Russian Lyricists - Sergey Mikhalkov, Karen Kavaleryan, Vasily Lebedev-Kumach (Paperback)

Chapters: Sergey Mikhalkov, Karen Kavaleryan, Vasily Lebedev-Kumach. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 18. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Sergey Vladimirovich Mikhalkov (Russian: ) (13 March 1913 27 August 2009) was a Soviet and Russian author of children's books and satirical fables who had the opportunity to write the lyrics of his country's national anthem on three different occasions, spanning almost 60 years. Mikhalkov was born to Vladimir Alexandrovich Mikhalkov and Olga Mikhailovna (nee Glebova). Mikhalkov stemmed from the noble family of Mikhalkovs and had tsarist admirals, governors, and princes among his grandparents. Since the 1930s, he has rivalled Korney Chukovsky and Agniya Barto as the most popular poet writing for Russophone children. His poems about enormously tall "Uncle Styopa" (" ") enjoyed particular popularity. As a 29-year-old in 1942, Mikhalkov's work drew the attention of the Soviet Union's leader Joseph Stalin, who commissioned him to write lyrics for a new national anthem. At the time, the country was deeply embroiled in World War II and Stalin wanted a Russian theme for the national anthem, to replace the Internationale. Mikhalkov penned words to accompany a musical score by the composer Alexander Alexandrov (18831946) that became known as National Anthem of the Soviet Union. The new anthem was presented to Stalin in the summer of 1943 and was introduced as the country's new anthem on January 1, 1944. On the death of Stalin in 1953, the lyrics, which mentioned him by name, were discarded during the process of destalinization and the anthem continued to be used without words. Mikhalkov wrote new lyrics in 1970, but they were not submitted to the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet until May 27, 1977. The new lyrics, which removed any reference to Stalin, wer...More: http: //booksllc.net/?id=30353