How was this main musical work of Tsarist Russia created, which sounded during all the celebrations of 1983?

1. Appearance in Russian Empire official anthem associated with victory in Patriotic War 1812 and the glorification of Emperor Alexander I. In some musical works The Russian victorious Tsar was glorified. Similar songs appeared already in 1813. Thus, “Song to the Russian Tsar” by A. Vostokov to the melody of the English anthem “God Save the King!” contained the following words: “Accept the crown of victory, Father of the Fatherland, Praise be to you!”

God save the Tsar!
Strong, sovereign,
Reign for our glory,
Reign to the fear of your enemies,
Orthodox Tsar!
God save the Tsar!

God save the Tsar!
The glorious one has long days
Give it to the earth!
Proud to the humbler,
Guardian of the weak,
Comforter of all -
All have descended!

First-power
Orthodox Rus',
God bless!
Her kingdom is harmonious,
Calm in strength,
Still unworthy
Get away! (drive away - Slavicism)

O providence,
Blessing
It was sent down to us!
Striving for good
In happiness there is humility,
Patience in sorrow
Give it to the earth!

And it was this work, set to the music of the English anthem, that was used as the Russian anthem from 1816 to 1833.

2. In 1816, A. Pushkin added two more stanzas to the poem. On October 19, 1816, they were performed by students of the Tsarskoe Selo Lyceum to the music of the English anthem. Thus, Zhukovsky’s poem received an original continuation written by Pushkin. Zhukovsky supplemented his work in 1818 - it was performed at a public exam for students of the St. Petersburg gymnasium. The text of the Russian anthem was practically created, only the music remained English. With this music, military bands in Warsaw greeted Alexander I, who arrived there in 1816. From that time on, it was ordered to always play the anthem when welcoming the sovereign. For almost 20 years, the Russian Empire officially used the melody of the English anthem.

3. Usually the history of the creation of the official anthem of the Russian Empire is explained by the whim of Emperor Nicholas I, who allegedly said: “It’s boring to listen to English music, which has been used for so many years...”

In 1833, on the instructions of Nicholas I, a closed competition for a new anthem was held. The authors should have reflected in it the unity of Orthodoxy, autocracy and nationality. Unlike the one that had existed since 1816, the new anthem was supposed to show not the role of God, but the role of the king in state power. Among the best participants in the competition were poets Nestor Kukolnik and Vasily Zhukovsky and composers Mikhail Glinka and Alexey Lvov. Mikhail Glinka offered the final chorus from his opera "A Life for the Tsar", the chorus "Glory". He was rejected and Glinka was very upset. Vasily Zhukovsky adapted his previous text, shortening it several times, and the tsar chose a person close and devoted to him, Alexei Lvov, as the author of the music.

4. Alexey Lvov was born in Reval in 1798 into an aristocratic and musical family. His father, F.P. Lvov, was the director of the Court Singing Chapel. Alexey Fedorovich received a good musical education and studied violin. However, after graduating from the Corps of Railway Engineers in 1818, he entered military service - in the military settlements of the Novgorod province under the command of A.A. Arakcheeva. Lvov tried more than once to leave the service and start studying music seriously. However, he could not refuse the chief of gendarmes A.Kh. Benckendorf and went to serve in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, convincingly asking, however, “not to use him in secret matters,” for which he was incapable. In 1826, he was seconded to the retinue of Nicholas I, first to “carry out affairs related to voyages,” and then became the manager of the affairs of the Imperial Apartment. He took part in the war with Turkey of 1828-1829, participated in the battles near Varna, receiving his first military awards. In 1832, Lvov was enlisted in the honorary Cavalry Regiment, he commanded the royal convoy, accompanying the king on all trips. From that time on, he became close not only to the emperor, but also to his family, accompanying him on the violin and participating in home concerts of the imperial family.

5. Lvov was very worried when composing music for the anthem: “I felt the need to create a majestic, strong, sensitive hymn, understandable to everyone, bearing the imprint of nationality, suitable for the church, suitable for the troops, suitable for the people - from the scientist to the ignorant.”

