Vladimir Yakovlevich Lazarev - writer, poet, publicist, member of the Union of Writers of the USSR since 1963. He is the author of many works of literature. More than 70 songs popular on the stage during the Soviet era are written on his poems. The poet wrote the words for the march "Farewell of the Slav" to the music of Vasily Agapkin.
Biography
Vladimir Yakovlevich Lazarev (real surname Lazarev – Mildon) was born on January 26, 1936 in Kharkov. His father was Yakov Lazarevich Mildon, a native of Odessa.
The childhood and youth of Vladimir Lazarev passed in Tula. In this city, he graduated from high school and the Tula Mechanical Institute.
The boy's poetic talent manifested itself from childhood. He wrote poetry when he was in school and college. Vladimir received his first literary award in 1956 as a student. His poem "Youth" was noted at the International Competition in Prague and translated into many foreign languages.
After graduation, he worked at the factory, but also continued to write.
In 1959, the second collection of poems by V. Lazarev was released, which was called "Handshake."
The poet wrote poems about his beloved land, youth, his friends.
In March 1963, Vladimir Lazarev was admitted to the Union of Writers of the USSR.
In 1965 he entered the Literary Institute named after A.M. Gorky, where he studied at the highest literary courses.
Since 1967, Vladimir Yakovlevich lived in Moscow. He worked as a literary critic, editor, and publicist in the journal Our Heritage. This time is typical for Lazarev with a creative upsurge. His books are published in prose and poetry. He writes articles on pressing socio-political issues.
In 1982, the anthology "Poetry of Russian villages" was published, composed by V.Ya. Lazarev. It featured both recognized poets and little-known talented authors.
In the eighties of the last century, he worked on the compilation of the Moscow collections "Day of Poetry. 1981" and "Day of Poetry. 1986."
When the period of perestroika began in the country, Lazarev spoke at literary meetings and forums. He talked about rampant immoral songs, destroying the souls of people. Lazarev exposed members of the apparatus of the Central Committee of the CPSU, who "dragged" their relatives into the Writers' Union. He spoke openly about songwriters who wrote low-grade lyrics for a lot of money. Among the writers appeared the so-called "literary slaves." They wrote books for senior officials. So the memories of L.I. Brezhnev, for which the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee received the highest literary prize of the country.
The atmosphere that prevailed in the Writers' Union, became every day more and more unbearable for the poet. He was not allowed to speak at meetings. On Lazarev, persecution began for criticizing the existing system. They tried to expel him from the Writers' Union, but he escaped with a reprimand.
In August 1999, Vladimir Yakovlevich emigrated from Russia to the United States of America.
The writer currently lives in Northern California. His house is located in the small town of Mountain View in the center of Silicon Valley. Nearby are American companies Google, Microsoft.
Creation
The poet himself claimed that he did not specifically compose songs. Famous composers wrote songs to his poems: Mark Fradkin, Vladimir Migulya, Evgeny Doga, Jan Frenkel, Arno Babadzhanyan and many others.
Lyric songs by Vladimir Lazarev were performed by the most popular artists of the Soviet stage. "How not to love this land, " sang Lyudmila Zykina, "Night Talk" - Anna German, "Do not cool your heart, son" - Yuri Bogatikov, "My White City" was performed by Sofia Rotaru.
Once cosmonaut Vitaly Sevastyanov told the poet that during a space flight, together with Peter Klimuk, he missed the earth. He remembered how the rain rustled, how the grass smells after rain. Vladimir Lazarev wrote the song "I dreamed the sound of rain" to the music of Eugene Doga.
In 1977, this song was performed on the Blue Flame, where astronauts were present. Her singer Nadezhda Chepraga sang. The song "Rain Noise" has become a kind of anthem for astronauts.
In 1999, Vladimir Lazarev became a laureate of the Alexey Fatyanov All-Russian Prize "Nightingales, Nightingales." At this poetry and song festival, which is held annually in the city of Vyazniki, Vladimir Region, Vladimir Lazarev was awarded a memorable diploma for his contribution to the development of song art.
In 2012, the poems of Vladimir Lazarev, written to the music of Vasily Agapkin "Farewell of the Slav", were published in the United States. They were published in the Russian Life newspaper, which is published in San Francisco in Russian.
Before writing poetry for the legendary march, the poet did a great job. Vladimir Yakovlevich met with friends and contemporaries of Vasily Agapkin, studied the history of this march. He managed to find out interesting facts.
To the sounds of "Farewell of the Slav" soldiers of the White Guard marched during the Civil War. The Soviet government imposed an unofficial ban on the march.
Vasily Ivanovich Agapkin was the chief conductor at the parade, which took place in Moscow on Red Square on November 7, 1941. But the march in this parade did not sound.
In 1945, at the main Victory Parade, Vasily Agapkin took part in the conductors. There, his march was not performed either.
It sounded only in 1957 in the feature film “Cranes Are Flying, ” thanks to film director Mikhail Kalatozov.
In Moscow, on the territory of the Belorussky railway station, a monument to the march "Farewell of the Slav" was erected.
In 2001, Vladimir Lazarev received the second prize of the New York edition of the New Journal for the best prose in the transition of centuries.
In 2006, in New York, a book of his poems and poems "On the Flow of Times" was published.
In 2013, San Francisco released a collection of songs called “Hear My Tune.” Vladimir Lazarev wrote it together with musician Mikhail Margulis.
