Vladimir Grigorevich Zakharov

Born Oct. 5 (18), 1901, in a mining camp near Bogodukhov Gorge, Donbas; died July 13, 1956, in Moscow. Soviet composer and musical figure. People’s Artist of the USSR (1944). Became a member of the CPSU in 1944.

In 1927, Zakharov graduated from the Don Conservatory in Rostov-on-Don, having studied in the composition class. From 1930 to 1933 he worked for Radio Moscow. In 1948 he became a secretary and board member of the Union of Com-posers of the USSR. From 1932 to 1956, Zakharov was the musical director of the Piatnitskii Russian Folk Chorus; he wrote his songs for this group. An outstanding expert in Russian folk music, Zakharov created an individual style of polyphonic song, which embodied a vivid folk quality yet was acutely contemporary. Most of Zakharov’s songs were written to words by M. V. Isakovskii and A. T. Tvardovskii. Their broad scope of imagery ranges from the severe, extremely dramatic, and heroically solemn to the impetuously merry and tenderly lyrical. His songs include “Through the Green Expanses,” “Through the Village,” “Oh! My Mists, My Mists,” “Through the White Snow,” “July Nights, You Are Beautiful,” “A Russian Beauty,” “Hail to the Soviet Power,” “Seeing Her Home,” and “And Who Knows Why.” Zakharov also wrote numerous choral arrangements of Russian folk songs. He won the State Prize of the USSR for his songs in 1942 and 1946 and for his concert activity in 1952. He was also awarded the Order of Lenin, the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, and various medals.