Aleksandra Pakhmutova

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Aleksandra Pakhmutova

Aleksandra Pakhmutova
Background information
Native name Александра Николаевна Пахмутова
Born (1929-11-09) November 9, 1929
Volgograd, Soviet Union
Genres Pop
Occupations Singer
Years active 1958–present

Aleksandra "Alya" Nikolayevna Pakhmutova (Russian: Александра Николаевна Пахмутова; born November 9, 1929) has remained one of the best known figures in Soviet and later Russian popular music since she first achieved fame in her homeland in the 1960s.

She was born on November 9, 1929 in Beketovka (now Volgograd), former Russian SFSR, Soviet Union, and began playing the piano and composing music at an early age. She was admitted to the prestigious Moscow Conservatory and graduated in 1953. In 1956 she completed a post-graduate course led by the outstanding composer Vissarion Shebalin.

Her career is notable for her success in a range of different genres. She has composed pieces for the symphony orchestra (The Russian Suite, the concerto for the trumpet and the orchestra, the Youth Overture, the concerto for the orchestra); the ballet Illumination; music for children (cantatas, a series of choir pieces, and numerous songs); and songs and music for over a dozen different movies from Out of This World in 1958 to Because of Mama in 2001.

She is best known for some of her 400 songs, including such enduringly popular songs as The Melody, Russian Waltz, Tenderness, Hope, The Old Maple Tree, The Song of the Perturbed Youth, a series of the Gagarin Constellation, The Bird of Happiness (from the 1981 film O Sport, You - the world!, whose the song is subsequently very known in both Russia and China when performed by Russian singer Vitas since 2003) and Good-Bye Moscow which was used as the farewell tune of the 22nd Olympic Games in Moscow in 1980. Tenderness was used with great effect in Tatiana Lioznova's 1967 film Three Poplars on Plutschikha. Her husband, the eminent Soviet era poet Nikolai Dobronravov, contributed lyrics to her music on occasion, including songs used in three films.

One of her most famous ballads is Belovezhskaya Pushcha, composed in 1975, which celebrates Bialowieza Primaeval Forest, a last remnant of the European wildwood split now between Poland and Belarus. Another much-aired song was Malaya Zemlya, about a minor outpost where the then Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev served as a political commissar during the World War II.

Alexandra Pakhmutova found favour with the state establishment as well as the public. Reputedly Brezhnev's favourite composer, she received several Government Awards and State Prizes and served as the Secretary of the USSR and Russian Unions of Composers. She was named Hero of Socialist Labour in 1990. Her name was given to Asteroid # 1889, registered by the planetary centre in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States.

Honours and awards

This article incorporates information from the equivalent article on the Russian Wikipedia.
Soviet and Russian
  • Hero of Socialist Labour (29 October 1990) - for outstanding contributions to the development of Soviet musical art and productive social activities
  • Two Orders of Lenin (6 November 1979 and 29 October 1990)
  • Order for Merit to the Fatherland;
    • 1st class (9 November 2009) - for outstanding contribution to the development of national musical art, and many years of creative activity
    • 2nd class (27 December 1999) - for his great personal contribution to the development of musical art
  • Order of the Red Banner of Labour, twice (1967, 1971)
  • Order of Friendship of Peoples (1986)
  • USSR State Prize (1975) - for the songs of recent years (1971–1974)
  • USSR State Prize (1982) - for the music for the film "O Sport, You - the world" (1981)
  • Lenin Komsomol Prize (1966) - a song cycle about youth and the Komsomol Prize of the Union State of Russia and Belarus for literary and artistic works that make a significant contribution to strengthening the relations of brotherhood, friendship and comprehensive cooperation between the countries - members of the Union State (10 March 2004)
  • Honoured Artist of the RSFSR (1971)
  • People's Artist of the RSFSR (1977)
  • People's Artist of USSR (1984)
  • Honorary Citizen of Volgograd (19 October 1993)
  • Honorary Citizen of Bratsk (26 August 1994)
  • Honorary citizen of Moscow (13 September 2000)
Foreign
  • Order of Francisc Skorina (Belarus, 3 April 2000) - for outstanding work on the development and strengthening of the Belarusian-Russian cultural relations
Public
  • Order of St. Euphrosyne, Grand Duchess of Moscow, 2nd class (Russian Orthodox Church, 2008)
  • The title "Living Legend" by the national Russian award "Ovation" (2002)
  • The award "Russian National Olympus" (2004)

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