The anthem of Zhukovsky - Lvov consisted of only 6 lines:

"God save the Tsar!
Strong, sovereign,
Reign for our glory;
Reign to the fear of your enemies,
Orthodox Tsar!
God save the Tsar!"

Thanks to its sublime, choral melody, it sounded exceptionally powerful.

6. In November 1833, the Tsar and his family specially arrived at the Singing Chapel, where the first performance of the anthem music took place. After listening to the melody several times, the king liked it and gave the order to “show” it to the general public.

7. In December 1833, at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow, the orchestra and the entire theater troupe took part in the performance of the “Russian Folk Song” (as the anthem “God Save the Tsar” was named in the playbill). The next day, rave reviews appeared in the newspapers. As the National Anthem of Russia, the work of Zhukovsky - Lvov was approved on Christmas Eve 1834 - January 6 - by the highest Decree of Nicholas I. Also, the commander of the Separate Guards Corps, Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovich, gave the order: “It was the pleasure of the Sovereign Emperor to express his permission so that at parades, at parades, divorces and other occasions, instead of the currently used anthem, taken from national English, play newly composed music."

8. On August 30 (September 11, new style), 1834, a monument was opened on Palace Square in St. Petersburg - the Alexander Pillar - in honor of the victory over Napoleon in the War of 1812. The grand opening of the monument was accompanied by a parade of troops, in front of which for the first time in such a In an official setting, the Russian anthem “God Save the Tsar” was performed.

9. The music of the hymn “God Save the Tsar” quickly became famous in Europe. Forty years later, Lvov was awarded a place of honor in Ilya Repin’s allegorical painting “Slavic Composers” among Glinka, Dargomyzhsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Balakirev, Chopin, Oginsky and others. P.I. Tchaikovsky "quotes" him in two musical works - "Slavic March" and the overture "1812", written in 1880 and performed on the occasion of the consecration of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow.

10. Shortly before his death, Zhukovsky wrote to Lvov: “Our joint double work will outlive us for a long time. A folk song, once heard, having received the right of citizenship, will remain alive forever as long as the people who appropriated it live. Of all my poems, these humble five, thanks to your music, they will outlive all their brothers. Where have I not heard this singing? In Perm, in Tobolsk, at the foot of Chatyrdag, in Stockholm, in London, in Rome!

“God Save the Tsar” was the national anthem of the Russian Empire from 1833 to 1917. It was written on behalf of Nicholas I after his visit in 1833 to Austria and Prussia, where the emperor was greeted with the sounds of the English anthem. “God Save the Tsar” was first performed in December 1833 and at the end of the month, on the 31st, it became the official anthem of the Russian Empire. Marina Maksimova will recall the history of the creation of the anthem.

Among the definitions of the anthem one can find the following: the anthem is a symbol of the state, reflecting the ideological and spiritual mood of society, or the anthem is a brief statement of the national and sovereign idea of ​​the people. Historians argue that in the 19th century the need for a new, official state anthem of the Russian Empire became obvious. The anthem was supposed to open a new stage in the development of Russia as a self-sufficient great power. The main song of the country, set to foreign music, no longer corresponded to the ideological postulates of its time.

For the first time in Russia they thought about their own anthem at the end of the 18th century after victories in Russian-Turkish wars, then there was the famous capture of Izmail, and finally, a new patriotic impulse swept Russia after the victory over Napoleon. In 1815, Vasily Zhukovsky wrote and published in the magazine “Son of the Fatherland” a poem entitled “The Prayer of the Russians,” dedicated to Alexander I, which began with the words: “God save the Tsar!” And it was this work, set to the music of the English anthem (God Save the King), that was used as the Russian anthem from 1816 to 1833 - a whole 17 years. This happened after the conclusion of the “Quadruple Alliance” in 1815 - Russia, Great Britain, Austria and Prussia. It was proposed to introduce a single anthem for the members of the union. The music chosen was one of the oldest anthems in Europe - God Save the King.

