"The Sacred War" ( rus, Свяще́нная война́, links=1, r=Svyashchénnaya voyná, p=svʲɪˈɕːenːəjə vɐjˈna), also known as "Arise, Great Country!" ( rus, Встава́й, страна́ огро́мная!, r=Vstaváy straná ogrómnaya!, p=fstɐˈvaj strɐˈna ɐˈɡromnəjə) is one of the most famous

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 ...

songs of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. The music is by Alexander Alexandrov, founder of the

Alexandrov Ensemble The Alexandrov Ensemble ( rus, Ансамбль Александрова, r=Ansambl' Aleksandrova; commonly known as the Red Army Choir in the West) is an official army choir of the Russian armed forces. Founded during the Soviet era, the en ...

and the musical composer of the

State Anthem of the Soviet Union The "State Anthem of the Soviet Union" was the national anthem of the Soviet Union and the regional anthem of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic from 1944 to 1991, replacing "The Internationale". Its original lyrics were written b ...

. The lyrics are by

Vasily Lebedev-Kumach Vasily Ivanovich Lebedev-Kumach () Moscow, — 20 February 1949) was a Soviet poet and lyricist. Biography Vasily was born August 5, 1898 to a shoe maker. He went on to work in the printing department of the Revolutionary Military Counci ...

. The circumstances of the composition and first performance of the song were hurried; the lyrics were published on 24 June 1941, and Alexandrov immediately wrote the music for them, writing the notes out on a blackboard for the singers to copy manually. The first performance was on 26 June at

Belorussky Railway Station Belorussky railway terminal (russian: Белору́сский вокза́л, ) is a passenger terminal at the ''Moscow–Passenger–Smolenskaya'' railway station (russian: Москва́-Пассажирская-Смоле́нская, also k ...

, where according to eyewitnesses it was sung five times in succession. In the 1990s Russian media published the allegation that the lyrics had been plagiarized by Lebedev-Kumach, and that they were indeed written during the First World War by Aleksandr Bode (russian: Александр Адольфович Боде, 1865–1939). These claims were taken to court, and the newspaper ''

Nezavisimaya Gazeta ''Nezavisimaya Gazeta'' ( rus, Независимая газета, p=nʲɪzɐˈvʲisʲɪməjə ɡɐˈzʲetə, t=Independent Newspaper) is a Russian daily newspaper. History and profile ''Nezavisimaya Gazeta'' was first published on 21 December ...

'' in June 2000 was forced to publish a retraction of the claim. Prof. Evgeniy Levashev (2000) still upheld doubts on the authorship, and on the reasonableness of the court's decision.Е. М. Левашев. Судьба песни // Архив наследия — 2000 / Сост. и науч. ред. Плужников В. И.; РАН. Российский Научно-исследовательский институт культурного и природного наследия им. Д. С. Лихачёва. — М.: Институт Наследия, 2001, 305–330.
online version
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Lyrics

References

External links

* Song "The Sacred War" performed by the chorus of the

People's Liberation Army The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the principal military force of the People's Republic of China and the armed wing of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The PLA consists of five service branches: the Ground Force, Navy, Air Force, ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

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Lyrics
an
recording1942 recording
(sovmusic.ru)
German lyrics by Hermlin
(erinnerungsort.de) * The Sacred War by Russia Insight on YouTube link : https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Il3FJMf4mSE {{DEFAULTSORT:Sacred War, The Russian military marches Songs of World War II Russian patriotic songs Anti-fascist music Soviet songs Russian military songs 1941 songs