Poet, bard. He acted in films as an actor, screenwriter, and author of songs and poems.

His parents were repressed, the boy grew up with his grandmother in Moscow, and in 1940 he moved to relatives in Tbilisi.
Member of the Great Patriotic War.
Graduated from Tbilisi state university(1950). Worked as a teacher.
Published since 1953, performed in concerts. One of the generally recognized founders of the “art song”. He wrote songs for films by Marlen Khutsiev, Valery Rubinchik, Pyotr Todorovsky, Vladimir Motyl, Dinara Asanova, Andrei Smirnov and other directors.
Author of unforgettable songs: “It’s spring again in this world,” “I met hope again,” “Sentries of Love.” Collections of poems: “Lyrics” (1956), “Islands” (1959), “The Cheerful Drummer” (1964), “On the Road to Tinatin” (1964), “Magnanimous March” (1967), “Arbat, my Arbat” ( 1976). Stories: “Be healthy, schoolboy” (1961), “The front is coming to us” (1967). Historical stories: “Poor Avrosimov” (1969, “A Sip of Freedom” - 1971), “Mercy, or Shipov’s Adventures. Vintage Vaudeville" (1971). Novels “The Journey of Amateurs” (1-2 books, 1976-1978), “A Date with Bonaparte” (1983).
In 1997, a decree of the President of the Russian Federation approved the regulations on the Bulat Okudzhava Prize for “creating works in the genre of original songs and poetry that contribute to Russian culture.”
The B.Sh. Museum has been opened in Peredelkino (Moscow region). Okudzhava.

His father, Shalva Okudzhava, was Georgian by nationality, and his mother, Ashkhen Nalbandyan, was Armenian.

In 1934, he moved with his parents to Nizhny Tagil, where his father was appointed first secretary of the city party committee, and his mother was appointed secretary of the district committee.

In 1937, Okudzhava's parents were arrested. On August 4, 1937, Shalva Okudzhava was shot on false charges, Ashkhen Nalbandyan was exiled to the Karaganda camp, from where she returned only in 1955.
After the arrest of his parents, Bulat lived with his grandmother in Moscow. In 1940 he moved to relatives in Tbilisi.

Since 1941, since the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, he worked as a turner at a defense plant.

In 1942, after finishing ninth grade, he volunteered for the front. He served on the North Caucasus Front as a mortar operator, then as a radio operator. He was wounded near Mozdok.

“In 1942, after ninth grade, at the age of seventeen, I voluntarily went to the front. He fought, was a mortarman, a private, a soldier. Mainly the North Caucasus Front. Wounded near Mozdok from German plane. And after recovery - heavy artillery of the reserve of the High Command...
That's all I managed to see.

I didn't make it to Berlin.

I was a very funny soldier. And, probably, I was of little use. But I tried very hard to make everyone happy. I shot when I had to shoot. Although I’ll tell you honestly that not with great love I shot because killing people is not a very pleasant thing. Then I was very afraid of the front.

The first day I got to the front line. Both I and several of my comrades, seventeen years old like me, looked very cheerful and happy. And we had machine guns hanging on our chests. And we walked forward to the location of our battery. And everyone already imagined in their imagination how we would now fight and fight wonderfully.

And at the very moment when our fantasies reached their climax, a mine suddenly exploded, and we all fell to the ground, because we were supposed to fall. But we fell as expected, and the mine fell half a kilometer away from us.

Then everyone who was nearby walked past us, and we lay there. Everyone went about their business, and we lay there. Then we heard laughing at ourselves. They raised their heads. We realized that it was time to get up. They got up and went too.

This was our first baptism of fire. That was the first time I learned that I was a coward. First time. By the way, I must tell you that before this I considered myself a very brave person, and everyone who was with me considered themselves the bravest.

And then there was a war. I learned and saw a lot... And I also learned that everyone who was with me was also afraid. Some showed the view, others did not. Everyone was afraid. This consoled me a little.

The impression from the front was very strong, because I was a boy. And then, later, when I began to write poetry, my first poems were on military theme. There were many poems. They turned into songs. Of some. These were mostly sad songs. Well, because, I’ll tell you, there’s nothing fun about war.”

As a regimental lead singer, in 1943 at the front he composed his first song, “We couldn’t sleep in the cold heated vehicles...”, the text of which has not survived.
Okudzhava: “There is nothing fun in war.”
In 1945, Okudzhava was demobilized and returned to Tbilisi, where he passed exams for high school.
In 1950 he graduated from the Faculty of Philology of Tbilisi State University, worked as a teacher - first in a rural school in the village of Shamordino Kaluga region and in the regional center of Vysokinichi, then in Kaluga.
He worked as a correspondent and literary employee for the Kaluga regional newspapers “Znamya” and “Young Leninist”.

Okudzhava’s first poem was published in 1945 in the newspaper of the Transcaucasian Military District “Fighter of the Red Army”. Then the poet's poems were regularly published in other newspapers.

In 1946, Okudzhava wrote the first surviving song, “Furious and Stubborn.”

In 1956, after the publication of the first collection of poems “Lyrics” in Kaluga, Bulat Okudzhava returned to Moscow, worked as deputy editor for the literature department in the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper, editor at the Molodaya Gvardiya publishing house, then head of the poetry department at Literaturnaya Gazeta " He took part in the work of the Magistral literary association.

In 1959, the poet’s second collection of poetry, “Islands,” was published in Moscow.

In 1962, having become a member of the USSR Writers' Union, Okudzhava left service and devoted himself entirely to creative activity.
Author of collections of lyrics “The Cheerful Drummer” (1964), “On the Road to Tinatin” (1964), “Magnanimous March” (1967), “Arbat, my Arbat” (1976) and others.