For 17 years the anthem of the Russian Empire was performed to the music of the British anthem

Lvov recalled that the task seemed very difficult to him: “I felt the need to create a majestic, strong, sensitive hymn, understandable to everyone, bearing the imprint of nationality, suitable for the church, suitable for the troops, suitable for the people - from the scientist to the ignorant.” Such conditions frightened Lvov; he later said that days passed and he could not write anything, when suddenly one evening, returning home late, he sat down at the table, and in a few minutes the anthem was written. Then Lvov turned to Zhukovsky with a request to write words for the finished music. Zhukovsky provided practically already existing words, “fitting” them to the melody. There are only 6 lines of text and 16 bars of melody.

God save the Tsar!

Strong, sovereign,

Reign for our glory;

Reign to the fear of your enemies,

Orthodox Tsar!

God save the Tsar!

The anthem “God Save the Tsar” consisted of only 6 lines

Eyewitnesses say that Nicholas I was delighted with the new anthem. The Emperor praised Lvov, saying that he “absolutely understood him” and gave him a gold snuffbox with diamonds. The anthem was performed publicly for the first time in Moscow at the Bolshoi Theater on December 6, 1833. This is how one Moscow eyewitness describes this memorable theatrical evening: “As soon as the words of the chant “God Save the Tsar!” were heard, all three thousand spectators who filled the theater, following the representatives of the nobility, rose from their seats and remained in this position until the end of the singing. The picture was extraordinary; the silence that reigned in the huge building breathed majesty, the words and music so deeply affected the feelings of all those present that many of them shed tears from excess excitement.”

For the first time in an official setting, “God Save the Tsar” was performed in St. Petersburg during the opening of the Alexander Column on Palace Square. After this, the anthem was subject to mandatory performance at all parades, at parades, during the consecration of banners, at morning and evening prayers Russian army, meetings imperial couple troops, during the taking of the oath, as well as in civilian educational institutions.

As a hymn, the work of Zhukovsky and Lvov existed until the abdication of Nicholas II from the throne - March 2, 1917.

In 1833, Prince Alexei Fedorovich Lvov accompanied Nicholas I during his visit to Austria and Prussia, where the emperor was greeted everywhere by the sounds of the English march. The Tsar listened to the melody of monarchical solidarity without enthusiasm. Upon returning to his homeland, the emperor wished that his own Russian march be created. Then a secret competition began to write a new monarchist anthem, in which many Russian composers took part, including the great Mikhail Glinka, but the composer Alexei Lvov, close to the court, won the competition.

The new anthem was first performed on December 18, 1833 (according to other sources - December 25), it existed until February Revolution 1917. After the October Revolution, this anthem was erased from the history of the new Soviet state, and the International began to perform it instead...

The anthem of the Russian Empire was called “God Save the Tsar!”, lyrics to music by A.F. Lvov was written by the famous Russian poet V.A. Zhukovsky. There was not a single person in Russia who had never heard or sung the Russian anthem, glorifying the Orthodox Tsar and the Orthodox Autocratic Fatherland; however, this anthem was not just a patriotic march, but also a prayer, which is why it turned out to be so close to the soul of the Russian people .

God save the Tsar!
Strong, sovereign,
Reign for our glory,
Reign to the fear of your enemies,
Orthodox Tsar!
God save the Tsar!
.
God save the Tsar!
The glorious one has long days
Give it to the earth!
Proud to the humbler,
Guardian of the weak,
Comforter of all -
All have descended!
.
First-power
Orthodox Rus',
God bless!
Her kingdom is harmonious,
Calm in strength,
Still unworthy
Get away!
.
O providence,
Blessing
It was sent down to us!
Striving for good
In happiness there is humility,
Patience in sorrow
Give it to the earth!

On November 23, 1833, the anthem was first presented to the tsar - for which the royal family and their retinue specially arrived at the Singing Chapel, where the court singers with two military bands performed the anthem in front of them. Thanks to the sublime, choral melody, the anthem sounded extremely powerful. The tsar really liked the melody, which he listened to several times, and he ordered to “show” the anthem to the general public.

