Major General Semyon Alexanderovich Tchernetsky (

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

:Семё́н Алекса́ндрович Черне́цкий) was a Ukrainian-born, Russian and Soviet military conductor. He is credited as the founder of modern

Russian military bands Russian military bands fall under the jurisdiction of the Military Band Service of the Armed Forces of Russia, which is the official music service for the Russian Armed Forces, and led by the Senior Director of Music, a billet of an officer wit ...

. He served as the Senior Director of the Central Military Band of the People's Commissariat of National Defense of the USSR from 1924 to 1950.

Early life and family

Tchernetsky was born on October 24, 1881 in

Odessa Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The city is also the administrativ ...

to a musical family. He was born Solomon Isaevich Tchernetsky, a

Jewish name The Jewish name has historically varied, encompassing throughout the centuries several different traditions. This article looks at the onomastics practices of the Jewish people, that is, the history of the origin and forms of proper names. His ...

which he

russified Russification (russian: русификация, rusifikatsiya), or Russianization, is a form of cultural assimilation in which non-Russians, whether involuntarily or voluntarily, give up their culture and language in favor of the Russian cultur ...

in 1917 to Semyon Alexanderovich. His father, Isai Alexandrovich Shtember was a violinist and violin teacher. Hus mother Dora Isaevna Chernetskaya was a piano teacher. His cousin Lev would later become the bandmaster of the

8th Don Cossack Regiment 8 (eight) is the natural number following 7 and preceding 9. In mathematics 8 is: * a composite number, its proper divisors being , , and . It is twice 4 or four times 2. * a power of two, being 2 (two cubed), and is the first number of t ...

of the 8th Cavalry Division based at Odessa.

Early musical career

From 1892-1893, Tchernetsky studied the trombone in the orchestra of the 24th Dragoon Lubny Regiment in Kishinev,

Bessarabia Governorate The Bessarabia Governorate (, ) was a part of the Russian Empire from 1812 to 1917. Initially known as Bessarabia Oblast (Бессарабская область, ''Bessarabskaya oblast'') as well as, following 1871, a governorate, it included ...

(now Chisinau, Moldova), where his uncle Issac was the conductor. In 1900, due to the difficult financial situation of the family, after the death of his father and without graduating from college, he was sent to Kishinev to live with Issac. In Kishinev, he graduated from the music classes of the local branch of the Imperial Russian Musical Society and decided to devote himself to military music. At first he tried his hand as an assistant to his uncle, and in 1903 he himself became bandmaster of the 14th Artillery Brigade (part of the 15th Infantry Division of the

Imperial Russian Army The Imperial Russian Army (russian: Ру́сская импера́торская а́рмия, tr. ) was the armed land force of the Russian Empire, active from around 1721 to the Russian Revolution of 1917. In the early 1850s, the Russian Ar ...

). In the same year, during the

Kishinev pogrom The Kishinev pogrom or Kishinev massacre was an anti-Jewish riot that took place in Kishinev (modern Chișinău, Moldova), then the capital of the Bessarabia Governorate in the Russian Empire, on . A second pogrom erupted in the city in Octob ...

, he participated in the organization of self-defense, and as a result was seriously wounded and lost his left eye. In 1911 he entered the

St. Petersburg Conservatory The N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov Saint Petersburg State Conservatory (russian: Санкт-Петербургская государственная консерватория имени Н. А. Римского-Корсакова) (formerly known as th ...

, which he graduated in 1917.

Leadership of Red Army bands

In 1918, Chernetsky joined the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after ...

and was appointed as the head of the military bands of the Petrograd military district. He quickly rose through the ranks, eventually being appointed as the director of the Military Band of the Workers and Peasants Red Army in 1924. After more than 10 years in this position, he formed the Central Military Band of the People's Commissariat of National Defense, which later became the first military band to be formed in modern Russia. In 1935, together with professor

Heinrich Neuhaus Heinrich Gustav Neuhaus ( pl, Henryk (Harry) Neuhaus, russian: Ге́нрих Густа́вович Нейга́уз, Genrikh Gustavovič Nejgauz, 10 October 1964) was a Russian-born pianist and teacher of German and Polish extraction. Part of ...

at the Moscow Conservatory, he created the ''Military Faculty of the

Moscow State Conservatory The Moscow Conservatory, also officially Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory (russian: Московская государственная консерватория им. П. И. Чайковского, link=no) is a musical educational inst ...

'', where music students get a curriculum based on the conducting and combat repertoire. On 1 August 1937, Cherneysky founded the

Moscow Military Music College The Valery Khalilov Moscow Suvorov Military Music College is one of the leading military music institutions in Russia. It is a separate branch of the Suvorov Military Schools in Russia, and the oldest of them all (opened 1937). History On Augu ...

as a means of building and enhancing the knowledge of potential military musicians in the Red Army. On June 24, 1945, Tchernetsky led the massed bands during the

Moscow Victory Parade of 1945 The Moscow Victory Parade of 1945 ( rus, Парад Победы, r= Parad Pobedy) also known as the Parade of Victors ( rus, Парад победителей, r= Parad pobediteley) was a victory parade held by the Soviet Armed Forces (with the C ...

Red Square Red Square ( rus, Красная площадь, Krasnaya ploshchad', ˈkrasnəjə ˈploɕːətʲ) is one of the oldest and largest squares in Moscow, the capital of Russia. Owing to its historical significance and the adjacent historical build ...

