writing this article:

1. http://www.kkx.ru
2. Pokladova E. V. Music of Kuban. - Krasnodar: Tradition, 2011. - p. 49-54.
3. “At the request of the spiritual enlightener... [text] // Free Kuban. - 2011. - October 14. - With. 3.
4. Zakharchenko V. G. Plasticity, passion, fire... [text] // Free Kuban. - 2011. - October 14. - With. 6
5. Voronovich A. Education of the heart [test] // Free Kuban. - 2011. - October 14. - With. 8.
6. From the history of the Kuban Cossack Choir: Materials and essays / Comp. and general ed. prof. V. G. Zakharchenko. - Krasnodar: Diapazon-V, 2006. - 312 p.: ill.
7. Tovancheva N. “I am your son, dear Kuban...”//Free Kuban. - 1998. - March 21. - With. 2
8. korenovsk.ru/?page_id=3957
9. N. Kravchenko. The soul strived for music // Kuban news. - 1998.

10. V. Chaika. In order for his artists to get to the first choir competition in 1975, Viktor Zakharchenko outwitted the party leadership of the region [text] // Komsomolskaya Pravda. — 2013. — February 1. - With. 6.

Sections: Primary school

ITEM: Cuban studies.

CLASS: 3.

CHAPTER: Composers of Kuban.

Goals:

1. Educational: introduce children to the activities of V.G. Zakharchenko, with creativity modern composition Kuban Cossack Choir.
2. Developmental: develop interest and respect for history and culture native land, its traditions.
3. Educating: to instill love for the small Motherland through the creativity of the Kuban Cossack Choir.

Tasks:

1. Introduce students to the history of the Kuban Cossack Choir.
2. Introduce the activities of artistic director V.G. Zakharchenko, talk about his creative path.
3. Systematize students’ knowledge about their native land, its past and present.
4. Develop interest in the ethnography of the native land through riddles and sayings.
5. Expand students' knowledge about folk instruments. Develop skills in playing folk musical instruments.
6. To develop the artistic abilities of students through creative activities in the children's folklore ensemble “Merry Cossacks”

TYPE OF LESSON: combined.

EQUIPMENT: multimedia projector, multimedia board, projector; folk musical instruments: tambourine, spoons, maracas, rattles; flag, coat of arms of the Krasnodar region, tape recorder, CD with a recording of the song “Lyubo, brothers, lyubo,” the anthem of Kuban.

Lesson progress

1. Organizational moment.

A boy and a girl in Cossack costumes conduct a blitz survey of students.

– Hello guys, we are cheerful Cossacks, please answer our questions.

– What do you know about the Kuban Cossack Choir?

– Guys, do you know who V. Zakharchenko is?

– How many of you saw the performance of the Kuban Cossack Choir?

– What event is our entire Kuban celebrating this year?

Artistic director of the Kuban Cossack Choir Viktor Gavrilovich Zakharchenko.

A fragment of the song “Love, brothers, love” is performed.

2. The teacher’s story about the life and work of V. G. Zakharchenko.

Before you is the artistic director of the State Academic Kuban Cossack Choir, Viktor Gavrilovich Zakharchenko.

“The Kuban land is rich in beautiful folk songs, dances, and rituals. These treasures are generously scattered throughout the Kuban Cossack villages and farms. And we needed a man with a warm heart and true love to the people to collect and return these treasures of folk art to people in their original form. Viktor Zakharchenko became such a person…” - this is what Russian newspapers write.

Cossacks:

– I wonder how it all began?

– What was Viktor Grigorievich’s childhood like?

– What did he want to become when he was a child?

Teacher: And so, everything is in order.

2.1. Childhood of Viktor Gavrilovich

Slides 3-5.

Vitya with his family

Vitya Zakharchenko with sister Vera

Teacher: Viktor Gavrilovich was born on March 22, 1938 in the village of Dyadkovskaya, Krasnodar Territory. He says about himself: “I am a Cossack by birth and upbringing. I heard folk and spiritual songs since childhood and absorbed Cossack traditions. I have always had an incredibly strong desire to become a musician. But there lived in me some kind of absolute inner confidence that I would definitely be one.”

Slides 6-7. V. Zakharchenko is a student at the Music Pedagogical School.

Teacher: After school, Viktor Zakharchenko enters and graduates from the Krasnodar Musical Pedagogical School, then studies at the Glinka Novosibirsk State Conservatory, and completes graduate school at the GMPI. Gnesins. Currently, Viktor Gavrilovich is a doctor of art history, professor.

Cossacks:

– I wonder how Viktor Gavrilovich met the Kuban Cossack Choir?

– After all, we know that the Kuban Cossack Choir was formed a very long time ago.

- Come on, dear Cossacks, tell me what you know about the Kuban Cossack Choir?

2.2. The history of the Kuban Cossack Choir.

Slides 8-10.

Cossacks:

– We know that professional musical activity in Kuban was founded on October 14, 1811. In those distant years, this group was called the Black Sea Army Singing Choir.

– At its origins stood the spiritual enlightener of the Kuban, Proteor Kirill Rossinsky, and the regent Grigory Grechinsky.

Kirill Rossinsky

– In 1939, in connection with the inclusion in the choir dance group, the group was renamed the Song and Dance Ensemble of the Kuban Cossacks.

2.3. Merits of the team.

Teacher: Well done, guys! What you say is interesting. I will continue your story. In 1974, composer V.G. became the artistic director of the State Kuban Cossack Choir. Zakharchenko, who for more than 30 years of his creative activity in Kuban managed to fully realize his artistic, scientific and educational aspirations.

In 1975, the choir became a laureate of the 1st All-Russian Review - a competition of state folk choirs in Moscow.

In 1988, by Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, the choir was awarded the Order of Friendship of Peoples.

In 1990, the choir became a laureate of the State Prize of Ukraine named after T. Shevchenko, and in 1993 the team was awarded the title “academic”.

2.4. Zakharchenko is a folklorist.

Slides 11-20.