Performance of the hymn “God Save the Tsar”

On December 11, 1833, at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow, the orchestra and the entire theater troupe took part in the performance of “Russian Folk Song” ( This is how the hymn “God Save the Tsar” was named in the poster.). The next day, rave reviews appeared in the newspapers. This is what the director of the Moscow Imperial Theaters M.P. says about the historical premiere. Zagoskin: “At first the words were sung by one of the actors, Bantyshev, then repeated by the whole choir. I cannot describe to you the impression that this national song made on the audience; all the men and ladies listened to her standing; first “hurray” and then “foro” thundered in the theater when it was sung. Of course, it was repeated..."

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On December 25, 1833, on the anniversary of the expulsion of Napoleon's troops from Russia, the anthem was performed in the halls of the Winter Palace during the consecration of banners and in the presence of high military officials. On December 31 of the outgoing year, the commander of the Separate Guards Corps, Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovich, gave the order: “The Emperor was pleased to express his permission to play newly composed music at parades, reviews, divorces and other occasions, instead of the currently used anthem, taken from national English.”

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On August 30, 1834, a monument, the Alexander Pillar, was opened on Palace Square in St. Petersburg in honor of the victory over Napoleon in the War of 1812. The grand opening of the monument was accompanied by a parade of troops, before which the Russian anthem “God Save the Tsar” was performed for the first time in an official setting "

Soon the music of the hymn “God Save the Tsar” became famous in Europe.

On May 26, 1883, on the Day of the Ascension of the Lord, the consecration of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow took place, coinciding with the Day of the Holy Coronation of Emperor Alexander III to the All-Russian Throne. Then this anthem was performed especially solemnly. P.I. Tchaikovsky - back in 1880, wrote an overture in which the theme of the hymn “God Save the Tsar” sounds in a beautiful harmonic arrangement, and it was performed on the occasion of the consecration of the Temple. In total, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky used the music of the anthem in six of his works.

However, not everyone liked the music of the anthem, for example, the famous critic V.V. Stasov did not like her and made critical remarks about her. M.I. also expressed some disapproval of the anthem. Glinka, but despite this composer A.F. Lvov forever entered the galaxy of Russian composers, as evidenced, in particular, by the painting by I.E. Repin, hanging on the landing of the stairs at the Moscow Conservatory. The painting is called “Slavic Composers”, and in it, along with Glinka, Chopin, Rimsky-Korsakov and others, the author of the official Russian anthem A.F. is depicted in an embroidered court uniform. Lviv.

Painting by I. Repin “Slavic Composers”

After the overthrow of the tsarist regime, covered by the imaginary abdication of Tsar Nicholas II from the throne and the subsequent murder royal family Bolsheviks, glorifying the royal person with a “folk song” became impossible. The new interim government almost immediately made attempts to create its own Russian anthem. Then the Russian poet V.Ya. Bryusov in March 1917 wrote an article “On the new Russian anthem”, in which he expressed the idea of ​​​​the need to organize All-Russian competition to write a hymn New Russia and suggested several options for approaching writing the music and words of this work.

He wrote: “We need a short song that, by the power of sounds, the magic of art, would immediately unite those gathered in one impulse, would immediately set everyone in one high mood”... Bryusov emphasized that the “spirit of the people”, usually characteristic of the national anthems of countries with a “uniform ” by the population, must be expressed differently in multinational Russia. According to Bryusov, the anthem cannot be “Great Russian”. He also cannot draw pathos from the Orthodox religion due to the diversity of faiths in the country. Finally, the anthem should not divide the population by class, nationality, etc. - it should sound for everyone who considers Russia their Motherland. In the verses of the anthem, as V.Ya. believed. Bryusov, should be reflected: military glory, the size of the country, the heroic past and the exploits of the people. The pathos of the words of the anthem should correspond to the pathos of the melody and contain ideas: the brotherhood of the peoples inhabiting Russia, their meaningful work for the common good, the memory of the best people native history, those noble undertakings that will open the way for Russia to true greatness... “In addition,” the poet wrote, “the anthem must be an artistic creation, genuine, inspired poetry; the other is unnecessary and useless. External form - the anthem must be a song..."

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Following Bryusov, many other proposals were made regarding a new anthem.

