Vasily Ivanovich Agapkin (russian: Васи́лий Ива́нович Ага́пкин; 3 February 1884 – 29 October 1964) was a

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 ...

and

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

military orchestra conductor, composer, and author of the well-known

march March is the third month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. It is the second of seven months to have a length of 31 days. In the Northern Hemisphere, the meteorological beginning of spring occurs on the first day of March ...

Farewell of Slavianka "Farewell of Slavianka" (russian: Прощание славянки, Proščanije slavjanki) is a Russian patriotic march, written by the composer Vasily Agapkin in honour of Slavic women accompanying their husbands in the First Balkan War. Th ...

" (composed in 1912). Agapkin was born in

Ryazan Governorate Ryazan Governorate (russian: link=no, Рязанская губерния, ''Ryazanskaya guberniya'', Government of Ryazan) was an administrative division (a '' guberniya'') of the Russian Empire and Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic, wh ...

in 1884. From 1912 to 1915, he studied at the

Tambov Tambov (, ; rus, Тамбов, p=tɐmˈbof) is a city and the administrative center of Tambov Oblast, central Russia, at the confluence of the Tsna and Studenets Rivers, about south-southeast of Moscow. Population: 280,161 ( 2010 Census); 29 ...

musical school, where he composed the popular Russian patriotic march, ''

'', he later served in the army. After the victory of the

October Revolution The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key mome ...

, Vasily Agapkin voluntarily entered 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, afte ...

in 1918 and organized a brass band in the 1st Red Hussar Regiment. In 1920, Agapkin returned to

directed the music studio and the orchestra of the

GPU A graphics processing unit (GPU) is a specialized electronic circuit designed to manipulate and alter memory to accelerate the creation of images in a frame buffer intended for output to a display device. GPUs are used in embedded systems, mobi ...

troops. On August 5, 1922, Agapkin and his orchestra gave a farewell concert in Tambov, after which they moved to Moscow. In January 1924, the Agapkin Orchestra took part in the funeral ceremony during the funeral of

Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 1 ...

. In 1928, Agapkin organized a brass band of street children; which for many of them was the beginning of a professional career as a musician. In the 1930s, he headed the orchestra of the Higher School of the

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (russian: Наро́дный комиссариа́т вну́тренних дел, Naródnyy komissariát vnútrennikh del, ), abbreviated NKVD ( ), was the interior ministry of the Soviet Union. ...

of the USSR, with which he made a number of recordings. He was notably the bandmaster for the

Band of the Dzerzhinsky Division The Band of the Separate Operational Purpose Division () also known by its original name, the Band of the Dzerzhinsky Division, is a military band of the National Guard Forces Command of the Rosgvardia. It is part of the Military Band Service of t ...

of the

. Agapkin led the combined

military bands A military band is a group of personnel that performs musical duties for military functions, usually for the armed forces. A typical military band consists mostly of wind and percussion instruments. The conductor of a band commonly bears the tit ...

during the famous

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 ...

October Revolution Parade 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 millio ...

on 7 November 1941. "Farewell of Slavianka" was one of the four marches that were played in that Parade, and in honor of his role there it has been played as the final march in

Victory Day Parades ukr, Парад Перемоги be, Парад Перамогі , nickname = Victory Parades , observedby = Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, some former Soviet countries , duration = 1 day , frequency = annual , scheduling = same d ...

all over Russia. His music has appeared in many films including '' The Cranes Are Flying'' (1957), and ''

72 Meters ''72 Meters'' (russian: 72 метра) is a 2004 Russian disaster film directed by Vladimir Khotinenko based on the short stories from the collection of stories of the same name by Alexander Pokrovsky. Synopsis Officers of the Russian Navy, lie ...

'' (2004).

Works

* "

" - march * "Magic Dream" - waltz * "Musician's Love" - waltz (applies to unpublished) * "Blue Night" - waltz * "Orphan" - waltz * "Night over Moscow" - waltz * "Daughter of the Street" - instrumental piece * "On the Shore of the Black Sea" - instrumental piece * "A marching march on the themes of Mongolian folk songs" * "March to motives from the opera" Carmen " * "March to motives from the opera" Faust "" * "March on the themes of revolutionary songs" * Farewell March (unpublished) * "Waltz" (refers to unpublished) * "Merry Rest" - polka * "DneproGES" - instrumental play * "Wounds of the Mind" - instrumental piece * "Cavalry March" * "Katenka" - polka * "Katya, Katyusha" - instrumental piece * "Chinese Serenade" - instrumental piece * "Krakowiak" - dance * "Blacksmiths" - instrumental piece * "Lieutenant" ("Lieutenant") - march * "Favorite March" - song * "Lucins Eyes" - instrumental piece * "Mazurka" - dance * "My Memories" - Potpourri * "My Fantasy" - instrumental piece * "Neapolitan Nights" - instrumental piece * "Pa d'espan" - dance * "Pad de grasse" - dance * "Padecatre" - dance * "Flight into the Stratosphere" - instrumental play * "Polka" - dance * "Potpourri of Songs and Dances" - Potpourri * "Hello VKP" - instrumental piece * "Early morning" - waltz * "Dawn over Moscow" - waltz * "Tales" - waltz * "Old Waltz" - instrumental piece * "Groan of Warsaw" - waltz * "Magic tricks are simple (jazz piece)" - instrumental piece

References

1884 births 1964 deaths People from Mikhaylovsky District, Ryazan Oblast People from Mikhaylovsky Uyezd Russian male composers Soviet male composers Soviet conductors (music) 20th-century Russian conductors (music) Russian male conductors (music) 20th-century Russian male musicians Russian military musicians Soviet military personnel of the Russian Civil War Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner Burials at Vagankovo Cemetery {{Russia-composer-stub