Currently, in addition to active guest and concert activities, the Kuban Cossack Choir is conducting systematic work on recording and scientific study of the traditional song and dance folklore of the Kuban Cossacks. Zakharchenko, a folklorist, visits the most remote corners of our region and records the songs that our ancestors sang, finding them out from the guards of villages and farmsteads.

Cossacks:

– The Cossacks spoke a special Kuban dialect, which has survived to this day.

- Let's see if you know him. These words are found in the songs of the Kuban Cossack Choir:

• Cradle (smoking pipe)
• Puff (watch)
• Tsybulya (bow)
• Torba (bag)
• Kochet (rooster)
• Tyn (solid fence)
• Have supper (dinner)
• Cherkeska (long caftan)
• Longboat (large boat)
• Rushnik (towel)

Teacher: The repertoire of the Kuban Cossack Choir is quite diverse. One of the main themes is the military exploits of the Cossacks. Kuban Cossack Choir sings about Cossack glory, about military campaigns: “Iihaly Cossacks from the Don to home”, “Unharness, boys, horses!”, “Cossack marching” and others. Let's all sing together a song that you know well.

3. Physical education moment.

Performance of the song “Cossack marching”.

4. Cossack sayings, riddles.

Cossacks:

- Guys, do you know Cossack sayings?

• Only a bullet can catch up with a Cossack in the steppe.
• Don’t boast when you’re getting ready to go on a hike, but rather boast when you’re on your way.
• Everyone whistles, but not like a Cossack.
• With a good song the path is shorter, life is sweeter, and death is easier.
• Not every Cossack wears his cap askew.
• A Cossack without a horse is an orphan.
• Cossack blood is not water.

Teacher: Now guess the fighting riddles:

1. Strong, ringing and sharpened, whoever kisses him is off his feet (saber).
2. A winged bird flies, without eyes, without wings. It whistles itself, it shoots itself (the arrow).
3. Small man - bone handle (knife).
4. He rides on someone else's back, carrying his own load (saddle).
5. Six legs, two heads, one tail (a rider on a horse).
6. What kind of shoes are made in fire? And the horseshoe is not removed from the feet.
7. The shoulder straps are yellow, the swords are sharp, the shadows are long, the horses are greyhounds, they ride through the fields with songs to seek honor for the king and glory for themselves (Cossacks).

5. Folk art instruments

Teacher: Well done, guys, you know your native folklore well. Now let’s return to the work of Viktor Zakharchenko.

Slide 21. V. G. Zakharchenko with choir soloist Tatyana Bochtareva.

Teacher: The Kuban Cossack Choir includes not only singers, but also dancers and musicians. The musical group of the choir plays various folk musical instruments.

Slides 22-23.

Teacher: What musical instruments did you learn?

But this is only a small part of the instruments played in the Kuban Cossack Choir. I suggest you decipher the crossword puzzle “Folk Art Tools”. (The class is divided into three teams. Each team has one representative.)

Write the names of the musical instruments of the folk orchestra on the horizontal lines. The clue will be the word “folk” written vertically in the crossword puzzle.

Crossword puzzle "Instruments of folk art."

1. _ _ _ n
2. _ _ _ A
3. _ _ _ _ _ r _
4. _ O _ _ _
5. d _ _ _ _
6. _ _ _ _ n
7. _ _ _ _ _ _ s
8. _ _ _ _ th _ _

1. The instrument was named after the ancient Russian singer-storyteller (Bayan).
2. Ancient plucked string instrument(Lyra).
3. Ukrainian folk stringed musical instrument (Bandura).
4. Shepherds often played this instrument; it is a shepherd's horn... (horn).
5. String instrument, reminiscent of a balalaika (Domra).
6. A noise instrument with a leather membrane stretched over a hoop with bells. It can be played by hitting or shaking (Tambourine).
7. A string instrument played by striking the strings with special spoons (Dulcimer)
8. A pipe with a plaintive high-sounding voice (Zhaleika)

6. Physical education moment.

Performance of the song “Strawberry-berry”

Teacher: Well done, guys. Now let's imagine that you are members of the Kuban Cossack Choir. Our folklore ensemble“Merry Cossacks” will perform the cheerful song “Strawberry-Berry”. We will divide into three groups: dancers, singers and musicians. Musicians receive folk musical instruments: maracas, tambourines, rattles, spoons.

Children perform a song.

7. Final words from the teacher.

Teacher: Well done, guys! I am sure that Viktor Gavrilovich would have liked your performance.

The life story of People's Artist of Russia and Ukraine Viktor Gavrilovich Zakharchenko is as unusual as the fate of the Kuban Cossack Choir. Everything in the world is natural, therefore, on the Kuban soil, rich in beautiful folk songs, dances, and rituals, a man with a warm heart and a pure soul had to be born, who would collect these treasures from Cossack villages and farmsteads. It turned out to be Viktor Gavrilovich. He recorded several thousand Kuban songs and returned them to the audience in their original form at the concerts of the Kuban Cossack Choir. Zakharchenko elevated the Cossack song to a Russian, no, world sound. He perceives all his victories not as personal, but as achievements of the entire choir.

“The songs of the Kuban Cossack Choir are a sip of cool spring water in the heat. You listen to them and forget about everything. They usually have the deepest meaning. Music flows, a wonderful song. You sit as if hypnotized, absorbing the enchanting sounds. It is for this, for the depth of folk creativity, that people value Viktor Gavrilovich in Russia, Ukraine, and many other countries where the Kuban Cossack Choir has visited on tour,” write Kuban newspapers. Let’s finish our lesson by listening to the Kuban anthem “You, Kuban, you are our Motherland.” It was processed and recorded by the artistic director of the State Academic Kuban Cossack Choir, People's Artist Russia, professor V.G. Zakharchenko.

8. Listening to the anthem performed by the Kuban Cossack Choir.

Teacher: What piece of music have you listened to now? By whom?

9. Lesson summary.

Teacher: At the end of our lesson, we will conduct a quiz.

Quiz.