At first, the orchestras performed the classic French version of “La Marseillaise,” while the Russian “Workers’ Marseillaise” was sung to the words of P. Lavrov. Meanwhile, the socialist anthem “Internationale” began to be heard more and more often at rallies and meetings. In January 1918, the Internationale was approved by the Council of People's Commissars as the country's anthem and began to be sung by the people, but it was no longer a song-prayer; rather, on the contrary, it was the song of rebels who had risen to the previous order of life, ready to demolish and destroy everything, in the hope build your own world on the ruins of the old world. It remains only to add that according to Holy Scripture, “those branded with a curse” are demons, but people can also brand themselves with the curse of the Almighty if they rebel against God and begin to cooperate with demons. Here is the first verse of the international, compare it with the prayer hymn “God Save the Tsar”:

Arise, branded with a curse,
The whole world is hungry and slaves!
Our indignant mind is boiling
And ready to fight to the death.
We will destroy the whole world of violence
Down to the ground and then
We are ours, we will build a new world:
He who was nothing will become everything!

Later ( in 1943) a new anthem will appear: “The indestructible Union of free republics has been united forever by Great Rus'. Long live the united, mighty one created by the will of the peoples Soviet Union! But that's another story.

And now Zhanna Bichevskaya and the male choir are performing the Anthem of the Russian Empire “God Save the Tsar!”

Emperor Nicholas I. Photo: www.globallookpress.com

On December 19, 1833, on the day of St. Nicholas, the first official performance of the Russian national anthem “Prayer of the Russian People” took place, which went down in history as “God Save the Tsar!”

The appearance of the official anthem in the Russian Empire is associated with the victory in the Patriotic War of 1812 and the glorification of Emperor Alexander I.

In 1815, V. A. Zhukovsky published his poem “The Prayer of the Russians,” dedicated to Alexander I, in the magazine “Son of the Fatherland.” The first line of this poem was the words: “God Save the Tsar.” In 1816, A. S. Pushkin added two more stanzas to the poem. On October 19, 1816, they were performed by students of the lyceum to the music of the English anthem. Thus, the text of the “Prayer of the Russian People,” the Russian anthem, was practically created, but when it was performed, the music remained English. With this music, military bands in Warsaw greeted Alexander I, who arrived there in 1816. For almost 20 years, the Russian Empire officially used the melody of the English anthem.

Emperor Nicholas I, the first Russian monarch of modern times, who understood the need to create a state ideology, commissioned his court composer A.F. Lvov to write the music for the anthem. At the same time, the Emperor remarked: " It’s boring to listen to English music that has been used for so many years.” A.F. Lvov recalled:

Count Benckendorff told me that the Emperor, regretting that we do not have a national anthem, and, bored with listening to the English music that has been used for so many years, instructs me to write a Russian anthem. I felt the need to create a majestic, strong, sensitive hymn, understandable to everyone, bearing the imprint of nationality, suitable for the Church, suitable for the troops, suitable for the people - from the learned to the ignorant.

The difficulty of the task was that the national anthem is not just a musical and poetic work performed on special occasions. The anthem is a symbol of the state, reflecting the worldview and spiritual mood of the people, their national idea.

On March 21, 1833, the newly appointed new Minister of Public Education S.S. Uvarov for the first time promulgated in his circular the then famous formula “Orthodoxy, Autocracy, Nationality” as an expression of the official ideology approved by the Sovereign.

Therefore, Zhukovsky’s lines expressed this ideology in the best possible way. However, the text of the poem was greatly shortened.

Today many people mistakenly perform the original long version anthem. In fact, “God Save the Tsar” consisted of only two quatrains:

God save the Tsar!

Strong, sovereign,

Reign for glory, for our glory!

Reign to the fear of your enemies,

Orthodox Tsar!

God save the Tsar!

Before his death, Zhukovsky wrote to Lvov:

Our double work together will outlive us for a long time. A folk song, once heard, having received the right of citizenship, will remain alive forever as long as the people who appropriated it live. Of all my poems, these humble five, thanks to your music, will outlive all their brothers.

