Yuri Vizbor (June 20, 1934–September 17, 1984) was a well-known Soviet bard

Bard (Soviet Union)

The term bard came to be used in the Soviet Union in the early 1960s, and continues to be used in Russia today, to refer to singer-songwriters who wrote songs outside the Soviet establishment, similarly to beatnik folk singers of the United States...

 and poet as well as a theatre and film actor.

Summary

Yuri Vizbor was born in Moscow

Moscow

Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

 where he lived for most of his life. He worked as a teacher, a soldier, a sailor, a radio and press correspondent, a ski instructor, and an actor in many famous Russian films and plays. He participated in and documented expeditions to remote areas of the Soviet Union. His compositions included songs, poetic prose, plays, screenplays and short stories.

Early years

Vizbor's father was a commander in the Red Army of Lithuanian descent. His family name was originally Vizbaras. His mother was an ethnic Ukrainian

Ukrainians

Ukrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine, which is the sixth-largest nation in Europe. The Constitution of Ukraine applies the term 'Ukrainians' to all its citizens...

 from Krasnodar. In 1937 his father fell victim to Stalin's purges and in 1941 he moved with his mother to Siberia. This period influenced the artist's distaste for politics and his fascination with wilderness.

In 1951, he graduated from high school and was accepted at the Moscow State Pedagogical Institute. It was here that he wrote his first song, entitled "Madagascar".

Professional activities

After graduating with a degree in Russian Language and Literature in 1955, Vizbor worked as a teacher in Arkhangelsk

Arkhangelsk

Arkhangelsk , formerly known as Archangel in English, is a city and the administrative center of Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia. It lies on both banks of the Northern Dvina River near its exit into the White Sea in the north of European Russia. The city spreads for over along the banks of the river...

. In 1957 he joined the Army where he worked as a radio operator. He was married in 1958. In the late fifties and early 60's Vizbor began to acquire notoriety as a songwriter by circulating homemade tapes.

Music

Vizbor is often compared with his contemporaries, Vladimir Vysotsky

Vladimir Vysotsky

Vladimir Semyonovich Vysotsky was a Soviet singer, songwriter, poet, and actor whose career had an immense and enduring effect on Russian culture. He became widely known for his unique singing style and for his lyrics, which featured social and political commentary in often humorous street...

 and Bulat Okudzhava

Bulat Okudzhava

Bulat Shalvovich Okudzhava was a Soviet and Russian poet, writer, musician, novelist, and singer-songwriter. He was one of the founders of the Russian genre called "author song"...

. The topics of Vizbor's songs were observational, focusing on his love of nature and of travel. By using his extremely varied professions as a template, Vizbor attempted to document various aspects of "normal life" at the height of Brezhnev

Leonid Brezhnev

Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev  – 10 November 1982) was the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union , presiding over the country from 1964 until his death in 1982. His eighteen-year term as General Secretary was second only to that of Joseph Stalin in...

's period of stagnation. His trademark was a relaxed singing style that often sounded on the verge of laughter. Vizbor would record songs with a traditional Russian seven-string guitar

Russian guitar

The Russian guitar is a seven-string acoustic guitar that arrived in Russia toward the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century, most probably as an evolution of the cittern, kobza, and torban...

 that was often slightly out of tune.

While most Russian Bards relied on a rhythmic strumming pattern as the basis for their musical accompaniment, Vizbor was fond of a slow plucking style epitomized by songs such as "Fanskie Gory". His best-known tune was a romantic ballad

Ballad

A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of British and Irish popular poetry and song from the later medieval period until the 19th century and used extensively across Europe and later the Americas, Australia and North Africa. Many...

 called "Solnishko Lesnoe" or "Forest Sun." On a more somber note, his song "Seryoga Sanin" told the story of a free spirited friend who dies tragically.

Illness and death

In March 1984, Vizbor wrote his last song, having written over 250 of them during the past thirty-three years. His poetry had also been set to music by numerous musicians. His last writings were letters to his daughter from his sickbed while he lay dying of liver cancer from April to September 1984.

Filmography

• His best-known film role is as Martin Bormann
  Martin Bormann
  Martin Ludwig Bormann was a prominent Nazi official. He became head of the Party Chancellery and private secretary to Adolf Hitler...
  
   in the Soviet
  Soviet Union
  The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
  
   film Seventeen Moments of Spring
  Seventeen Moments of Spring
  Seventeen Moments of Spring is a 1973 Soviet TV miniseries. It was filmed at Gorky Film Studio, directed by Tatyana Lioznova and based on the book of the same title by the novelist Yulian Semyonov. The series comprises 12 episodes of 70 minutes each...
  
  .
• The Red Tent
  The Red Tent (film)
  The Red Tent is a joint Soviet/Italian 1969 film directed by Mikhail Kalatozov.The film is based on the story of the mission to rescue Umberto Nobile and the other survivors of the crash of the Airship Italia. It features Sean Connery as Roald Amundsen and Peter Finch as Nobile. The script was...
  
  

Legacy

A minor planet

Minor planet

An asteroid group or minor-planet group is a population of minor planets that have a share broadly similar orbits. Members are generally unrelated to each other, unlike in an asteroid family, which often results from the break-up of a single asteroid...

 3260 Vizbor

3260 Vizbor

3260 Vizbor is a main belt asteroid with an orbital period of 1219.6470504 days . The asteroid was discovered on September 20, 1974.-References:...

 discovered by Soviet

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

 astronomer Lyudmila Zhuravlyova

Lyudmila Zhuravlyova

Lyudmila Vasilyevna Zhuravleva is a Soviet, Russian and Ukrainian astronomer.She works at the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory.She also serves as president...

in 1974 is named after him.

External links