1. Why is the Krasnodar region sometimes called Kuban? (By the name of the river).
2. Which of the Russian seas is the shallowest, the smallest, that washes our region? (Sea of ​​Azov).
3. What do the colors of the Kuban flag mean? (Blue – honesty, loyalty, red – courage, green – hope).
4. What do the stripes of the Kuban flag mean? (Blue – non-resident population, red – Cossacks, green – Adyghe people).
5. What was Krasnodar called before? (Ekaterinodar).
6. Who is the main performer of Kuban songs? (Kuban Cossack Choir).
7. Who is the main leader of the Kuban Cossack Choir? (V. Zakharchenko).

Teacher: You answered all the quiz questions correctly. Our lesson is over.

Website addresses:

1. www.krd.uu
2. www.it-n/ru/region
3. folkinst.narod.ru
4. festival.1september.ru
5. www.kkx.ru/about

Slide 2

Viktor Gavrilovich Zakharchenko

Slide 3

Acquaintance with the work of V.G. Zakharchenko.

Viktor Gavrilovich Zakharchenko (1938) (slide 12). The future composer was born in the village of Dyadkovskaya, Korenovsky district, into a Cossack family. My father died in the first year of the war. Mother sang well. Of the four children, only Victor received the gift of music. At the age of 17, not knowing how to read music, he composed music. V.G. Zakharchenko is a bright, original composer, the author of a number of songs beloved by the people. He has received numerous state and international awards. On his initiative, a Center was opened in Krasnodar folk culture Kuban. He collected over 30 thousand folk songs. The State Academic Kuban Cossack Choir is known and loved in Russia and abroad, but, of course, especially here in Kuban. The Motherland highly appreciated the merits of V.G. Zakharchenko, his contribution to the development of Kuban culture. He was awarded many orders and medals. Viktor Gavrilovich Zakharchenko is a People's Artist of Russia and Ukraine, a laureate of the Russian State Prize, an honorary citizen of the village of Dyadkovskaya and the city of Krasnodar.

Slide 4

V. Zakharchenko with his family, sister Vera.

Slide 5

“I am a Cossack by birth and upbringing. I heard folk and spiritual songs since childhood and absorbed Cossack traditions. I have always had an incredibly strong desire to become a musician. But there lived in me some kind of absolute inner confidence that I would definitely be one.” V.G. Zakharchenko

Slide 6

Victor Zakharchenko – student of the Krasnodar Music and Pedagogical School

Slide 7

Kuban Cossack Choir

Professional musical activity in Kuban was founded on October 14, 1811. In those distant years, this group was called the Black Sea Army Singing Choir.

Slide 8

Slide 9

“I am a great admirer of the talent of Viktor Gavrilovich Zakharchenko, he is a brilliant master of his craft and a wonderful citizen of his Motherland. Thanks to him folk art Kuban is known far beyond our region. Moreover, Kuban is personified with the Black Sea, a grain field and the name Zakharchenko. This is our heritage, and we must appreciate and protect in every possible way this creation given to us by God. Descendants will be immensely grateful to us if we preserve the Kuban Cossack Choir - a symbol of our history and highly patriotic Slavic art. We must do this for the glory of Kuban and for the benefit of Russia.” A. Tkachev Governor of Kuban

Slide 10

“I was at a concert of the Kuban Cossack Choir and almost burst into tears. I realized: as long as there are such talents, such courageous people, Russia is alive...” V. Belov writer “The art of the Kuban Cossack Choir is a flood of songs and dances, music and plastic arts, This is the spiritual health of the nation... For this moral washing of the soul, the talented choir director Viktor Low bow to Gavrilovich Zakharchenko and his artists.” V. Minin People's Artist of the USSR

View all slides

Victor Zakharchenko – legend Russia.

04.12.2011. Vladimir Levchenko.

This brochure is not a biographyVictor GavrilovichZakharchenko , but a series of excerpts and sketches written by me under the vivid impression of meetings with him, with his relatives and associates.

"From a distant beautiful village"

The village of Dyadkovskaya is 80 kilometers from Krasnodar. Here, in the family of shoemaker Gavrila Ivanovich and collective farmer Natalia Sergeevna Zakharchenko, son Victor was born on March 22, 1938, who became a composer, folklorist, publicist and director of the world famous Kuban Cossack Choir.

In 2008, I visited the village of Dyadkovskaya, which old-timers call “a distant beautiful village,” and met with the composer’s relatives and friends.

The first of them was Nikolai Vladimirovich Lyuty - general manager agro-industrial complex "Kuban-Lux". A very nice Cossack, cheerful and kind.

Let’s start, perhaps, with the street named after Viktor Gavrilovich, says Nikolai Lyuty. And we come to the beginning of the street, which at one time was Komsomolskaya, then began to bear the name of Sverdlov, and in 1999 at the village meeting it was renamed Zakharchenko Street.

Viktor Gavrilovich is our pride, our legend,” continues Nikolai Vladimirovich. - My mother is the godfather of his older brother, Uncle Kolya. So we give birth to them. Viktor Gavrilovich does not forget the village. He comes both himself and with a choir. From childhood he was surrounded by people of a strong breed: brave and hardy, decisive and quick-witted, who remembered the glorious past of Zaporozhye and the Kuban Cossacks. True, little remains of the former Cossack freemen. The times of Anton Golovaty and Zakhary Chepega are long gone, but the Cossacks, thank God, have risen. Something is being done in our village. The stone was laid for the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. We worked on Zakharchenko’s house, and it was ready for the 70th anniversary of Viktor Gavrilovich’s birth.

When we go on a bus on any tourist trip, she says, they usually ask: “Where from?” We answer: “From Kuban, from Dyadkovskaya.” Many immediately enthusiastically say: “So you are from Zakharchenko’s homeland!”

