The ''Echelon Song'' (russian: Эшелонная
есня}), also known as ''Song for Voroshilov'' () or ''Battle of the Red Guards'' (), is a Russian song written in 1933 by
A. V. Alexandrov (music) and Osip Kolychev (lyrics), dedicated to
Kliment Voroshilov
Kliment Yefremovich Voroshilov (, uk, Климент Охрімович Ворошилов, ''Klyment Okhrimovyč Vorošylov''), popularly known as Klim Voroshilov (russian: link=no, Клим Вороши́лов, ''Klim Vorošilov''; 4 Februa ...
.
It is one of a number of popular Soviet songs which reminiscence about the
Russian Civil War
{{Infobox military conflict
, conflict = Russian Civil War
, partof = the Russian Revolution and the aftermath of World War I
, image =
, caption = Clockwise from top left:
{{flatlist,
*Soldiers ...
era.
This particular song is about the "railway warfare" (in Russian called "
echelon warfare"
[
"a special kind of warfare along railway lines used at the beginning of the Russian Civil War. ..'Echelon warfare' was used from December 1917 until Summer 1918 during the liquidation of the main counter-revolutionary pockets along the Don, in Belarus and in the Ukraine." (особый вид боевых действий вдоль ж.-д. магистралей, применявшийся в начале Гражданской войны в России. ..«Э. в.» велась с декабря 1917 до лета 1918 во время ликвидации основных очагов внутренней контрреволюции на Дону, в Белоруссии и на Украине.]
Эшелонная война
in: Great Soviet Encyclopedia
The ''Great Soviet Encyclopedia'' (GSE; ) is one of the largest Russian-language encyclopedias, published in the Soviet Union from 1926 to 1990. After 2002, the encyclopedia's data was partially included into the later ''Bolshaya rossiyskaya e ...
, Moscow, 1969—1978.) during the
Battle for Tsaritsyn of 1918 (between 1925 and 1961, Tsaritsyn was known as
Stalingrad and since 1962 as
Volgograd
Volgograd ( rus, Волгогра́д, a=ru-Volgograd.ogg, p=vəɫɡɐˈɡrat), formerly Tsaritsyn (russian: Цари́цын, Tsarítsyn, label=none; ) (1589–1925), and Stalingrad (russian: Сталингра́д, Stalingrád, label=none; ) ...
), where (according to official Soviet historiography) Voroshilov and
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretar ...
became friends. The music of the song is composed so as to recall a
steam locomotive, beginning in an
accelerando
''Accelerando'' is a 2005 science fiction novel consisting of a series of interconnected short stories written by British author Charles Stross. As well as normal hardback and paperback editions, it was released as a free e-book under the CC ...
and
crescendo
In music, the dynamics of a piece is the variation in loudness between notes or phrases. Dynamics are indicated by specific musical notation, often in some detail. However, dynamics markings still require interpretation by the performer dependin ...
, and ending in a decrescendo.
The song has been used for the closing credits of the 2016 film ''
Hail, Caesar!
''Hail, Caesar!'' is a 2016 period mystery musical black comedy film written, produced, edited and directed by the brothers Joel and Ethan Coen. An American-British-Japanese co-production, the film stars Josh Brolin, George Clooney, Alden Ehre ...
''
References
*Yuriy Aleksandrovich Aleksandrov (ed.), ''А. Александров: Нотобиблиографический справочник'', Moscow, 1980.
External links
1939 performanceat sovmusic.ru
{{authority control
Russian military songs
Soviet songs
1933 songs