Later life

In 1946, he suffered from a paralysis, which resulted in his retirement from active service after 25 years in the armed forces. Tchernetsky died on April 13, 1950 in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

. He is buried at

Novodevichy Cemetery Novodevichy Cemetery ( rus, Новоде́вичье кла́дбище, Novodevichye kladbishche) is a cemetery in Moscow. It lies next to the southern wall of the 16th-century Novodevichy Convent, which is the city's third most popular tourist ...

Legacy

Tchernetsky is highly regarded in the Russian military music sphere and one of the most outstanding Russian military composers in the 20th century. Depending on sources, he wrote between 100-200 marches, patriotic songs and other works in his lifetime. In addition to military marches, he also wrote some socio-political ones such as ''Glory to the Motherland'', ''Lenin's Call'' and the ''March of Moscow Pioneers''. Many of his military marches are the most famous and common ones used by the Russian Military Band Service, some of which have been used

Moscow Victory Day Parade The Moscow Victory Day Parade ( rus, Парад Победы в Москве, r= Parad Pobedy v Moskve) refers to the annual military parade of the Russian Armed Forces on Moscow's Red Square on May 9 during the Victory Day celebrations. The ...

for decades.

Compositions

Marches *''Lenin's Call (1924-1936) *''Industrial March'' (1932) *''GTO'' (1933) *''Birobidzhan March'' (1934) *''Slow March of Military Academies of RKKA'' (1936) *''Slow March'' (1936) *''Slow March of Red Army'' (1936) *''Moscow Pioneers March'' (1936) *''Cossack March'' (1936) *''Georgian March'' (1936) *''Red Banner Komsomol March'' (1936) *''Ukrainian March No. 1'' (1936) *''Ukrainian March No. 2'' (1936) *''Ukrainian March No. 3'' (1936 or 1938) *''Georgian Column March'' (1937) *''Youth March'' (1937) *'' Cavalry Trot'' (1938) *''Red Banner Ensemble'' (1937) *''March "Our Homeland'' (1938) *''March "Under the Flag of the People's Commissar"'' (1938) *''Friendship of the peoples of the USSR'' (1939) *''Parade March'' (1940) *''Solemn March (in honor of 20th anniversary of the Russian Cavalry Corps) *''Moldavian March'' (1940) *''Bessarabian March'' (1940) *''Anatoly Krokhalev'' (1940) *''Victory Triumph'' (1940) *''Slow March of the Officer Schools'' (1941) *''March of the 1st Rifle Guards Division'' (1941) *''March "Victory is Behind Us"'' (1941) *''Slow March of the First Guards Cavalry Corps'' (1942) *'' Slow March of the Second Guards Cavalry Corps'' (1942) *''Slow March of the Third Guards Cavalry Corps'' (1942) *''March of the 8th Guards Motor Rifle "''Panfilov''" Division'' (1942)General Semyon Tchernetsky.
March of the 8th Guards Panfilov Division
.'' Composed 1945. *''Slavic March'' (1942) *''Fanfare March of Guard Divisions'' (1942) *''March of the First Guards Rifle Division'' (1942) *''For a Just Cause'' (1942) *''Hero of Stalingrad'' (1943) *''Hero of Azerbaijan'' (1943) *'' Jubilee Slow March "25 Years of the Red Army"'' (1943) *''March of the Tankists'' (1943) *''March of the Guards Mortarmen'' (1943) *''March of the Leningrad Guards Rifle Divisions'' (1944) *''Native Donbass'' (1944) *''March of the 53rd Rifle Guards Division'' (1944) *''Salute to Moscow'' (1944) *''Victory March'' (fanfare) (1944) *''The Red Army's Entry into Bucharest'' (1944) *''The Red Army's Entry into Budapest'' (1945) *''Victory Holiday March'' (1946) *''Russian March'' (1945) *''Slow March of the Artillery March'' (1946) *''Slow March of the Tankists'' (1946) *''March of the Artillery'' (1946) *''March of Guards Artillery'' (1946)

Awards

Honored Artist of the RSFSR Honored Artist of the RSFSR (, ''Zasluzhenny artist RSFSR'') was an honorary title granted to Soviet artists, including theatre and film directors, choreographers, music performers, and orchestra conductors, who had outstanding achievements in the ...

(1936) *

Stalin Prize Stalin Prize may refer to: * The State Stalin Prize in science and engineering and in arts, awarded 1941 to 1954, later known as the USSR State Prize The USSR State Prize (russian: links=no, Государственная премия СССР, ...

(1946) *

Order of Lenin The Order of Lenin (russian: Орден Ленина, Orden Lenina, ), named after the leader of the Russian October Revolution, was established by the Central Executive Committee on April 6, 1930. The order was the highest civilian decoration b ...

Order of the Red Banner The Order of the Red Banner (russian: Орден Красного Знамени, Orden Krasnogo Znameni) was the first Soviet military decoration. The Order was established on 16 September 1918, during the Russian Civil War by decree of th ...

Order of the Patriotic War The Order of the Patriotic War (russian: Орден Отечественной войны, Orden Otechestvennoy voiny) is a Soviet military decoration that was awarded to all soldiers in the Soviet armed forces, security troops, and to partisan ...

Order of the Red Star The Order of the Red Star (russian: Орден Красной Звезды, Orden Krasnoy Zvezdy) was a military decoration of the Soviet Union. It was established by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of 6 April 193 ...

* Medal "20 Years of the Red Army" (1938)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tchernetsky, Semyon 1881 births 1950 deaths Military music composers Russian military musicians Soviet composers Soviet male composers Soviet conductors (music) Soviet major generals 20th-century conductors (music) 20th-century Russian male musicians