Ilya Alekseevich Shatrov (April 1, 1879 (or 1885) - May 2, 1952) was a Russian military musician, conductor and composer, known for composing the waltz

On the Hills of Manchuria Russo-Japanese War "On the Hills of Manchuria" (russian: На сопках Маньчжурии, translit=, links=no) is a waltz composed in 1906 by Ilya Alekseevich Shatrov. The original and orchestral arrangement is written in E-flat minor whi ...

in 1906, recounting his experiences at the

Battle of Mukden The , one of the largest land battles to be fought before World War I and the last and the most decisive major land battle of the Russo-Japanese War, was fought from 20 February to 10 March 1905 between Japan and Russia near Mukden ...

during the

Russo-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War ( ja, 日露戦争, Nichiro sensō, Japanese-Russian War; russian: Ру́сско-япóнская войнá, Rússko-yapónskaya voyná) was fought between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire during 1904 and 1 ...

, which he dedicated to one of his comrades fallen at the battle.

Biography

Shatrov was born in Zemlyansk, Semilukskiy,

Voronezh Oblast Voronezh Oblast (russian: Воронежская область, Voronezhskaya oblast) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the city of Voronezh. Its population was 2,308,792 as of the 2021 Census. Geography V ...

, Russia on 1 April 1879 to Aleksej Mihajlovich Shatrov, a retired non-commissioned officer of the Lithuanian Life Guards Infantry Regiment of the

Russian Imperial Guard The Russian Imperial Guard, officially known as the Leib Guard (russian: Лейб-гвардия ''Leyb-gvardiya'', from German ''Leib'' "body"; cf. Life Guards / Bodyguard) were military units serving as personal guards of the Emperor of Rus ...

. In 1905, Shatrov became the bandmaster of the Mokshansky Regimental Orchestra and served in the

Russo-Japanese war The Russo-Japanese War ( ja, 日露戦争, Nichiro sensō, Japanese-Russian War; russian: Ру́сско-япóнская войнá, Rússko-yapónskaya voyná) was fought between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire during 1904 and 1 ...

. In February 1905, the 214th Reserve Mokshan Infantry Regiment took part in the Battle of Mukden and Liaoyang. In one of the battles the regiment was surrounded by the Japanese and was constantly attacked by the enemy. At a critical moment, when the ammunition was already spent, the regiment commander Colonel Pavel Pobyvanets gave the order: "The banner and the orchestra will go ahead!" Kapellmeister Shatrov led the orchestra to the parapet of the trenches, gave the order to play a battle march and led the orchestra ahead of the regiment's banner. Encouraged soldiers rushed into the bayonet attack. During the battle, the regiment, with the music of the orchestra, continuously attacked the Japanese and, in the end, broke through the encirclement. In the course of the battle the regiment commander perished, and of the original 4000 members of the regiment only 700 people, including 7 musicians of the orchestra, were left alive. For this feat, all the survivor musicians of the orchestra were awarded with crosses of St. George, Shatrov - an officer order of Saint Stanislav 3rd class with swords (the second such awarding of the conductors), and the orchestra was awarded silver pipes. He died in Tambov on 2 May 1952. He was buried at Vozdvizhensky Cemetery.

Works

* It's Raining

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Shatrov, Ilya Russian composers Russian male composers Soviet composers Soviet male composers Russian military musicians Military personnel of the Russian Empire Soviet Army officers 20th-century Russian male musicians Russian people of the Russo-Japanese War