Of course, we are very pleased that our Vitka, as we called him in childhood, is known and loved by his choir all over the world,” Anna Mikhailovna continues after a pause. - We've had him musically since childhood, apparently he took after his mother. She loved to play the balalaika, sang in the first voice, or rather brought it out, and her father could imitate any wind instrument. It was very easy for him to portray a trumpet or bassoon. Mother's brother, Roman, also played the balalaika, sang in the church choir and in the large choir. When he came to our village, the whole village gathered to listen to Uncle Roman. I especially loved “There is a cliff on the Volga”. Victor often recalls that he first came into contact with musical instrument during the war.

Our village was occupied. Little Vitya heard the sound of a German accordion. He, while still a baby, found the place where the accordion was - someone left it on a bench, took it and began to play... From that time on, he began to dream of an accordion. There was so much joy when my mother bought it in Korenovsk! He literally slept with her.

What was he like as a child?

An ordinary boy. True, I really wanted to study and become an artist. I even wrote about this to Stalin on a piece of school notebook in the fifth grade: “I want to be an artist and play music, but we don’t even have a button accordion at school, no one works with us...” Two or three months passed, and Zakharchenko came to the house big commission. Victor's mother was scared. They came to check how the family was living. Then we went to school, naturally, the director scolded: “Why don’t you work with the children so much, how can this be?” Victor admitted later: “I thought they would take me away to study.” But they didn’t take him away, but said: “You study!” And when you finish school, then you’ll be admitted, but now you’re still small.”

Soon a new school director, Ivan Petrovich Rybalko, was sent to the village. He bought a button accordion for school and allowed Victor to take it home.

Vitya began to play at weddings and dances, earning his family’s bread. Then he decided to go to study in Krasnodar, so the whole world prepared him for the journey: some gave him soap, some boots, some a towel... After all, his father was no longer alive. At first they reported that he died, then that he went missing in November 1941. Later, Victor learned from the regional “Book of Memory” that he really went missing in November 1941 in the village of Krasnaya Balka, Taganrog district, Rostov region.

But Aunt Natasha waited for him all her life and told Victor: “You go everywhere, and abroad, maybe you’ll find Dad there.” She really believed that he would return, and when she lit the stove, she called the children, and they shouted into the stove: “Father, come back!”

The smoke will spread sadness throughout the world, and the person they are waiting for will hear and return.”

Aunt Natasha has two more survivors: Nikolai and Zoya, they now live in the village of Kanevskaya. The eldest, Verochka and Galochka, died in infancy, and the youngest, Borenka, died of hunger. Victor sometimes recalls that everyone thought that he would be the first to die, and Borenka even said: “Vitka will die, he won’t waste anything...”

Lyuty enters the conversation:

Viktor Gavrilovich loves his Dyadkovskaya very much. How can you not love her? Our ancestors came to Kuban from Transnistria as part of the Black Sea Cossack army and founded the Dyadkovsky kuren, one of 38 kurens. On the contrary, through rowing, it fell to the inhabitants of the Korenovsky kuren to settle. In 1827, these kurens were united into the Korenovsky kuren. At the same time, the Malobeysugsky kuren, settled on the same river, was given the name Dyadkovsky. The first settlers were 344 male and 101 female. From 1809 to 1811, 524 people arrived from the Poltava and Chernigov provinces. In 1828, a wooden church with a separate bell tower in the name of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, built with donations from residents, was consecrated. At this time, the village had two oil mills, three forges, one steam mill, two water mills and three windmills. The military activities of the villagers were awarded: 24 Cossacks had St. George's Crosses. And the Cossacks 3. Gorokh, N. Revva and G. Logvin each had two crosses. That's how things are!

On one of last meetings in the village of Dyadkovskaya, Nikolai Vladimirovich continues, Viktor Gavrilovich said this: “There is a war for the souls of people, and folk art has always been at the forefront of the battle for Russia. One day, on the way to St. Petersburg, a bus crashed into a KamAZ. The bus was wrecked, but the choir members miraculously survived. After that they went on stage and sang!”

"I have no money..."

After tenth grade at the Dyadkovo school, Viktor Zakharchenko decided to go to study. I read an advertisement in the regional newspaper: to the music school named after. Rimsky-Korsakov is enrolling students. He took the accordion and went to Krasnodar on passing cars. And the requirements at the school are: they accept students only after seven years of music school.

The admissions committee asks him: Do you know solfeggio?

No, I don’t know,” Victor answers. After that, his documents were not even accepted. They didn’t audition him, but advised him to try to submit his documents to a music pedagogical school.

“Musical training was required, but I couldn’t read notes from a sheet,” recalls Viktor Gavrilovich. - What a shock it was! He went out into the street as if in a frenzy: “What should I do?..” I went to the station. I climbed onto the bridge, looked down from it - my head was spinning. I wanted to throw myself down. The thought brought me to my senses: “What about mom without me?” And he burst into tears. Suddenly a stranger approached me. He asked: “Why are you so upset, boy? What's the matter? We met. It turned out that Alexey Ivanovich Manzhelevsky, a teacher at the music pedagogical school, spoke to me. He advised me to come to his school.”

Victor spent the whole night at the station without sleeping. Early in the morning I went to school, to see Manzhelevsky. The teacher listened to him and said:

Let us take you, but you will have debts to learn musical literacy and solfeggio theory within a year, so that you can master all this.

They accepted Victor without a scholarship. And my mother, naturally, worked on the collective farm for workdays, but gave 10 rubles for an apartment. There was no dormitory at the school. Victor lived in the apartment of his aunt Sonya Oganesyan. But he often stayed in the classroom at night, studied, and slept on chairs.

Aunt Sonya was as sorry as she could and helped. And in the canteen at the school there was a kind cashier. When she saw that the frail teenager was eating only bread, which was then served for free, she said a few days later: You take the cutlet!

Take it! And she gave him cutlets for free...

Return to sacred origins

On the 70th anniversary of the composer’s birth, we met in his homeland in the village of Dyadkovskaya.

They began to talk about heroic and tragic story Cossacks, Cossack songs, and, of course, his favorite brainchild - the Kuban Cossack Choir.

