Dmitry Pokrass
Encyclopedia
Kiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
– 20 December 1978, 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...
) was a Jewish composer of popular music and scores for the theatre and films, recognized in 1975 as a National Performer of the USSR. (See also Pokrass brothers)
Early Years and Education
At eight years of age, Dmitry Pokrass began performing as a means of earning money. He declaimed poetry, beating off a chechotka. Touring cities, he absorbed the music of the suburbs of old KievKiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
, of military bands, Jewish weddings and celebrations, the cinema, synagogue services, and cheerful Ukrainian dances. During the years 1914-1917, Pokrass studied piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
at the Petrograd Conservatory. As a student, he composed romances and songs for actors of a variety show. Has published a series of romances "Irmochka" ("The Grimaces of Life") with the description: "Intimate cabaret
Cabaret
Cabaret is a form, or place, of entertainment featuring comedy, song, dance, and theatre, distinguished mainly by the performance venue: a restaurant or nightclub with a stage for performances and the audience sitting at tables watching the performance, as introduced by a master of ceremonies or...
songs in the style of Isa Kremer
Isa Kremer
Isa Kremer: The People's Diva, is a documentary produced in 2000 and directed by Nina Baker Feinberg and Ted Schillinger. It focuses on Isa Kremer, an international singing sensation.-Summary:...
, Vertinsky
Alexander Vertinsky
Alexander Nikolayevich Vertinsky was a Russian and Soviet artist, poet, singer, composer, cabaret artist and actor who exerted seminal influence on the Russian tradition of artistic singing.-Early years:...
, Sabinin, Henkin". In the music of romances, he copied the stylistic manners of known actors, using the turns of fashionable tango
Tango (dance)
Tango dance originated in the area of the Rio de la Plata , and spread to the rest of the world soon after....
s and other dances. He wrote songs of the "intimate genre" to be performed by Gipsy singer V. Shuysky: "The Bashful Tea Rose", "You Have Smiled at Me", "Warrant Officer Johns", and "Tango Dolores" (lyrics by P.German and O.Osenin). In 1917 he returned to Kiev, where he found work as an accompanist. In 1919, he worked at the "One-eyed Jimmy" variety theatre in Rostov-on-Don
Rostov-on-Don
-History:The mouth of the Don River has been of great commercial and cultural importance since the ancient times. It was the site of the Greek colony Tanais, of the Genoese fort Tana, and of the Turkish fortress Azak...
.
Military career
In 1919-1921, Pokrass served in the First Cavalry. In honour of the taking of Rostov by the First Cavalry, he wrote the song which gained national popularity, "Budyonny's March" (1920, lyrics by A.d'Aktilj). To his fellow soldiers of the First Cavalry, he dedicated further compositions: "Hey, hey, saddle the Horses" (D. Bednogo), a cantataCantata
A cantata is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir....
"Forward" and a military march, "Red Cavalrymen", both with lyrics by S.Minin.
Professional career
Relocating to MoscowMoscow
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...
in 1923, Pokrass worked in different genres of variety music. He wrote music for theatres of miniatures and a cabaret, accompanied a Gypsy chorus, the Gypsy song performers E.Dobero and O.Vargina. Pokrass tried to overcome the stale character of the variety genre in romances by using lyrics of "highbrow" poetry by Alexander Blok
Alexander Blok
Alexander Alexandrovich Blok was a Russian lyrical poet.-Life and career:Blok was born in Saint Petersburg, into a sophisticated and intellectual family. Some of his relatives were literary men, his father being a law professor in Warsaw, and his maternal grandfather the rector of Saint Petersburg...
("I am at Your Feet"), Igor Severyanin
Igor Severyanin
Igor Severyanin was a Russian poet who presided over the circle of the so-called Ego-Futurists.Igor was born in St. Petersburg in the family of an army engineer. Through his mother, he was remotely related to Nikolai Karamzin and Afanasy Fet. In 1904 he left for Manchuria with his father but later...
("I Feel How Flowers Fall"), and others.
In 1940, Pokrass became a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
Communist Party of the Soviet Union
The Communist Party of the Soviet Union was the only legal, ruling political party in the Soviet Union and one of the largest communist organizations in the world...
.
From 1923 to 1926, Pokrass served as the principal conductor and musical director of the Moscow theatres "Oriental Carpets" and "Hermitage".
In 1926-1936 he was the principal conductor and musical director of the Moscow music hall. Between 1932 and 1954 he worked in collaboration with his brother, Daniel Pokrass. In 1936 - 1972 he was the artistic director of the Variety orchestra of ЦДКЖ (ZDKZh). He composed songs, film scores, and incidental music for the theatre, as well as military marches such as the March of the Soviet Tankmen
March of the Soviet Tankmen
March of the Soviet Tankmen is a military march composed in 1939 by the Pokrass brothers with lyrics by Laskin. It was commonly used as a Soviet propaganda song in World War II.- Lyrics :...
. After Daniel's death, Dmitry wrote the "March of the Motorized Infantry" (lyrics by Yevgeniy Dolmatovsky, 1957), "Great City" ("A Song about Moscow", the Newcomer's Poems, 1974), (Lyuba, Lyubushka, Lyubov; lyrics by P. Gradov), "My Small Hometown" (lyrics by M. Svetlov, 1975), "The March of BAM" (lyrics by M. Vershinin, 1975). He also composed music for the stage plays "Red Devilkins" (1950) and "Konarmiya" (1950), works for the violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
, and romances.