Alexander Alexandrovich Dolsky is a famous poet, musician, artist, performer of an author’s song, theater actor Arkady Raikin. He was awarded the title of Honored Artist of Russia for his invaluable contribution to the development of culture.
The songs of Alexander Dolsky are known and loved by fans and connoisseurs of the author’s song. The lines of his poems put on music sounded in student groups, at concerts, rallies and among friends. Fame was predicted by the author Alexander Galich and Vladimir Vysotsky.
Childhood and youth
The future poet and author of numerous songs was born in Sverdlovsk in 1938, on June 7. The family belonged to people of art. Father is an opera singer, soloist of the Sverdlovsk and Kuibyshev theaters. Mom graduated from the choreographic school. Vaganova in Leningrad and was a dancer.
Creativity and music accompanied Sasha from birth. While still young, he could remember any melody he heard and learned almost all the parts performed by his father. At the age of 10, as part of the boys' choir, he first performed at the theater on a large stage.
Sasha decided to master playing the guitar on his own. Thus began the creative biography of the future musician and poet. His grandmother gave him a guitar, he quickly mastered it and soon became a member of the school orchestra. Dolsky later learned to play the saxophone, banjo and double bass, but this was already in his student days, where he became a member of the instrumental ensemble.
Alexander wrote his first poems in the 3rd grade, and soon his own author’s songs appeared. An interesting story happened with his composition “A girl cried, tears can’t stop”, which quickly spread throughout the country, but nobody knew anything about the author of music and poetry, so they began to call the song folk.
Creative way
Dolsky did not immediately follow the path of creativity. At first he worked as an ordinary locksmith in one of the Ural plants and at the same time participated in performances by the jazz music orchestra.
Alexander received his higher education at the Polytechnic Institute in Sverdlovsk, but did not give up his music classes. At the same time, he enters the evening department of a music school, where he begins to learn to play the guitar professionally. At one of the student’s concerts, the young man was noticed by the famous guitarist Lev Alekseevich Voinov, who offered to deal with Dolsky individually. It was he who instilled in Alexander a love of classics. Dolsky even dedicated one of his songs to his teacher.
Dolsky was going to continue his musical studies at the conservatory, but Voinov dissuaded him from entering the university, saying that he was able to learn more on his own and his interests should not be limited only to playing the guitar.
After graduating from the Polytechnic Institute, Alexander worked as an engineer for several years, then entered graduate school and became a teacher in one of the institute's departments. His scientific career progressed quite quickly and he was predicted a great future in science. But his innovative ideas were perceived negatively in the scientific environment of the institute. Perhaps this was the reason for his departure from this field of activity.
Dolsky’s creative activity continued both during his studies and after graduation. He wrote poems and songs that were performed at numerous student events and published in local publications. In addition, he demonstrated virtuosity in playing the guitar, performing the works of great classics in his performances in front of students. In the 1960s, Alexander took part in one of the first competitions of young pop artists, where he received a diploma.
Alexander begins to collaborate with many theaters. He composes songs and musical compositions for performances. He also wrote music for popular science films about the nature and beauty of the Ural cities filmed by the Sverdlovsk film studio. His songs became recognizable, thanks to a special combination of poems and music, forcing listeners to immerse themselves in bright memories with a touch of sadness.
Dolsky is increasingly immersed in the study of versification, re-reading the works of the great classics, discovering for himself all the new nuances of their work. In addition, he begins to learn new musical techniques and is engaged in the theory of composition.
His active trips with concerts in the cities of the former Union begin in 1966. At the same time, Dolsky was invited to speak first on Sverdlovsk, and then on the All-Union Radio and Television.
Dolsky moved to Leningrad in 1974. There he continues his work in one of the research institutes, where he is engaged in scientific research, but at the same time Dolsky participates in all kinds of contests, festivals and concentrates of the author’s song. He devotes all his free time to the creative search, writing new poems and songs.
In the end, his amateur career in music came to an end, and he decides to start creating creativity professionally. Far from the last role in his decision was played by Arkady Isaakovich Raikin. He attended one of the pop artists contests, where Dolsky was among the participants. It was he who, in one of his conversations with Alexander, said that it was time to seriously think about his life and finally make a decision. Then Dolsky became the winner of the competition and took second place, which was a unique event for the artist’s songwriter, because bards were not very appreciated at such events. The last doubts about the choice of a musician were again finally dispelled by A.I. Raikin, inviting him to the troupe of the Leningrad Theater of Miniatures.
From that moment, Alexander Dolsky became a professional theater actor, author of numerous songs released on records, and then on tapes and discs. He composes music for films and writes songs to the verses of classics. The publishing house published several poetry collections and prose by the author.
For Dolsky’s huge contribution to Russian culture, he is awarded the title of Honored Artist of Russia. This happened in 1989. In addition, the author is awarded the State Prize for Literature. B. Okudzhava in 2002.
