The maestro wrote both hits and serious music. Photo: Mikhail Ozerski/RIA Novosti
The date is not round. But the teacher would have appreciated three units in a row. He loved the magic of numbers. Favorite – 4. So I met my last 4th wife on September 4th at 4 pm. And the date of death is a mystical coincidence: 04/04/04.
Not allowed at the premiere.
Nikita Bogoslovsky was born on May 22, 1913 in Saint Petersburg. In a noble family. His grandfather was chamberlain at the court of her Imperial Majesty. Among others, in the painting by Ilya Repin “The ceremonial meeting of the State Council on May 7, 1901 on the centenary of its foundation” more than 80 figures are represented.
Nikita composed her first waltz at the age of 8. A gift for the birthday of my friend Edith, daughter of the legendary singer Leonid Utesov. At the age of 15 he wrote the operetta “The Night Before Christmas.” But the problem is that the author was not allowed to attend the premiere at the Leningrad Musical Comedy Theater. “Boy, where are you going? Come to the children’s matinee on Sunday with your mother. One of the orchestra musicians, who recognized Nikita, came to the rescue and led him into the room.
Bogoslovsky became famous in 1938. When the whole country sang his song from the movie “Treasure Island”: “If a friend is hurt, a friend will bandage his hot wounds.” The time was hard, before the war, the song became prophetic. Then there were “Dark Night,” “The Beloved City Can Sleep Peacefully,” “Dark Mounds Sleep,” “Boats Full of Mullets,” “Oh, How Could I Live to See the Wedding,” “For Three Years I Dreamed of You,” and other successes.
In total, Nikita Vladimirovich wrote more than 300 songs, music for 58 films, fifty cartoons, 8 symphonies, 17 operettas and musical comedies, two musical dramas, the ballet “The Kingdom of Crooked Mirrors” and much more. He the only member of four (again four mystics!) Creative unions in the USSR: composers, filmmakers, theater workers, journalists. Author of the books “Deities and misery”, “Museum of the Muses”, “A thousand little things”, “Obvious but probable”, “Interesting cinema”, “Glinka’s testament”, “Notes on the brim of a hat and something more”, hundreds of humours, aphorisms, epigrams.
king of the draw
There were no masters of practical jokes like Bogoslovsky in the country, there are none, and it is unlikely that there will be any soon.
A good example. Everyone watched Eldar Riazanov’s New Year’s comedy “The Irony of Fate or Enjoy the Bath!” The plot is based on a real incident told by composer Nikita Bogoslovsky.
“At a birthday or wedding anniversary celebration, one of the guests coming from the bathhouse quickly got drunk and fell asleep,” Ryazanov recalls. – The unfortunate man was taken to the police station. After paying the driver, we were put into a common car. The now sober man, who did not understand anything, woke up in the upper berth of a train that had arrived in kyiv or Leningrad, went out to the station square and discovered that, in addition to a briefcase with a broom and fifteen kopecks, there were no had nothing against him. The poor man called Bogoslovsky and he helped him return to the capital.
The famous broadcaster Yuri Levitan, far from painting, after much persuasion on the part of the composer, doodled a house with smoke coming from the chimney. Bogoslovsky framed the drawing under glass and hung it in a visible place in his house. And he declared to all the guests that he was a true Levitan. They doubted it, referring to the great artist Isaac Levitan. There was a bet. The owner always won. He correctly named the author of the drawing!
Another story related to Levitan, told by Bogoslovsky:
“The writer Vitaly Gubarev had manners: if he calls you and makes you happy, I will come at night. And hang up; he didn’t care at all if I was free at night or if I was busy. I prepared for one of his visits: I went to Yuri Levitan and asked him to recite the text. And he called more guests for the evening. The guests arrived and Gubarev arrived. We were sitting, drinking, I pretended to turn on the radio, but in reality I turned on the recorder.
Levitan’s recognizable voice conveys: “In the field of drama, prize: Boris Andreevich Lavrenev – Stalin Prize of the first degree… Vitaly Georgievich Gubarev for the play “Pavlik Morozov” – Stalin Prize of the third degree….” Noise, noise, congratulations. Happy Gubarev runs to the store to buy champagne and fruit and the party continues. Someone suggested listening to Latest News again. I turn on the second movie. Levitan lists the names of the laureates and ends the speech with the words: “… To Vitaly Georgievich Gubarev for the work “Pavlik Morozov” – no …” (we chastely omit bad words. – Ed.).
Bogoslovsky can rightly be called one of the first national pranksters. As a teenager in Leningrad, he saw a subscriber in the telephone directory: Angelov Angelovich. He immediately dialed the number: “Damn Chertovich, can I?” They cursed him and hung him. Later he repeated the joke several more times. Half a century later, Nikita Vladimirovich arrived in St. Petersburg and, flipping through the directory, saw a familiar name. I couldn’t resist and called again: “Damn Chertovich, can I?” “Are you still alive, bastard?” – answered an old voice.
Before the war, Bogoslovsky and Mark Bernes lived in a kyiv hotel suite. The composer had to urgently travel to Moscow for several days for business purposes. When he returned to kyiv, the first thing he did was call the receptionist in his room in a feminine voice: “Oh, dear! I’m back, take off your clothes, I’ll come see you now.” It was then that the pale receptionist reported that Bernes had moved to a cheap room to save money and that the new Minister of the Interior of Ukraine, Ivan Serov, was staying in the suite. In the 1950s, at some official event, the composer apologized to the president of the KGB of the USSR, Serov, for that involuntary joke. “And I’ve been waiting so long!” – the general smiled.