The first listening to the anthem took place in the Imperial Court Singing Chapel in St. Petersburg, where Emperor Nicholas I, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, Tsarevich Alexander Nikolaevich and the Grand Duchesses arrived on November 23, 1833. The performance was carried out by court singers and two military bands. Thanks to the sublime, choral melody, the anthem sounded extremely powerful.

The appearance of the official anthem in the Russian Empire is associated with the victory in the Patriotic War of 1812 and the glorification of Emperor Alexander I. www.globallookpress.com

The Emperor listened to the music several times and really liked it. The Emperor approached A.F. Lvov, hugged him, kissed him deeply and said:

Thank you, it couldn't be better; you completely understood me.

The first public performance of the National Anthem took place in Moscow at the Bolshoi Theater on December 6 (19), 1833.

The orchestra and the entire theater troupe took part in the performance of the “Russian Folk Song” (as the anthem “God Save the Tsar!” was named in the poster). This is how an eyewitness described this memorable evening:

I am returning now from the Bolshoi Theater, delighted and touched by what I saw and heard. Everyone knows Zhukovsky’s Russian folk song “God Save the Tsar!” Lvov composed music for these words. As soon as the words of the chant “God Save the Tsar!” were heard, all three thousand spectators who filled the theater rose from their seats, following the representatives of the nobility, and remained in this position until the end of the singing. The picture was extraordinary; the silence that reigned in the huge building breathed majesty, the words and music so deeply affected the feelings of all those present that many of them shed tears from excess emotion. Everyone was silent during the singing of the new anthem; it was only clear that everyone was holding back their feelings in the depths of their souls; but when the theater orchestra, choirs, regimental musicians numbering up to 500 people began to repeat together the precious vow of all Russians, when they prayed to the Heavenly King for earthly things, I could no longer restrain the noisy delight; The applause of the admiring spectators and the cries of “Hurray!”, mingling with the choir, orchestra and the brass music that was on stage, produced a roar that seemed to vibrate the very walls of the theater. These animated delights of Muscovites devoted to their Sovereign only stopped when, at the unanimous universal demand of the audience, the people's prayer was repeated several times. For a long, long time this day in December 1833 will remain in the memory of all residents of Belokamennaya!

The anthem was performed for the second time on December 25, 1833, on the day of the Nativity of Christ and the anniversary of the expulsion of Napoleon’s troops from Russia, in all halls of the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg during the consecration of banners and in the presence of high military ranks. On December 31 of the outgoing year, the commander of the Separate Guards Corps, Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovich gave the order:

The Emperor was pleased to express his permission to play newly composed music at parades, parades, divorces and other occasions instead of the currently used anthem, taken from national English.

By the Supreme Decree of December 31, 1833, it was approved as the National Anthem of Russia. The Emperor ordered that on the day of the liberation of the Fatherland from enemies (December 25), the Russian anthem should be performed annually in the Winter Palace.

On December 11, 1833, the first public orchestral and choral performance of the anthem “God Save the Tsar” took place at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow. The next day, rave reviews appeared in the newspapers. Director of the Moscow Imperial Theaters M.P. Zagoskin wrote:

I cannot describe to you the impression that this national song made on the audience; all the men and women listened to her standing, shouting “Hurray!”

The anthem was performed several times.

The majestic and solemn official anthem of the Russian Empire "God Save the Tsar!" existed until the February Revolution of 1917.

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The national anthem is not just one of the symbols of the country, it is also a reflection of the era. The main song of the state should contain not just a set of memorable words, but also certain ideological postulates of its time. This is exactly what the anthem “God Save the Tsar,” which was the main song of Russia from 1833 to 1917, successfully did.

For the first time in Russia they thought about their own anthem at the end of the 18th century, after victories in the Russian-Turkish wars. In 1791 the poet Gabriel Derzhavin, inspired by the capture of Ishmael by the army under the command of Alexandra Suvorova, wrote the song “Roll the Thunder of Victory.” Created the music for the work Osip Kozlovsky, and within a short time the song gained extremely great popularity in Russia. I liked the song and, so to speak, “at the very top.” Thanks to this, “Roll the Thunder of Victory” became the unofficial anthem of the Russian Empire for a quarter of a century. Unofficial, because no one made an official decision about this.