In 1996, Okudzhava’s last collection of poetry, “Tea Party on the Arbat,” was published.

Since the 1960s, Okudzhava has worked a lot in the prose genre. In 1961, his autobiographical story “Be Healthy, Schoolboy” was published in the almanac “Tarussky Pages” (published as a separate edition in 1987), dedicated to yesterday’s schoolchildren who had to defend the country from fascism. The story received a negative assessment from official critics, who accused Okudzhava of pacifism.

In 1965, Vladimir Motyl managed to film this story, giving the film the title “Zhenya, Zhenechka and Katyusha.” In subsequent years, Okudzhava wrote autobiographical prose, compiling the collections of stories “The Girl of My Dreams” and “ Visiting musician", as well as the novel "The Abolished Theater" (1993).
At the end of the 1960s, Okudzhava turned to historical prose. The stories “Poor Avrosimov” (1969) about the tragic pages in the history of the Decembrist movement, “The Adventures of Shipov, or Ancient Vaudeville” (1971) and written on historical material were published in separate editions early XIX century novels “The Journey of Amateurs” (1976 - the first part; 1978 - the second part) and “A Date with Bonaparte” (1983).

Okudzhava’s poetic and prose works have been translated into many languages ​​and published in many countries around the world.

From the second half of the 1950s, Bulat Okudzhava began to act as the author of poetry and music, songs and their performer, becoming one of the generally recognized founders of the art song.
Okudzhava is the author of more than 200 songs
The earliest known songs of Okudzhava date back to 1957-1967 (“On Tverskoy Boulevard”, “Song about Lyonka Korolev”, “Song about the Blue Ball”, “Sentimental March”, “Song about the Midnight Trolleybus”, “Not tramps, not drunkards”, “Moscow Ant”, “Song about the Komsomol goddess”, etc.). Tape recordings of his performances instantly spread throughout the country. Okudzhava’s songs were heard on radio, television, films and performances.

Okudzhava's concerts took place in Bulgaria, Austria, Great Britain, Hungary, Australia, Israel, Spain, Italy, Canada, France, Germany, Poland, USA, Finland, Sweden, Yugoslavia and Japan.

In 1968, the first disc with Okudzhava’s songs was released in Paris. Since the mid-1970s, his discs have been released in the USSR. In addition to songs based on his own poems, Okudzhava wrote a number of songs based on poems by the Polish poetess Agnieszka Osiecka, which he himself translated into Russian.
Okudzhava's concerts took place in Europe, the USA, Canada and Japan
The performer gained nationwide fame from Andrei Smirnov’s film “Belorussky Station” (1970), in which the song was sung to the words of the poet “Birds don’t sing here...”.

Okudzhava is the author of other popular songs for such films as “Straw Hat” (1975), “Zhenya, Zhenechka and Katyusha” (1967), “White Sun of the Desert” (1970), “Star of Captivating Happiness” (1975). In total, Okudzhava’s songs and his poems are heard in more than 80 films.

In 1994, Okudzhava wrote his last song, “Departure.”

In the second half of the 1960s, Bulat Okudzhava acted as a co-author of the script for the films “Loyalty” (1965) and “Zhenya, Zhenechka and Katyusha” (1967).

In 1966, he wrote the play “A Breath of Freedom,” which a year later was staged in several theaters.

IN recent years life Bulat Okudzhava was a member of the founding council of the newspaper “Moscow News”, “Obshchaya Gazeta”, a member of the editorial board of the newspaper “Evening Club”, a member of the Council of the “Memorial” society, vice president of the Russian PEN center, a member of the pardons commission under the President of the Russian Federation (since 1992 ), member of the commission for State Prizes of the Russian Federation (since 1994).

On June 23, 1995, Okudzhava’s last concert took place at UNESCO headquarters in Paris.

On June 12, 1997, Bulat Okudzhava died in a clinic in Paris. According to his will, he was buried at the Vagankovskoye cemetery in Moscow.

Okudzhava was married twice.

From his first marriage to Galina Smolyaninova, the poet had a son, Igor Okudzhava (1954−1997).

In 1961, he met his second wife - the niece of the famous physicist Lev Artsimovich - Olga Artsimovich. The son from his second marriage, Anton Okudzhava (born in 1965), is a composer and his father’s accompanist at creative evenings in recent years.

In 1997, in memory of the poet, a decree of the President of the Russian Federation approved the regulations on the Bulat Okudzhava Prize, awarded for the creation of works in the genre of art songs and poetry that contribute to Russian culture.

In October 1999, the State memorial museum Bulat Okudzhava in Peredelkino.

In May 2002, the first and most famous monument to Bulat Okudzhava was unveiled in Moscow near house 43 on Arbat.

The Bulat Okudzhava Foundation annually holds the “Visiting Musician” evening at the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall in Moscow. Festivals named after Bulat Okudzhava are held in Kolontaevo (Moscow region), on Lake Baikal, in Poland and in Israel.

According to short biography Bulat Okudzhava was born on May 9, 1924 in Moscow into a multinational family: his father, Shalva Okudzhava, was of Georgian blood, and his mother, Ashkhen Nalbadyan, was of Armenian blood.

Two years after the birth of their first child, the whole family moved to their father’s homeland - Tbilisi. There, Shalva Okudzhava, a convinced communist, simply rose through the ranks. First, he served as secretary of the Tbilisi city committee, and then in 1934 he was asked to accept the post of first secretary of the Nizhny Tagil city party committee.

However, in those years the Soviet repressive machine was already established and working non-stop. In 1937, Okudzhava's father was arrested and sentenced to death on the basis of false evidence. And Ashkhen was exiled to the Karaganda camp in 1938. She returned after 12 long years.