And suddenly Viktor Gavrilovich explodes like a volcano and begins to talk about the main thing, in my opinion, that worries him at the moment:

By the beginning of the 90s, when many closed archives were opened and we seemed to take a fresh look at our life, our glorious and dramatic history, much of what was revealed became a real revelation for me, or rather, a shock...

Okay, I think I’m not a believer, but the Cossacks, our fathers and grandfathers, whose songs we sing, lived and felt differently?.. Take any Cossack song. It is clear from them that the Kuban Cossacks are deeply religious people. And then I seriously took up the history of the Kuban Cossack Choir. And I, frankly admit, felt ashamed. I think, how can I, without God’s light in my soul, be the leader of such a choir?

Having humbled my pride, I confessed to my father, Father Milius, and decided to sing in the church on the choir. Getting to know the church from the inside, I began to become a church member. I started reading spiritual literature - New Testament, creations of the holy fathers. And the true essence of Orthodoxy was revealed to me.

...Viktor Gavrilovich looked at the domes of the Church of St. Alexander Nevsky, then turned to the left and, looking carefully at the monument to Catherine the Great, crossed himself and continued:

I was then amazed how my illiterate mother knew about all this from early childhood, and I, smart and well-read, lived in a kind of fog, in the conviction that religion was the opium of the people. Yes, we were brought up with unlimited trust in the printed word. Once it’s printed, it means it’s true. It turns out that the printed word can hide a terrible lie, moreover, the printed word can be demonic...

Viktor Gavrilovich fell silent again, looked at the domes of the temple and said in a quiet voice:

After all, our people gave great holy righteous men and ascetics, whom our ancestors called earthly angels and heavenly people... Let us remember the enlighteners of the Russian Land - Equal-to-the-Apostles Holy Prince Vladimir and the successors of his work, the Venerables Anthony and Theodore of Pechersk, Sergius of Radonezh... These were, as they said in the old days, guides, educators of the Russian people and their great spirit. From them he learned to love God, feared sin, wickedness, vice... This is why the Russian people, including the Cossacks, truly became a God-bearing people, and the Russian land became Holy Russia.

Viktor Gavrilovich falls silent, takes a piece of paper from his pocket and reads:

Usually people, wanting to praise their nationality, in this very praise express their national ideal, what is best for them, what they most desire. Thus, the Frenchman speaks of beautiful France and French glory; the Englishman says: “old England”; the German rises higher and, giving an epic character to his national ideal, proudly says: “German loyalty.”

What do the Russian people say in such cases? Wanting to express his best feelings for the Motherland, he speaks only about “Holy Rus'”. This is the ideal. And not liberal, not political, not epic, not even formally aesthetic, but a moral and religious ideal.”

Zakharchenko put this, as it seemed to me, precious piece of paper into his pocket and continued:

This is from work famous philosopher Vladimir Solovyov “Love for the people and the Russian folk ideal”, written by him in late XIX century. And yet, despite all the current adversities, Russia today is Holy Rus' - due to the holiness of destroyed but returned to us temples and ideals, holy impulses and, of course, due to faith in the final triumph of the truth of life...

We entered the restored Military Cathedral of the Holy Blessed Virgin Mary. book Alexander Nevsky for the evening service.

Blessing of the Kuban Cossack Choir by Patriarch Alexei II

By the providence of God, in August 1995, Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Alexy II came to Krasnodar (Ekaterinodar). At the headquarters of the All-Kuban Cossack Army, with Ataman Vladimir Prokofievich Gromov, he met with the Cossacks.

Welcoming the Patriarch, the ataman spoke about the amazing time of Cossack early Christianity:

– The Cossacks first entered the lands where there was not a single temple, not a single priest. They had only one thing - hope in the mercy of God. Having settled in new lands, the Black Sea Cossacks immediately began building churches. They brought with them from Zaporozhye a camp church in the name of the Holy Trinity. In 1795, military judge Anton Golovaty, at his own expense, erected the first stone church in Taman, which is dedicated to the most important holiday of the Black Sea people - the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary. During this holiday, all the banners and regalia of the army were taken out. After a year of staying in Kuban, the Black Sea residents founded 23 churches, which were soon erected exclusively with public donations...

Viktor Gavrilovich and the choir were also at this meeting. His Holiness wished to listen to the Kuban Cossack Choir. They started singing songs, including spiritual ones, right in the yard. They performed Zakharchenko’s work based on the verses of Hieromonk Roman, “Mother Punished Dobrynyushka.”

The song says that the mother sees how her son the hero is twisted and asks why he is like this. He answers her: I don’t sing, I don’t play. And yesterday I galloped around Holy Rus', I saw impoverishment in Rus', White churches plundered, desecrated by Busurmans. Those busurmans are not made of tartar, but of their own blood, sewn with bast. Satan rose up against Holy Rus', erected demonic temples. Infidels are coming from overseas countries and bringing with them disgraceful morals.

Rus' was filled with everything overseas,
So there is no Orthodox spirit...
He said and fell on the damp ground and burst into tears.

And then the wise mother says to him:

Oh, you are stupid, my son Dementievich,
I haven't gotten the hang of it.
There are still Russian sons on earth,
Keeping the Orthodox faith.
How many martyrs, confessors
Before the throne stand the Almighty
Day and night they beg with the Most Pure One
About the native side, about the Fatherland.
And while in the churches of God they pray,
Do not hold a memorial service for Holy Rus'!

The choir sang this to the Patriarch, and he said: “Yes, as long as they pray in the churches of God, Holy Rus' is alive!”

He approached Viktor Gavrilovich and thanked him for the song. And then the choir performed other spiritual works. His Holiness really liked it, he asks: “Why don’t you continue the work of your ancestors? Why don't you sing in church? Sing! Not every day, you are a secular choir. But can you sing on holidays?” Zakharchenko replies: “But we still sing weakly.” The Patriarch just smiled: “If you think this is weak... I bless you to sing in church. There will be a service today, come."

That same day in the evening at the Holy Trinity Church the choir took part in a service conducted by the Patriarch. The choir sang the stichera “To All Russian Saints”, the chant of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra - favorite piece Patriarch. So, after a long break, the choir held its first service in church.

