The title of People's Artist of the Soviet Union was awarded for great merits in literature, music and other forms of art. Jan Abramovich Frenkel, composer and musician, singer and arranger, received this title already in adulthood.
Hard childhood
The future composer was born on November 21, 1920 in an ordinary Jewish family. Parents lived in the city of Kiev. My father worked as a hairdresser. Mother was engaged in housework. A boy from young nails was prepared for adulthood. Taught hairdressing and playing the violin. The father was engaged in training, who himself played well on this instrument. “He who pities his rod does not love his son, ” the Bible says. They loved Yan and slap for fake chords.
When the time came, Jan was sent to school. He studied well, but he devoted most of his time to music. After graduation, Frenkel listened to well-known musical teachers in Kiev. Then they recommended to go to the conservatory. In 1938, he became a student at this institution. The war did not allow the young man to complete higher education. Frenkel achieved direction in the Orenburg anti-aircraft school. In 1942, the regiment was sent to the front. After some time, the fighter was seriously injured. After extraction, he no longer returned to the combat unit, since he received a disability, and he was enrolled in the front-line ensemble.
Thin spikelet
Together with the ensemble, Jan Abramovich reached Berlin, where he played the accordion in a winning concert on the steps of the defeated Reichstag. After the victory, Jan Frenkel settled in Moscow. He managed to settle in a small room where he huddled with his wife and daughter. It also housed the piano, which occupied half of the usable area. In the postwar years, everyone was having a hard time. In order to somehow improve his financial situation, the composer played in restaurants in the evenings, taught at a music school, and at the same time, composed music.
Over time, Frenkel established creative contacts with famous Soviet poets. On the radio, songs began to be performed on the verses of Konstantin Vanshenkin, Robert Rozhdestvensky, Mikhail Tanich, Inna Goff. The real hits were “What can I tell you about Sakhalin”, “Waltz of parting”, “Kalina red”. This list goes on and on. A special place in the work of Jan Frenkel is occupied by the song "Russian Field", to the words of Inna Goff. We are all Russian, all who live in a harsh climate and preserve their human appearance.