Okudzhava was raised by his grandmother, and in the 1940s he moved to live with relatives in the capital of Georgia.

War years

With the beginning of the war against the fascist invaders, Bulat Okudzhava decided to get to the front as soon as possible, no matter what. But young age everything did not allow me to carry out my plans. Only in 1942 did he volunteer to serve straight from the ninth grade. First, two months of training, and then a mortarman in the 5th Guards Don Cavalry Cossack Corps.

Participated in the battles near Mozdok. But at the end of 1942 he was seriously wounded. It is worth briefly noting that, according to the poet himself, he was wounded out of stupidity - a stray bullet. It was insulting and bitter, because so many times under direct fire I remained unharmed, but here, one might say, in a calm environment, I received such an absurd injury.

After recovery, he never returned to the front. He served as a radio operator in a heavy artillery brigade. The first song in Okudzhava’s biography appears at the front - “We couldn’t sleep in the cold heated vehicles.”

Prose writer, poet and bard

In the post-war years, Okudzhava returned to his native Tbilisi, took exams for high school and entered the specialty “philologist” at Tbilisi University. During his studies, he met Alexander Tsybulevsky, a student and aspiring lyricist, who largely influenced his development as a poet. In 1950 he received a diploma higher education and teaches Russian language and literature at a secondary school in the village of Shamordino, located near Kaluga. In 1956, the first collection of poems, Lyrics, was published.

Moscow

In the same year, 1956, the 20th Congress of the CPSU took place, the main result of which was the condemnation of Stalin’s personality cult.

It was after him that the poet’s mother was rehabilitated and the two of them were allowed to move to Moscow again. In the capital, Bulat Okudzhava first holds the position of deputy editor for the literature section at Komsomolskaya Pravda, then works as an editor at Young Guard, and finally moves to the Literaturnaya Gazeta publication.

The work of the young poet and aspiring prose writer does not stand still either. In 1961, Konstantin Paustovsky published the collection “Tarussky Pages,” which included Okudzhava’s work “Be Healthy, Schoolboy.” Despite sharp negative criticism for its pacifist content, four years later the story was filmed under a new title - “Zhenya, Zhenechka and Katyusha.” But it was not only the author’s prose that received criticism. In the 60s, the bard’s songs were also persecuted. According to the conclusion of the official commission, they could not fully express their moods and feelings Soviet youth. However, the youth themselves did not know about this, and always tried to get to the concerts and creative evenings of the famous bard.

National fame came to Okudzhava after the release feature film"Belorussky Station" It contains a powerful, deep and at the same time subtle song “The birds don’t sing here...”.

Personal life

On a personal level, the poet and bard was not and could not be alone: ​​“he has two official marriages on the books.” Unfortunately, Bulat Shalvovich's first marriage to Galina Smolyaninova ended in divorce. The background was largely formed by two tragedies that happened in the family: quite at a young age the daughter dies, and the son subsequently becomes addicted to drugs.

Olga Artsimovich, a physicist by profession, becomes Okudzhava’s second wife. This marriage was much happier. In it, a son, Anton, is born - a wonderful composer in the future.

Other biography options

• There were many legends about Bulat Shalvovich during his lifetime. For example, many believed that his talent was born and blossomed during the war. However, his wife Olga argued the opposite. At the front, his lyrics were amateurish, and most of them have not survived. The most best works were created in the 50s.
• Creative people, as a rule, do not pay any attention to everyday life. But Bulat Okudzhava was not one of them. He knew how to do everything: wash dishes, cook, and work with a hammer. At the same time, the head of the family was still Olga Okudzhava. She decided how to act and when. He loved her and obeyed her.
• In 1991, Bulat Okudzhava was diagnosed with a serious heart disease. An operation was immediately required, which at that time cost tens of thousands of dollars. Of course, the family did not have such a sum. best friend The poet Ernst Neizvestny was even planning to take out a loan against his house as collateral. But the money was collected by the whole world: some a dollar, some a hundred.
• Okudzhava was an atheist, and kept saying that he did not believe in God. But just before his death, at the insistence of his wife, he was baptized. She believed that a man of such a huge soul could not be an unbeliever.

Okudzhava Bulat Shalvovich (1924-1997) - Soviet and Russian poet, prose writer and screenwriter, bard and composer. The most prominent representative of art song in the USSR. Based on his own poems and the folk epic of the Caucasus, he composed more than 200 original and pop songs.

Childhood years

Bulat was born on May 9, 1924 in the famous Moscow maternity hospital named after Grauerman. The family where the boy was born was Bolshevik. His father, Shalva Stepanovich Okudzhava, was sent from Tiflis to the Moscow Communist Academy for party studies. My father was Georgian by nationality, and my mother, Nalbandyan Ashkhen Stepanovna, was Armenian.

On Moscow's Arbat, in a five-room apartment, the family was allocated two rooms. Six months after the birth of Bulat, Shalva Okudzhava was again called to Georgia in connection with party work. His wife with their little son and nanny remained in Moscow.

Bulat was mainly raised by a nanny, since his mother worked in the party apparatus. As an adult, Okudzhava recalled that dad was so distant, as if drawn, and mom was almost a ghost who appeared only in the evenings. A tired woman came home when her baby was already asleep, hugged the warm lump tightly to her, and continued to think about her party affairs.

When the boy was 5 years old, his father came to Moscow. But a year later he was appointed to a new position - first secretary of the Tiflis city party committee. This time the Okudzhavas all left for Georgia together.

Youth

Bulat began his studies at the Tiflis Russian School. Since he had perfect pitch by that time, he was additionally sent to study at a music school.

My father did not stay long at party work in Georgia, as he had a conflict with Beria, and Shalva Okudzhava himself turned to Ordzhonikidze to be transferred to work in Russia.