From that time on, the Kuban Cossack Choir began to participate in services in the main church of the capital of Kuban - in St. Catherine’s, where Metropolitan Isidor of Ekaterinodar and Kuban often serves, and in the Holy Trinity Church, and in the St. Elias Church...

The choir began to increasingly include sacred works in its secular concerts.

Twenty-five years with the choir (in Moscow)

In December 1999, in Moscow, in the concert hall of P. I. Tchaikovsky, festive concert Kuban Cossack Choir, dedicated to the 25th anniversary of Viktor Gavrilovich Zakharchenko’s work in the choir.

Before the concert, the composer addressed the audience: “Thank you for the warm welcome.” I am very excited and happy that our anniversary tour ends in the famous hall named after P. I. Tchaikovsky. Our choir is the first choir in Kuban, with a great history and traditions, with a huge creative potential. This is a big family, united by one goal, one thing, when aspiration and desire are aimed at one thing. I must say that over twenty-five years the choir has grown significantly, and now we will try to prove it.

The performance opened with a song recorded in the village of Yasenskaya, “Under and above the meadow with the Poles on the road.” The soloist was Honored Artist of Kuban Sergei Voloshin.

Then the song “Vechir na dvori” was performed by the choir and soloists of Honored Artist of Russia Alexey Kovalenko and laureate of the All-Russian competition Elena Kulikovskaya.

The first part ended with a drill song recorded by Zakharchenko in his native village of Dyadkovskaya “Unharness, lads of horses” performed by People’s Artist of Russia Anatoly Lizvinsky.

Unfortunately, Anatoly Vladimirovich is no longer with us. He was born on March 26, 1947 in the city of Kamenets-Podolsk, Chernigov region. His parents: mother Nina Ivanovna and father Vladimir Lyudvigovich were simple workers. My father went through the war and had many military awards.

At the age of thirteen, musically gifted Anatoly became a student of the military brass band. He graduated from a children's music school and a music college in the trombone class. Then there was army service. First in the Marine Corps in Sevastopol, and later he was seconded to the song and dance ensemble of the Red Banner Black Sea Fleet, in which he served for seven years.

Even before Zakharchenko joined the choir, Lizvinsky was enrolled as a soloist-vocalist in the Kuban Folk Choir on November 24, 1973 (at that time there was no “Cossack” in the name of the group - V.L.).

On October 14, 1974, when Zakharchenko led the choir, they met. “Anatoly Vladimirovich was a highly gifted person,” recalls Viktor Gavrilovich. - He had an excellent ear for music, keen sense rhythm, excellent memory. The Lord God rewarded him with an amazing voice of beautiful bright timbre, huge range and incredible strength and power. Lizvinsky is, of course, a real gem. In addition to musical talents, he had a powerful physique and rare physical strength. He was tall with a powerful torso and broad shoulders, large expressive hands, colorful black Cossack eyebrows and beard...”

On the 95th birthday of Sergei Vladimirovich Mikhalkov, the choir performed in Bolshoi Theater in Moscow. A longtime fan of the choir, the wonderful Russian artist Ilya Sergeevich Glazunov noticed Anatoly Vladimirovich performing the song “Bread is the Head of Everything” together with Anastasia Tsybizova and asked Zakharchenko to re-shoot the television recording of the choir, apparently deciding to paint a portrait of the singer...

The second section was dedicated to spiritual and patriotic songs. It began with a stichera to all Russian saints, the chant of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra “Russian Land” - one of the favorite works of Patriarch Alexy II.

Before performing Zakharchenko’s original songs, the choir was congratulated by the outstanding Russian writer V. G. Rasputin and People’s Artist of the USSR, artistic director and chief conductor of the Moscow State Academic Chamber Choir, Zakharchenko’s teacher V. N. Minin.

This is not my first time at a concert of this group and I always get a charge of patriotism here,” said Rasputin. - Viktor Gavrilovich Zakharchenko is a truly Russian intellectual, to whom both his native Russian expanses and Russian, Belarusian, Ukrainian songs are infinitely dear... Minin noted:

Today, Viktor Gavrilovich presents himself in several guises: as a scientist, a collector of folk songs, a composer and conductor, and as a creator of beautiful patriotic songs and anthems. This anniversary concert of 25 years of work with the choir is a milestone. I see how Viktor Gavrilovich grows year after year, revealing new opportunities and talent. Many groups of this genre began to repeat themselves and reached a creative dead end. And the Kuban Cossack Choir has a continuous creative movement, inexhaustible growth from year to year...

Then Zakharchenko’s original songs were performed. Song based on the poems of F. Tyutchev “You are the land of the Russian people” performed by Sergei Startsev. “Mother’s Prayer” to the verses of S. Yesenin, performed by Elena Kulikovskaya and Evgeny Vaganov, “All Russia has become the Kulikovo field” to the verses of Hieromonk Roman, performed by Anna Komissinskaya.

Songs, as always, alternated with brilliant dances choreographed by the Honored Artist of Russia. Ukraine and the Republic of Adygea, chief choreographer of the choir N. Kubar.

The concert ended with the performance of the anthem “You, Kuban, you are our Motherland.”

You, Kuban, you, our homeland,
Our age-old hero!
High-water, free-flowing,
You have spread far and wide.
From distant lands of midday,
From overseas
We hit you with our brow, darling,
Your faithful sons.

I remember you here,
We sing a song together,
About your free villages,
About my father's home.
I remember you here,
How about my own mother,
On the enemy on the infidel
We are going into mortal combat.

I remember you here,
Shouldn't I stand up for you?
Is it for your old glory?
Shouldn't I give my life?

We, as a tribute to our humble,
From illustrious banners
We send you, dear Kuban,
Bow to the damp earth.

Trial

On September 5, 1996, in Krasnodar, while crossing the street, Viktor Gavrilovich Zakharchenko was hit by a car. At that time, he wrote a song based on verses that were found in the Gospel that belonged to the murdered woman. royal family, “Send us, Lord, patience.” He was especially shocked by the last lines of this poem:

And at the threshold of the grave
Breathe into the mouths of Your servants
Superhuman forces -
Pray meekly for your enemies.