A new patriotic impulse swept Russia after the victory in the war with Napoleon. Famous writer and statesman, mentor of the Tsarevich Alexander Nikolaevich, future emperor Alexandra II, Vasily Andreevich Zhukovsky wrote in 1815 the poem “Prayer of the Russian People”, which began with the following terms:

God save the Tsar!

The glorious one has long days

Give it to the earth!

The work, the first two stanzas of which were published in the magazine “Son of the Fatherland” for 1815, was to the taste Alexander I, and in 1816 it was approved as the official anthem of the Russian Empire.

True, a purely Russian incident occurred here. The anthem had lyrics but no original music. However, the emperor and those close to him decided that the music of the English anthem “God save the king” would be quite suitable for this.

Photofact AiF

Pushkin and incorrect borrowing

Vasily Andreevich Zhukovsky, an incredibly talented man, remained in history in the shadow of his younger friend and another genius - Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin. And, imagine, even Pushkin indirectly participated in the story with the anthem.

In the same 1816, when Zhukovsky’s text became the national anthem, the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum celebrated its 5th anniversary. The director of the institution turned to the lyceum student Pushkin, who wrote his loyal poem called “The Prayer of the Russians.” The young poet added two verses of his own to Zhukovsky’s original lines.

It is important to note that the text of the anthem approved by Alexander I was also called “The Prayer of the Russians,” which gave rise to subsequent confusion.

Zhukovsky was very unlucky in this story. Some believe that his “Prayer of the Russian People” is a free translation of the text of the English anthem, others point to Pushkin, believing that the “Sun of Russian Poetry” is the real author of the anthem. Although, if we can talk about “incorrect borrowing,” it would be by Pushkin from Zhukovsky, but not vice versa.

Photo fact: AiF

Lvov, Zhukovsky and a drop of “Sun”

For the next 17 years, Russia lived with an anthem with words by Zhukovsky and British music, until the next Russian emperor Nicholas I after one of his foreign visits, he did not ask a very logical question: how long will the Russian anthem have someone else’s music?

According to legend, a competition was supposedly organized among the best Russian composers, at which the music was chosen. In fact, Emperor Nikolai Pavlovich did not deign to compete. In his circle at that time there was Alexey Lvov, a talented composer and violinist who successfully combined music studies with public service. The emperor commissioned him to write music. Lvov was inspired by the idea and created music, as they say, on the fly.

Photofact AiF

And then Vasily Andreevich Zhukovsky did what the creator of the Soviet anthem would later repeat Sergei Vladimirovich Mikhalkov— he wrote a corrected version of the text:

God save the Tsar!

Strong, Sovereign,

Reign for glory, for our glory!

Reign to the fear of your enemies,

Orthodox Tsar!

God save the Tsar!

When they say that Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin was the author of the anthem “God Save the Tsar,” they mean the line “Strong, sovereign,” which was not in the first version of Zhukovsky’s anthem. But the line “strong power” was in the text written by Pushkin at the Lyceum.

Photofact AiF

The most enduring anthem

The new version of the anthem was first heard on December 18, 1833 under the title “Prayer of the Russian People” and received the highest approval. Since 1834 it has become the official anthem of the Russian Empire.

Today, “God Save the Tsar” is the most “enduring” national anthem. It existed in this status for more than 80 years.

The extreme brevity of the anthem is striking - only six lines, designed to be repeated three times in verses, and 16 bars of music. As they say, everything ingenious is simple.

After the revolution of 1917, “God Save the Tsar” disappeared from the life of our state for a long time, returning about 40 years later. In Soviet cinema, the anthem was performed either by ideological monarchists (clearly negative characters), or positive heroes who used it to achieve their goals. This was most clearly manifested in the film “New Adventures of the Elusive,” where a Soviet intelligence officer, trying to establish contacts with a white counterintelligence officer, asks the artists in a restaurant to perform “God Save the Tsar,” which turns into a fabulous fight between representatives of different political views. It must be said that this film episode could easily be repeated in our present life, if someone suddenly suddenly wants to perform “God Save the Tsar” in a restaurant.