In 1932, the family moved to Nizhny Tagil, where Bulat’s father led the construction of the largest Ural carriage plant. The Okudzhavas now lived far from the center of the USSR, and in Leningrad it was at this time that the wheel of political terror had already begun to spin. Everything was calm in Bulat’s family; in 1934, his brother Victor was born.

But in 1937 this bloody wheel reached Nizhny Tagil. Shalva Stepanovich was arrested, and his wife and two sons moved to Moscow again. She was expelled from the party and soon arrested. Bulat recalled how he was afraid then that he and his brother would not be handed over to orphanage. But the boys were taken in by their maternal grandmother Maria Vartanovna.

All the relatives helped as much as possible, but there was still not enough food. The grandmother devoted all her strength to looking after little Vitya, and 13-year-old Bulat was completely left to his own devices. He grew up as an ordinary “red” boy, idolized the pilot Chkalov and the Spanish communist Dolores Ibarruri, dreamed of becoming a hero of the Arctic, rejoiced at the successes of socialism, and was sure that he lived in the best advanced camp in the world. And I didn’t know that by that time my father had already been shot.

Since it was difficult for the grandmother with two boys, Bulat was taken to her mother’s sister Sylvia in Tbilisi. He visited there often during the summer holidays, but now he has moved to permanent place residence and in the fall went to a Georgian school.

By this time, the young man had already begun to write poetry. My uncle, after listening to his works, jokingly said that it was time to publish him, like Pushkin. The naive boy believed and went to the publishing house. The secretary listened carefully to the boy and said that he would be happy to publish his poems, but, unfortunately, the publishing house had run out of paper.

And then there was no time for paper: the war began. Bulat Okudzhava volunteered for it. He was wounded near Mozdok and ended up in the hospital. Having recovered, Bulat returned to the front, but the wound was constantly tormenting him, and he was demobilized in 1944.

Okudzhava returned to Georgia, graduated from high school as an external student and became a student at the Faculty of Philology at the university.

Creative path

In 1950, having received a diploma and assignment, Bulat and his wife Galya went to the village of Shamordino, Kaluga region, and were sent there to teach at a rural school.
He didn’t like working at school at all, and Okudzhava suffered from it. But he didn’t have to work in the village for long: he was soon transferred to Kaluga. After working there as a school teacher for a while, Bulat got a job at a local newspaper.

In 1956, N.S. Khrushchev came to power, many were rehabilitated, including Bulat’s parents. Dad posthumously, and mother returned from Siberia to Moscow and received a two-room apartment on Krasnopresnenskaya embankment. Bulat with his wife and younger brother Let's go to see my mother in Moscow.

There he started labor activity at the Molodaya Gvardiya publishing house, then headed the poetry department at Literaturnaya Gazeta. At evenings at Literaturka, Bulat performed songs based on his own poems with a guitar for a close circle. Colleagues predicted a great future for him and repeatedly persuaded him to go on stage. But he didn't give special significance in their words.

Soon Bulat Okudzhava’s family was given a dacha in Sheremetyevo. Living at the dacha, they developed a certain ritual: in the evenings, neighbors, colleagues and friends gathered around the fire and listened to the poet’s poems and songs. The Moscow intelligentsia began vying with each other to invite him to their homes for evenings, and songs were recorded on tape reels. So the author and performer of songs came out to the people. Okudzhava himself was still poorly known, but half the country was already singing the songs. “The Grape Seed” and “The Prayer” were copied on paper by hand from each other.

Only in 1961 was the first solo concert Okudzhava. The Leningrad Hall was overcrowded.

In 1965, the first record with Bulat's songs was released.

In 1967 for the verse " Tin soldier my son" Bulat received the "Golden Crown" at a poetry festival in Yugoslavia. WITH great success His performances took place in Paris and Germany, but in the Soviet Union he did not give big concerts, he performed in cultural centers, institutes and libraries.

But in 1970, Okudzhava gained all-Union fame after the release of the film “Belorussky Station”, where his song “Birds Don’t Sing Here...” was performed.
For my creative life Bulat wrote songs for many popular Soviet and Russian films:

• “Zhenya, Zhenechka and Katyusha”;
• "White Sun of the Desert";
• "Straw Hat";
• “Aty-baty, the soldiers were coming”;
• "Star of Captivating Happiness";
• "Pokrovsky Gate";
• "Legitimate marriage";
• "Turkish Gambit"

Personal life

Okudzhava was very amorous in his youth. The girls also did not pass by the brown-eyed man handsome guy with a mop of black curls. He was charming in himself, and he treated girls with such respect that they were immediately captivated. But the most important thing, why there were always crowds of girls around him, was that he sang amazingly with a guitar.

At the age of 23 he started turbulent relationship with Galya Smolyaninova, who studied with him at the same faculty. Bulat and Galya got married, then he no longer lived with his uncle and aunt, but rented a room in a communal apartment.

In 1954, the couple had a son, Igor. In 1962, Bulat and Galya separated.

When Okudzhava was 38 years old, he met Olga Artsimovich, who later became his second wife and gave birth to a son in 1964, named Bulat after his father.

In 1997, Okudzhava and his wife went on a trip to Europe. He did not like to stay in Moscow for his birthday, as he hated all these celebrations. They visited Germany, then went to Paris to visit friends. There he fell ill with the flu, the poet was admitted to the hospital, but they could no longer help, he died on June 12, 1997.

Bulat Shalvovich Okudzhava (May 9, 1924, Moscow, USSR - June 12, 1997, Clamart, France) - poet, composer, writer, novelist and screenwriter. The author of about two hundred original and pop songs, written to his own poems, one of the most prominent representatives of the art song genre in the 1950s-1980s.

