Mokrousov Boris Andreyevich (1909–1968) was a Soviet composer, Honored Art Worker of the Chuvash ASSR, and laureate of the USSR State Prize. He was born on 27 February (14 February, Old Style) 1909 in Kanavino — a sloboda (a township) now within the city limits of Nizhny Novgorod.[1][2] He was the author of widely known Soviet songs and operatic works; several institutions and place names in Nizhny Novgorod preserve his memory.
Biography and Creative Career
Mokrousov spent his childhood and youth in Nizhny Novgorod. According to available accounts, his family was not wealthy and his father died early.[1] He began his musical education in Nizhny Novgorod: from 1918 to 1921, the building later known as Dormitory of the Institute of Water Transport Engineers with the Record Cinema housed a People's Conservatory, and thereafter — until 1931 — a music college where Mokrousov was a student. Among other graduates of that institution were pianist Nina Vladimirovna Makarova and jazz musician Aleksandr Naumovich Tsfasman.[1]
Mokrousov received his higher education in Moscow, graduating from the composition faculty of the Moscow State Conservatory in 1936.[2] A significant part of his subsequent creative life was connected with Chuvashia.
During the The Great Patriotic War, Mokrousov wrote the opera Chapayev (1942).[2] In 1948 he was awarded the USSR State Prize, and in 1962 he received the title Honored Art Worker of Chuvashia for the operetta Rose of the Winds.[1]
Principal Works
Mokrousov's output includes the Antifascist Symphony, the opera Chapayev, the operetta Rose of the Winds, the score to the film The Elusive Avengers, and numerous songs — "The Cherished Stone," Sormovskaya Liricheskaya", "About the Native Land," "Vologda," and others.[2] A special place among them is held by "The Lonely Accordion," written together with the poet M. Isakovsky for the centenary of Aleksandr Koltsov's birth in 1949.[1] Mokrousov collaborated with well-known lyricists — M. V. Isakovsky, Ye. A. Dolmatovsky, M. S. Lisyansky, and A. I. Fatyanov.[2] His works were performed by N. A. Obukhova, S. Ya. Lemeshev, L. O. Utesov, K. I. Shulzhenko, G. K. Ots, A. I. Raykin, and Yves Montand, and were heard in French, Italian, Polish, Finnish, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean.[2]
Memory in Nizhny Novgorod
In Nizhny Novgorod, Mokrousova Street is named after the composer; it intersects Svetloyarskaya Street near Svetloyarskoye Lake.[1] In addition, Nizhegorodskaya Street there is a memorial plaque dedicated to Mokrousov.[1]
Links
- Wikidata (Q2039003 — entry in the open knowledge base)
- VIAF (49417434 — union catalogue index)
- ISNI (0000000083810383)
- GND (133518132 — German National Library catalogue)