Later he completed this song, and that day the draft notes remained lying on the piano at home.

He had six surgeries. Zakharchenko recalls: “I agreed to the operation without hesitation. And yet, when they announce that the operation will take place tomorrow, fear involuntarily sets in. I remember, before the operation, I opened the Gospel at random and read the chapter where Jesus Christ, before He was crucified on Calvary, prays in the Garden of Gethsemane: “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me.” Even Christ, although He was the God-man, was afraid of pain: “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

In the morning, before the first operation, the priest came and administered unction to Viktor Gavrilovich. After that, when all sins were cleared, he was taken to the operating room. Zakharchenko recalls: “I realized: everything that happened to me was not accidental. Even in misfortune, you must thank the Lord for what you have already done. And now I sincerely thank the Lord God for everything that has befallen me. Yes, the Lord heard my prayer and extended my life. At first I could only move on crutches - they inserted a metal pin into my leg...”

In the hospital, music returned to Zakharchenko. He wrote a large cycle of spiritual songs based on poems by Russian poets - Pushkin, Lermontov, Tyutchev, Koltsov, Blok, Yesenin, A.L. Tolstoy, Ivan Nikitin, Nikolai Rubtsov. Many of these songs were performed at the composer’s original concert in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow.

In the hospital, his fellow Kubans often visited him. Lyudmila Georgievna Zykova came from Moscow, Vasily Ivanovich Belov from Vologda, old friend accordionist Gennady Dmitrievich Zavolokin, from Canada ataman of the Kuban Cossacks A. Pevnev.

Friends, acquaintances, admirers of talent came from Ukraine, Belarus, Serbia...

In his weakness, Viktor Gavrilovich changed his mind a lot and finally decided: “Life is not given for entertainment. It's important to create. It is important to have time to realize everything that God has given you. I know that I work for the glory of the people to which I belong. For the glory of the land on which I was born. And to the glory of the Lord God. I'm not afraid to say such words. Because everything great and good is done with God’s help.”

After six operations, Viktor Gavrilovich, naturally, had a very difficult time. Don't move your leg; he barely touches a nerve and instinctively screams in pain. He even had to warn the choir members: “If I scream, don’t pay attention!”

After the hospital, Zakharchenko got his second wind. In addition to songs based on poems by Russian poets, ten CDs were released, several collections of Kuban folk songs were published, songs from the repertoire of the Military Singing Choir, which were collected and arranged by the wonderful musician and folklorist G.M. Kontsevich.

In Kyiv, when Zakharchenko was brought onto the stage, the crowded hall applauded standing for ten minutes. He walked on crutches for almost two years. Sitting with a rod in his leg in the front row, he led concerts in the cities of the Soviet Union, as well as in many countries of our land, glorifying Russia, Kuban, his native village of Dyadkovskaya...

Choir and power

I have always been worried about the question: how did Viktor Gavrilovich Zakharchenko, who appeared in the choir in 1974, when it was on the verge of collapse, was in a difficult creative and economic situation, manage to resurrect it, and in 1975, having created a new program, win at the first All-Russian competition -state choir competition in Moscow? Apparently, you had to “get along” and seek support from the leaders of the region and the state?

At one of our meetings, Viktor Gavrilovich answered these questions as follows:

About S. F. Medunov

I remember Sergei Fedorovich Medunov with a kind word. I’m not talking about a communist, but as a person. He built a whole house for the choir - for rehearsals and living. Nowadays it is the Teatralnaya Hotel. Unfortunately, we now only have one floor left.

About N. I. Kondratenko

I respect Nikolai Ignatovich Kondratenko for his sincerity and straightforwardness. Thanks to him, we received a building on Krasnaya, 5, the ZIP House of Culture, and the Victoria boarding house.

About A. N. Tkachev

Our political leaders are very different. But everyone is equally enthusiastic about the choir. Special thanks to the head of the administration of the Krasnodar region, Alexander Nikolaevich Tkachev. I consider him the true leader of our Cossack culture.

The people of Kuban should be grateful to him both for the revival of the Alexander Nevsky Temple and for the return of the bronze Catherine the Great to its pedestal. Our relationship is warm and sincere. Alexander Nikolaevich even sang with us. He plays the piano well, like a professional musician. He hears and feels music subtly, has artistic taste. And what is especially gratifying is that he understands the role of the Kuban Cossack Choir. I’m proud to say: we have the most musical governor.

How, by the way, is his support! The governor allocated to our children's school folk art several buses. He constantly invites the Kuban Cossack Choir to economic and political forums, we owe him shows at the central

TV channels. With him light hand Our music library has been replenished, since several collections have been published with funds from the administration. And bonuses to artists’ salaries are also a solution to one of the social problems.

About V.V. Putin

I respect Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin in all respects. And everywhere I will say that he really statesman, who knows how to govern such a vast country. But this is such a cross!

Our acquaintance with him took place in Sochi. At one of the political forums of top officials of the Southern Federal District. The President liked our concert. And I already knew that he had signed a decree awarding me the Order of Merit for the Fatherland. I was invited to a banquet. Vladimir Vladimirovich came up to me and suggested: “As the birthday boy, this is the first toast!” I was embarrassed, somehow uncomfortable for the first time. But once you have given your word, you need to speak. And I made the first toast in support of folk culture. “If you take away a people’s faith, language, culture, then the people will remain a population. Let’s save the culture and save the people!” A few days later I watch TV. They show Putin in Salekhard. In a conversation with local residents, he says the same thing as me. This means that my point of view does not disagree with Putin’s.

It is very pleasant that Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin is also a fan of the Kuban Cossack Choir.