Bulat Okudzhava was born in Moscow on May 9, 1924 into a family of communists who came from Tiflis to study at the Communist Academy. Father - Shalva Stepanovich Okudzhava, Georgian, famous party leader, mother - Ashkhen Stepanovna Nalbandyan, Armenian, relative of the famous Armenian poet Vahan Teryan.

Soon after Bulat's birth, his father was sent to the Caucasus to work as a commissar of the Georgian division. Mother remained in Moscow, worked in the party apparatus. Bulat was sent to Tbilisi to study and studied in a Russian class. Father was promoted to secretary of the Tbilisi City Committee; due to a conflict with Lavrenty Beria, he sent a letter to Sergo Ordzhonikidze with a request to send him to party work in Russia, and was sent to the Urals as a party organizer to build a carriage factory in the city of Nizhny Tagil. Then Shalva Stepanovich became the 1st secretary of the Nizhny Tagil city party committee and soon sent his family to his place in the Urals. Bulat began studying at school No. 32.

First place of residence - st. Arbat, 43, communal apartment on the 4th floor.

In 1937, Bulat's parents were arrested, his father was shot on false charges on August 4, 1937, and his mother was exiled to the Karaganda camp, from where she returned only in 1955. After the arrest of his parents, Bulat and his grandmother returned to Moscow. He rarely spoke or wrote about his ancestors and his fate; only towards the end of his life, in the autobiographical novel “The Abolished Theater” (1993), he spoke about the hardships of his family.

In 1940, Bulat Okudzhava moved to relatives in Tbilisi. He studied and then worked at a factory as a turner's apprentice.

In April 1942, at the age of 17, Okudzhava volunteered for the front. He was sent to the 10th Separate Reserve Mortar Division. Then, after two months of training, he was sent to the North Caucasus Front. He was a mortarman, then a heavy artillery radio operator. He was wounded by Mozdok.

His first song, “We Couldn’t Sleep in the Cold Warehouses” (1943), dates back to this time, the text of which has not survived.

The second song was written in 1946 - “Ancient student song” (“Frantic and stubborn ...”).

After the war, Okudzhava entered Tbilisi State University. Having received his diploma, in 1950 he began working as a teacher - first in a rural school in the village of Shamordino, Kaluga region and in the regional center of Vysokinichi.

In 1954, after a meeting between the writer Vladimir Koblikov and the poet Nikolai Panchenko with readers in the Vysokinichsky district, Bulat approached them and offered to listen to his poems. Having received approval and support, he moved to Kaluga, where he began to collaborate with the newspaper “Young Leninist” and in 1956 published his first collection “Lyrics”.

In 1956, after the rehabilitation of his parents and the 20th Congress, he joined the CPSU.

In 1959, Okudzhava returned to Moscow. In the same year, he began performing as a songwriter (poems and music) and performing them with a guitar, quickly gaining popularity. The composition of many of Okudzhava’s most famous early songs dates back to this period (1956-1967) (“On Tverskoy Boulevard”, “Song about Lyonka Korolev”, “Song about the Blue Ball”, “Sentimental March”, “Song about the Midnight Trolleybus”, “ Not tramps, not drunkards”, “Moscow Ant”, “Song about the Komsomol goddess”, etc.).

He worked as an editor at the Molodaya Gvardiya publishing house, then as head of the poetry department at Literaturnaya Gazeta. Participated in the work of the literary association "Magistral".

In 1961, he left the service and no longer worked for hire, focusing exclusively on creative activity.

In 1961, the first official evening of Bulat Okudzhava’s original song on the territory of the USSR took place in Kharkov. The evening was organized by literary critic L. Ya. Livshits, with whom B. Okudzhava was associated friendly relations.

In 1962, Okudzhava became a member of the USSR Writers' Union. In the same year, Okudzhava first appeared on screen in the film “Chain Reaction”, in which he performed the song “Midnight Trolleybus”.

In 1970, the film “Belorussky Station” was released, in which Bulat Okudzhava’s song “And we need one victory” was performed. Okudzhava is the author of other popular songs for such films as “Straw Hat”, “Zhenya, Zhenechka and Katyusha” (in which Okudzhava sings in a cameo role with a guitar in a soldier’s uniform), etc. In total, Okudzhava’s songs on his poems are heard in more than 80 films.

Okudzhava became one of the most prominent representatives of the genre of Russian art song (along with V.S. Vysotsky and A.A. Galich), which was soon developed by bards and which gained enormous popularity with the advent of tape recorders. Okudzhava formed his own direction in this genre.

The first album with Okudzhava’s songs was released in Paris in 1968. In the same year, a record with Okudzhava’s songs performed by Polish artists was released in Poland, and one song - “Farewell to Poland” - was performed by the author. Since the mid-70s, Okudzhava’s records were also released in the USSR.

The songs of Bulat Okudzhava, spreading in tape recordings, quickly gained popularity, primarily among the intelligentsia: first in the USSR, then among Russian speakers abroad. The songs “Let’s join hands, friends...”, “While the Earth is still spinning...” (“Prayer of François Villon”) have become the anthem of many PCB rallies and festivals. In addition to songs based on his own poems, Okudzhava wrote a number of songs based on poems by the Polish poetess Agnieszka Osiecka, which he himself translated into Russian.

The creative union of Bulat Okudzhava with composer Isaac Schwartz turned out to be very fruitful. Together they created 32 songs, the most famous of which are the song “Your Honor, Lady Luck” (“White Sun of the Desert”), the cavalry guard’s song from the movie “Star of Captivating Happiness”, the romance “Love and Separation” (“We were not married in church "), as well as songs from the movie "Straw Hat".

