Katyusha (song)

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Lidiya Ruslanova performing Katyusha song for Soviet soldiers during the Great Patriotic War.

Katyusha (Катюша) is a Russian Soviet wartime song about a girl longing for her beloved, who is away on military service. The music was composed in 1938 by Matvei Blanter and the lyrics were written by Mikhail Isakovsky. It was first performed by the celebrated folk singer, Lidiya Ruslanova. Some critics believe that Katyusha was not a Blanter composition, pointing out that a similar tune was used by Igor Stravinsky in his opera Mavra (1922) which he later adapted to Chanson Russe (1937).

Katyusha is a tender diminutive from the female name Ekaterina (Catherine). In Russian, many names have diminutives (besides nicknames). For example, the diminutive for Natalia is Natasha, and the tender diminutive for Natasha is Natashenka. In the case of Ekaterina (Catherine), Katya is the nickname and Katyusha, a tender diminutive.

The Russian song also gave name to the BM-8, BM-13, and BM-31 "Katyusha" rocket launchers that were built and fielded by the Red Army in World War II so named because of the cresendo in the third line of each stanza.

1 Japanese version
2 Lyrics
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] Japanese version

In addition to the Soviet version, there was another, apparently quite separate, "Katyusha's song" that became highly popular in early 20th century Japan. Rendered into Japanese as カチューシャの歌 (Kachūsha no uta, Katyusha's Song), it was composed in the major pentatonic scale by Nakayama Shimpei. It was sung by Matsui Sumako in a dramatization of Tolstoy's Resurrection, put on in 1914 in Tokyo. The song was a huge hit, selling large amounts of records and was taken on by street corner musicians throughout the Japanese empire. It is considered by some music historians as the first example of modern Japanese popular music.

[edit] Lyrics

The original lyrics in Russian, Latin transliteration, and translated into English by Anastasia I-Morn-Gwathren (2002).

Катюша

Расцветали яблони и груши,
Поплыли туманы над рекой;
Выходила на берег Катюша,
На высокий берег, на крутой.

Выходила, песню заводила
Про степного, сизого орла,
Про того, которого любила,
Про того, чьи письма берегла.

Ой, ты песня, песенка девичья,
Ты лети за ясным солнцем вслед,
И бойцу на дальнем пограничье
От Катюши передай привет.

Пусть он вспомнит девушку простую,
Пусть услышит, как она поёт,
Пусть он землю бережёт родную,
А любовь Катюша сбережёт.

Расцветали яблони и груши,
Поплыли туманы над рекой;
Выходила на берег Катюша,
На высокий берег, на крутой.

Katyusha

Rastsvetali yabloni i grushi,
Poplyli tumany nad rekoy;
Vykhodila na bereg Katyusha,
Na vysokiy bereg, na krutoy.

Vykhodila, pesnyu zavodila
Pro stepnogo sizogo orla,
Pro togo kotorogo lyubila,
Pro togo chyi pisma beregla.

Oy, ty pesnya, pesenka devichya,
Ty leti za yasnym solntsem vsled,
I boytsu na dalnem pogranichye
Ot Katyushi pereday privet.

Pust on vspomnit devushku prostuyu,
Pust uslyshit, kak ona poyot,
Pust on zemlyu berezhyot rodnuyu,
A lyubov Katyusha sberezhyot.

Rastsvetali yabloni i grushi,
Poplyli tumany nad rekoy;
Vykhodila na bereg Katyusha,
Na vysokiy bereg, na krutoy.

Katyusha

Apple trees and pears were in blossom
On the river hung the morning mist
Young Katyusha stepped up on the high bank,
Of the river steep bank in the mist.

On the bank Katyusha started singing
Of a proud grey eagle of the steppe,
Of the one Katyusha loved so deeply,
Of the one whose letters she has kept

Oh, you song, you bright song of a maiden
Fly you by the sun, fly like a bird
To the soldier on faraway border
From Katyusha bring a greeting word.

Let him think of simple native maiden,
Let him hear Katyusha's clear song
He will guard the land of dear homeland
And their love Katyusha will keep strong.

Apple trees and pears were in blossom
On the river hung the morning mist
Young Katyusha stepped up on the high bank,
Of the river steep bank in the mist