I'll punish you, but I'll keep it

In October of this year, at the invitation of my long-time friends Victor and Nikolai Burkhailo, I visited the former Cossack fortress Maykop (now Maykop is the capital of Adygea). On the first day I called famous artist, Cossack and public figure Mikhail Ivanovich Skvortsov. He immediately exclaimed:

Come to Mezmay! Look at my students, there are talented guys, and most importantly - inspired! And we went to the village of Mezmay, Absheronsky district, to the children's school of traditional folk crafts of the Kuban.

Mikhail Ivanovich, as always, warmly greeted me with verses:

And the horse rushes through the mountains
And troubles are torn from the hooves,
Russia's rising sun
As the horseshoe flies, it burns!

We immediately enter the Skvortsov house-museum. Mikhail Ivanovich immediately invites you to the legendary table:

There were many people at this table. Artists and poets, Cossacks and nonresidents, tramps and travelers, Russians and Jews, Germans and Poles. But they all had one thing in common - to see the work of my students. And I have 67 of them, from six to twelve years old. Mostly children from low-income, large families. After all, Mezmay has 750 residents, but only fifty jobs. Four orphans. The main thing for me is to make them patriots of Russia, Kuban, Mezmay, the Cossacks...

What can you say about the current state of the Cossacks? - I ask.

It’s quite difficult to answer this question,” says Skvortsov. Of course, it’s very cool that we began to look for our roots, put on Cossack uniforms, and found each other. But the trouble is that the Cossack issue has been saddled by politicians. And the Cossacks are still humping in the field. Behind their backs, very often, using Cossack authority, they build political careers and all sorts of intrigues, all sorts of crooks come into its ranks for the sake of political success. Therefore, the Cossacks, in my opinion, are at a crossroads. Hope lies with these boys. I think it will be easier for them. And for this it is necessary for the Cossacks to demand a solution to the Cossack issues in the actual high level, right up to the president and prime minister. The main thing is Will and Earth!

What about faith?

Cossacks are not only a form. This is primarily a state of mind, a way of life and a way of thinking. In its content, it is strong in love for the Motherland, hard work, gentle Christian faith and good traditions, based on this faith.

The main thing is that, despite years of persecution and prohibitions, the Cossacks did not lose their will...

This year marks the 200th anniversary of the Kuban Cossack Choir. What is a choir to you?

Kuban is rich not only in grain, seas, forests, and mountains. It is rich and generous with its people, who glorify not only Kuban, but all of Russia. One of the outstanding figures in the field of traditional folk song is Viktor Gavrilovich Zakharchenko and his brainchild, I’m not afraid of this word, a great choir!

If it weren’t for Viktor Gavrilovich, the choir could, in my subjective opinion, turn into a farce.

By the way, Zakharchenko recalled at one of his speeches: “My family is an old Cossack, my ancestors came from Zaporozhye. My father is Ukrainian, and my mother is Russian. True, my mother did not speak literary Russian, but “Balakala”. So, by both my roots and my language, I am tied to the Zaporozhye Cossacks, to Ukraine, and now this is a different state. It’s all strange and sad!”

What awaits Russia? Thoughtful, Mikhail Ivanovich replied:

The Old Believers brought me a book. There are these words: “Just before the start of the war in the Valaam Monastery, during the service there was a vision: the Mother of God, St. Nicholas, a host of saints prayed to the Savior so that he would not leave Russia. The Savior answered that the abomination of desolation was so great in it that it was impossible to tolerate these iniquities. He told Mother: “I know how much You love Russia. For this reason I will not leave her. I’ll punish you, but I’ll keep it...”

“Native Serbia is the sister of Great Rus'...” (Viktor Zakharchenko and Serbia)

In the 80s, Zakharchenko was invited to work with the Serbian state ensemble “Kolo”. With him, he learned several Kuban songs: “Unharness, lads, horse”, “My grass, grass”, “You pissed me off”... Several dances were choreographed with the ensemble artists. At the invitation of the Kuban Cossack Choir, the Kolo ensemble gave concerts in Krasnodar, and together with the Kuban Cossack Choir, a large joint concert was held in Moscow, in the Rossiya Hall. On it, the Kuban Cossack Choir performed the lyrical and patriotic song “Tamo Daleko”.

Zakharchenko, as a ancestral Kuban Cossack, remembers what the Serbs did for our ancestors who found themselves abroad.

The Kuban Cossack division, already in exile, arrived from the island of Lemnos through Thessaloniki to the Kingdom of S.H.S. in two echelons: the first on the steamship Rashid Pasha on June 1, 1921, the second on the steamship Kerasund on June 6. The units were sent to Dzhevdzheli station. 27 singers of the military choir, together with the division, also emigrated first to the island of Lemnos, and then to Serbia. There they found their “eternal shelter.”

The arrival of the division was warmly welcomed by the Serbs. A prayer service and a parade of the division were held in Dzhevdzheli; sincere love for Tsarist Russia and the Russian people was heard in the speeches of the Serbs.

At the Vranje station, the Cossacks were met by officers of the Serbian military unit. The Cossack camp on the outskirts of the city of Vranye was visited by many residents, asking how long they had been from “Russia” and how life was there. Having received the answer, they sighed: “Le, le, mother of Russia ...”

Officers of the local Serbian garrison invited division officers to regimental training, and residents invited Cossacks in great demand to their kafans and treated them to “a cup of wine, beer, and one kafana.”

The entire division began to receive abundant rations of fresh food, which was especially pleasing after the Lemnos hunger strike... Choirs of Cossacks and officers were organized in each unit. The Kuban military choir toured Serbia, Italy, Spain, France, Luxembourg and even Mexico...

Remembering all this, as well as the current situation in Serbia, Zakharchenko wrote music based on the poems of the priest, Father Konstantin Obraztsov, “Native Serbia is the sister of Great Rus'.”

Ekaterinodar, 2011 Publishing house LLC New twist»
UDC 78.071.1 BBK 85.313(2) - 8

Levchenko, Vladimir Grigorievich. Victor Zakharchenko is a legend of Russia - Ekaterinodar: New turn, 2011, - 24 p. Supplement to the newspaper “Suvorov Redoubt” Issue 2

Executive editor Kudinov K.V.