In 1961, Okudzhava made his debut as a prose writer: his autobiographical story “Be Healthy, Schoolboy” was published in the almanac “Tarussky Pages” (published as a separate edition in 1987).

Published stories: “Poor Avrosimov” (“A Sip of Freedom”) (1969) about the tragic pages in the history of the Decembrist movement, “The Adventures of Shipov, or Ancient Vaudeville” (1971) and the novels “The Journey of Amateurs” (part 1. - 1976; part 2. - 1978) and “Date with Bonaparte” (1983).

With the beginning of perestroika, Bulat Okudzhava began to accept active participation V political life countries, taking an active democratic position.

Since 1989 - founding member of the Russian PEN Center.

In 1990 he left the CPSU.

Since 1992 - member of the commission on pardons under the President of the Russian Federation; since 1994 - member of the commission for State Prizes of the Russian Federation.

He was a member of the founding council of the Moscow News newspaper, a member of the founding board of Obshchaya Gazeta, a member of the editorial board of the Evening Club newspaper, and a member of the Memorial Society Council.

In 1993 he signed the “Letter of the 42”.

In the 1990s, Okudzhava mainly lived at his dacha in Peredelkino. During these years, Okudzhava performed concerts in Moscow and St. Petersburg, in the USA, Canada, Germany and Israel.

Monument to Bulat Okudzhava on Arbat

On June 23, 1995, Bulat Okudzhava’s last concert took place at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris.

On June 12, 1997, Bulat Okudzhava died in Paris (in the suburb of Clamart), in a military hospital.

Just before his death, Bulat Okudzhava was baptized with the name John in memory of the holy martyr John the Warrior. This happened in Paris with the blessing of one of the elders Pskov-Pechora Monastery.

He was buried at the Moscow Vagankovskoe cemetery.

He joined the CPSU in 1956, as soon as the opportunity arose (his parents were rehabilitated). Left the CPSU in 1990, during its collapse.

Social activities, political views

The following memories of Oleg Mikhailov about a conversation with Okudzhava, which took place in 1964, have been preserved.

... I remember how in 1964 a small group of young writers came from Moscow to what was then Kuibyshev. The highlight of the program was, of course, Bulat Okudzhava and his songs. At that time I almost idolized him (however, I love many of his songs nostalgically to this day). Once after another concert at dinner, I talked about my (now deceased) friend Dmitry Lyalikov. He, in particular, said that when they learned in the Caucasus that Stalin allegedly killed Kirov, they began to treat Stalin better. The “boy from Urzhum” did too much evil in those parts. And I heard from Okudzhava:
- This man should be shot!
I was amazed:
- But why?
And Okudzhava quietly but adamantly answered:
- My mother worked with Kirov...

Okudzhava had a definitely negative attitude towards Stalin. Here is a fragment of his poem written in 1981:

Well, is the Generalissimo wonderful?
Your claws are safe today -
Your silhouette with your low forehead is dangerous.
I don't keep track of past losses,
but even if he is moderate in his retribution,
I don’t forgive, remembering the past.

In 1993, he signed the “letter of the 42” demanding reprisals against participants in the events of October 1993.

Rutskoi spoke about supporters in an interview with the Podmoskovnye Izvestia newspaper on December 11, 1993 as follows:

Bulat Shalvovich, you watched on TV how they fired on October 4 White House?
- And I watched it all night.
- As a person who fought, what was your feeling when the first salvo was fired? Didn't you shudder?
- For me it was, of course, unexpected, but it didn’t happen. I'll tell you something else. As I grew older, I suddenly began to watch all sorts of detective films on TV with interest. Although many of them are empty and vulgar, I still look. For me, the main thing, as I understand here: when this bastard is beaten to death at the end of the film. And I enjoy it. I suffered the whole movie, but at the end they punched him in the face, right? And suddenly I caught myself that this same feeling jumped up in me when I saw Khasbulatov and Rutskoi and Makashov being taken out under escort. For me it was the ending of a detective story. I enjoyed it. I couldn’t stand these people, and even in this situation I had no pity for them. And maybe when the first shot was fired, I saw that it was - final act. Therefore, it did not make too depressing an impression on me. Although it was terrible for me that this could happen in our country. And this is again the president’s fault. After all, all this could have been prevented. And these Barkashovites could have been disarmed and dispersed long ago - everything could have been done. Nothing was done, nothing!
- On the other hand, if the president had tried to do something earlier, the Democrats would have been the first to start interceding: they say they are strangling democracy...
- That's right, we have a category of liberal intelligentsia that understands our situation in a very primitive way. Ideal from a point of view democratic society- yes. But, I repeat, we do not have any democratic society. We have a Bolshevik society that set out to create democracy, and it is now hanging by a thread. And when we see that scissors are reaching for this thread, we must somehow remove them. Otherwise we will lose, die, and create nothing. Well, liberals will always shout. Here Lyudmila Saraskina, a very intelligent woman, spoke out with indignation that, they say, such cruelty was shown, how can it be, I’m blushing. Let him blush, what should he do? And I think that if a bandit came into your house and wants to kill your family... What will you do? You will tell him: shame on you, right? No, no, I think firmness is needed. We - wild country.
- The President, at a meeting with writers (and this was shown on TV), defended himself with the following phrase: “It’s a pity that Okudzhava didn’t come”...
- Yes, and I was supposed to come, but I got stuck in traffic and was an hour late... We knew each other at the very beginning of perestroika - casually, of course, but we met several times. It's nice that the president remembers me.
- Bulat Shalvovich, which bloc are you voting for in the elections?
- I vote for “Russia's Choice”.

Soon this interview was quoted in the newspaper “Podmoskovye” - with serious notes that distorted the meaning of the statements. In particular, the words about the withdrawal of Khasbulatov and others under escort were omitted, and it turned out that the interviewee enjoyed the fact of the shots. Referring to this reprint, the poet’s opponents repeatedly obstructed him. Okudzhava himself commented on his interview as follows: “In the newspaper Podmoskovnye Izvestia, I spoke out against Khasbulatov, Makashov, Rutskoi, whom I do not accept. But I don't mind ordinary people».

When he was asked about the situation in Chechnya at his last concert at UNESCO on June 23, 1995, he replied:

“The war in Chechnya itself is a completely terrible phenomenon that will be remembered for many, many decades, if not centuries. Moreover, I think, you know, this small people, in which there is not even a million - let’s say, they are even very, very narcissistic and very complex - you still have to take into account the national psychology... Moreover, such small people. (applause) And in the last century they destroyed it for 50 years... In this century, in the year 44, the entire people were exiled to perish. And now they are destroying them again. Well, what is it? - Really? Russian authorities can't assert himself in any other way? Is it really necessary to kill your own fellow citizens for this?” (quote from the transcript of the concert soundtrack, later published on 2 CDs under the title “When Paris is Empty”)

Soon M. Fedotov in his article distorted Okudzhava’s statement, attributing to him, in particular, his own thoughts. This distorted statement was subsequently widely quoted as belonging to Okudzhava.

In his interview with Novaya Gazeta, he expressed the idea of ​​​​the similarities between the fascist and Stalinist regimes:

Few people think that the Germans themselves helped Soviet Union to defeat yourself: imagine, they would not shoot, but gather collective farmers and tell them - we have come to free you from the yoke. Choose your form of government. If you want a collective farm, please, a collective farm. If you want an individual farm, please do so. It’s the same in factories - make your life. If they had turned our slogans into action, they could have won the war. They, of course, made a terrible mistake with propaganda. With their exceptional cruelty they provoked popular anger. ... But our systems are similar. Absolutely two identical systems clashed. They did exactly the same as we would have done. And this is their mistake. Our country just turned out to be more powerful, darker and more patient.

Family and environment

Father - Shalva Stepanovich Okudzhava, party member Soviet figure(repressed in 1937). Bulat Shalvovich was married twice. His first wife was Galina Vasilyevna Smolyaninova (1926-1965), he divorced her in 1964 and died of a heart attack. The son from his first marriage, Igor Okudzhava (1954-1997), served time in prison and took drugs. The daughter from her first marriage died. The second wife is Olga Vladimirovna Okudzhava (d. Artsimovich), a physicist by training, the niece of Lev Artsimovich. Son - Bulat (Anton) Bulatovich Okudzhava (born 1965), musician, composer.

In 1981, he met singer Natalya Gorlenko (born June 10, 1955), with whom he had a long affair, which affected his work.

Okudzhava’s circle of personal friends included Bella Akhmadulina, Yuri Levitansky, Fazil Iskander.

Recognition and awards

• First Prize and Golden Crown Prize, Yugoslavia (1967).
• Order of Friendship of Peoples (1984).
• Prize "Golden Guitar" at the festival in Sanremo, Italy (1985).
• The name of Okudzhava was assigned to a small planet (1988).
• Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Norwich University, USA (1990).
• Penyo Penev Prize, Bulgaria (1990).
• Prize "For Courage in Literature" named after. A. D. Sakharova (“April”) (1991).
• Laureate of the USSR State Prize (1991).
• Russian Booker Prize (1994) for the autobiographical novel “The Abolished Theater.”
• Honorary citizen of Kaluga (1996).
• Medal "For the Defense of the Caucasus".
• Honorary Medal of the Board of the Soviet Peace Fund.

State Memorial Museum of Bulat Okudzhava

The museum is located in the Moscow region, in the Leninsky district, p/o Michurinets, village. writers "Peredelkino", st. Dovzhenko, 11, founded on August 22, 1998, opened on October 31, 1999.

Monuments to Okudzhava

Monuments to Okudzhava in Moscow

• On May 8, 2002, the first monument to Bulat Okudzhava was unveiled in Moscow. The monument is installed on the corner of Arbat and Plotnikov Lane.
• On September 8, 2007, a monument to Okudzhava was unveiled in Moscow in the courtyard of Education Center No. 109. The author of both sculptures is Georgy Frangulyan.

Festivals and competitions named after Bulat Okudzhava

• International Festival of Bulat Okudzhava
• Annual Moscow festival “And I will call friends...”, dedicated to Bulat Okudzhava
• Open city competition of patriotic author's song named after Bulat Okudzhava, Perm
• Israeli International Festival in memory of Bulat Okudzhava, city of Israel

Bulat Okudzhava Prize

In 1997, the State Prize named after Bulat Okudzhava was established, the laureates of which were Alexander Gorodnitsky, Yuliy Kim, Alexander Dolsky, Bella Akhmadulina and others.

Creative heritage

Published works

Collections

• "Magnanimous March" (1967),
• “Arbat, my Arbat” (1976),
• "Poems" (1984),
• "Favorites" (1989),
• "Dedicated to You" (1988),
• "Mercies of Fate" (1993),
• “Waiting Room” (Nizhny Novgorod, 1996),
• “Tea Party on Arbat” (1996),
• Bulat Okudzhava. 20 songs for voice and guitar. - Krakow: Polish Music. publishing house, 1970. - 64 p.
• Bulat Okudzhava. 65 songs (Musical recording, editing, compilation by V. Frumkin). Ann Arbor, Michigan: Ardis, vol. 1 1980, vol. 2 1986.
• Songs of Bulat Okudzhava. Melodies and lyrics. The compiler and author of the introductory article is L. Shilov, the musical material was recorded by A. Kolmanovsky with the participation of the author). - M.: Music, 1989. - 224 p.

Historical novels

• “Poor Avrosimov” (1969, in some subsequent editions - “A Sip of Freedom”)
• "The Adventures of Shipov, or Ancient Vaudeville"
• "Journey of Amateurs" (1976-1978)
• "Rendezvous with Bonaparte" (1983)
• "Abolished Theater" (1993)

Film scripts

• “Loyalty” (1965; co-authored with P. Todorovsky; production: Odessa Film Studio, 1965);
• “Zhenya, Zhenechka and Katyusha” (1967; co-authored with V. Motyl; production: Lenfilm, 1967);
• « Privacy Alexander Sergeich, or Pushkin in Odessa" (1966; co-authored with O. Artsimovich; film not produced);
• “We loved Melpomene...” (1978; co-authored with O. Artsimovich; film not produced).

Filmography

Feature films

• 1961 - “Horizon”, Lenfilm - lyrics
• 1962 - “Chain Reaction”, Mosfilm - first appearance on screen
• 1963 - “Ilyich’s Outpost” (“I’m twenty years old”), Film Studio named after. M. Gorky
• 1967 - “Zhenya, Zhenechka and Katyusha”, Lenfilm (co-writer of the script, cameo role)
• 1970 - “Belorussky Station”, Mosfilm - song from the film “Belorussky Station” (“Our Tenth Airborne Battalion”)
• 1970 - “White Sun of the Desert” - lyrics of the song “Your Honor, Lady Luck”
• 1973 - “Dirk”, Belarusfilm - texts of “Songs of the Red Army Soldier” (“The cannon hits blindly”) and “Songs of a homeless child” (“At the Kursk Station”)
• 1974 - “Bronze Bird”, Belarusfilm - lyrics of the song “You burn, burn, my fire”
• 1975 - “The Adventures of Pinocchio”, Belarusfilm - lyrics of some songs
• 1977 - “Aty-Bati, the soldiers were marching”, Film Studio named after. A. P. Dovzhenko - song “Take your overcoat, let's go home”
• 1977 - “The key without the right of transfer”, Lenfilm
• 1982 - “Pokrovsky Gate”, Mosfilm - songs “Painters”, “Song about Arbat”, “Sentries of Love”
• 1985 - “Legitimate Marriage”, Mosfilm
• 1986 - “Keep Me, My Talisman”, Film Studio. A. P. Dovzhenko

Documentaries

• “I remember a wonderful moment” (Lenfilm)
• “My contemporaries”, Lenfilm, 1984
• “Two hours with bards” (“Bards”), Mosfilm, 1988
• “And don’t forget about me”, Russian television, 1992

Discography

Gramophone records

• Songs of Bulat Okudzhava. Melodiya, 1966. D 00016717-8
• Disc (Paris, Le Chant du Mond in 1968)
• Bulat Okudzhava. Songs. Melodiya, 1973. 33D-00034883-84
• Bulat Okudzhava. Songs (poems and music). Performed by the author. Melodiya, 1976. M40 38867
• Songs based on poems by Bulat Okudzhava. Melodiya, 1978. M40 41235
• Bulat Okudzhava. Songs. Melodiya, 1978. G62 07097
• Bulat Okudzhava. Songs. Performed by Bulat Okudzhava. Melodiya, 1981. С60 13331
• Okudzhava Bulat. Songs and poems about the war. Melody, 1985
• Disc of songs. (“Balkanton”, Bulgaria, 1985. VTK 3804).
• Bulat Okudzhava. Songs and poems about the war. Performed by the author. Recording of the All-Union studio for recording and phonograms of films from 1969-1984. Melodiya, 1985. M40 46401 003
• Okudzhava Bulat. New songs. Recording 1986 Melodiya, 1986. С60 25001 009
• Bulat Okudzhava. A song, short, like life itself... Performed by the author. Recording 1986 Melodiya, 1987. С62 25041 006
• Songs based on Bulat Okudzhava's poems from films. Melody

Cassettes

• Bulat Okudzhava. While the earth is still spinning. Records of M. Kryzhanovsky 1969-1970. Licensed by SoLyd Records. Moscow Windows LLP, 1994. MO 005

CDs

• Bulat Okudzhava. While the earth is still spinning. Records of M. Kryzhanovsky 1969-1970. SoLyd Records, 1994. SLR 0008
• Bulat Okudzhava. And like first love... Licensed by Le Chant du Mond, recorded 1968. SoLyd Records, 1997. SLR 0079

Bibliography

• Voice of hope: New information about Bulat Okudzhava. Vol. 1 / Comp. Krylov A. E. ISBN 5-98557-001-0. M.: Bulat, 2004
• Voice of hope: New information about Bulat Okudzhava. Vol. 2 / Comp. Krylov A. E. ISBN 5-98557-003-7. M.: Bulat, 2005
• Voice of hope: New information about Bulat Okudzhava. Vol. 3 / Comp. Krylov A. E. ISBN 5-98557-005-3. M.: Bulat, 2006
• Voice of hope: New information about Bulat Okudzhava. Vol. 4 / Comp. Krylov A. E. ISBN 978-5-98557-009-0. M.: Bulat, 2007
• Voice of hope: New information about Bulat Okudzhava. Vol. 5 / Comp. Krylov A. E. ISBN 978-5-991457-001-6. M.: Bulat, 2008
• Voice of hope: New information about Bulat Okudzhava. Vol. 8 / Comp. Krylov A. E. ISBN 978-5-991457-012-2. M.: Bulat, 2011, 544 p. ml, 1000 copies.
• Gizatulin M. Bulat Okudzhava: “... from the very beginning.” - ISBN 978-5-98557-010-6. M.: Bulat, 2008