Colleagues wondered why a person from the nobility, who had not joined the Komsomol or the party, constantly travels abroad and regularly visits Paris. Surely an intelligence agent! In addition, Bogoslovsky was a friend of Andropov’s deputy, KGB General Filipp Bobkov, who oversaw the creative intelligentsia. Nikita Vladimirovich did not deny the rumors. And even vice versa! Once at the Aragvi restaurant, several dozen composers gathered around the table. Bogoslovsky stood up and toasted. He then raised his head towards the ceiling fan: “Please bring me a pack of Kazbek and matches.” Colleagues laughed. But exactly one minute later the waiter brought cigarettes and matches. There is a dead silence at the table! In the USSR they believed that the KGB had wiretaps everywhere, and everyone decided: Bogoslovsky asked the security agents for “Kazbek” through a microphone embedded in the ceiling. But in fact, the composer agreed with the waiter in advance.
In the ’80s, people were fascinated by anomalies: flying saucers, Bigfoot. Bogoslovsky, using a breadcrumb and a plastic rosette from a candlestick, fabricated a photograph of a UFO supposedly taken in the Bulgarian city of Stara Zagora. And he sent it to the founder of Soviet ufology, astronomer Felix Siegel. He considered it genuine. In 1989, the composer admitted the deception in Science and Life magazine. But the photo appeared for a long time in various media outlets as proof of the existence of flying saucers.
A prank lover sent this photo of a “flying saucer” to ufologists. They believed it. Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Similar Bogoslovsky jokes can be listed for a long time. Not all of them ended well for the author. For example, during a tour of Donbass after the war, he introduced himself as the composer Sigismund Katz and performed all of his repertoire. When the real Katz came to perform at the House of Culture in the second part, as planned, and began to repeat from the stage what Bogoslovsky had already interpreted and told on his behalf, the audience was at first confused and then dismayed. He laughed until he gave up.
Then the prankster was expelled from the Union of Composers of the USSR for three months. But he was not discouraged and continued with his antics. He couldn’t do it any other way.
four wives
“For the first time I was seduced by a lady five years older,” the teacher recalls. – Conservatory student with a somewhat unusual profession – he played the tuba. He was 16 years old. I felt like a man and started several novels quite randomly. One of them was very long: with an extremely intelligent and, strangely, beautiful woman. But still with a man’s mentality… And then I married Irina.
Artist Irina worked with Bogoslovsky in the film “Treasure Island.” He is 25 years old, she is 20. The newlyweds suffered from a lack of money. And here Nikita for the first time receives a very decent amount for the music of the film. The wife immediately spent all the money to buy in an antique store… the shackles of the Decembrist Kondraty Ryleev. With document: they say the relic is genuine.
The young composer could not withstand such a blow to the family budget. Divorced.
The second wife is Valentina, a beautiful emancipated lady. But she is a big drinker. Her son Kirill was born. After 10 years, Bogoslovsky was forced to separate from his wife due to her drunkenness. Later, the son was burned to death by vodka.
With his third wife, journalist Natalya, he lived in perfect harmony for 37 years. After her death, he remained single for three years. In 1992, in the center of Moscow, near the House of Composers, I met a colleague, composer Alla Sivashova. She was 36 years younger than him.
Bogoslovsky’s last wife, Alla Sivashova, was 36 years younger than her husband. Photo: Mikhail PAZIY/PhotoXPress
“She was dressed terribly, with no makeup,” Alla said. -And she looked excellent: with a light blue suit and bow tie, beautiful shoes, carefully shaved, pink and the whole street she smelled of French perfume.
The 79-year-old teacher invited the lady to visit him. When a few days later, at the appointed time, Sivashova appeared at the door of her apartment, the concerned teacher brought out a large basin of bright pink water. “Take off your shoes, wash your hands and feet. This is potassium permanganate.” – “For what?” – “While you were driving, it was announced on television that a cholera epidemic had begun in Moscow.” It didn’t take long for the guest to realize that it was a joke .
They soon got married. At the registry office, instead of Mendelssohn’s wedding march, Bogoslovsky performed his song on the piano “Why didn’t you know me, young, tender, in those distant years of mine, in those spring years…”
“He was charming and, despite his short stature, a very attractive man,” Sivashova recalls. -Knowing this very well, he flirted with ladies of all ages, even giving preference to the young ones. At 90 years old he was irascible and temperamental. The fights ended in reconciliations so stormy that young people would envy. It was hot in our bedroom and Bogoslovsky, like a child, confessed his love for me every day and drew hearts with lipstick on the bathroom mirror.
And on the doors of the apartment, the musician often hung advertisements such as “The sex symbol at the entrance lives here”, “I will sell my husband for hard currency” (freely convertible currency, a fashionable term at that time – Ed.).
the last joke
In the spring of 2004, Bogoslovsky suddenly experienced a sharp rise in temperature and chills. His wife called an ambulance. She ended up in intensive care. Having come to his senses, he asked his wife: “Alka, take me out of here.” “You were unconscious for four days!” “Without class?” – the teacher joked for the last time. He never left the hospital.
After the composer’s death, the doctor gave the widow his last note on a prescription form. With a black marker, a crying heart was drawn, pierced by an arrow, and next to it was a short phrase: “I love you, Alka.”
The composer did not live to be 91 years old for a month and a half. The People’s Artist of the USSR was buried at the Novodevichy cemetery.
BY THE WAY
“They named a planet after me”
In 1978, Soviet astronomer Nikolai Chernykh discovered minor planet No. 3710 at the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory and named it after the composer Bogoslovsky.
In the elegant 90s, after Gaidar’s reforms, Nikita Vladimirovich’s fees for songs were also burned. He published an open letter to the capital’s mayor, Yuri Luzhkov:
There is no money to pay for the apartment.
And, apparently, it never will be.
They named a planet after me:
Maybe I should move there?
APHORISMS OF THE TEACHER
Ancient Russian city “Bribe”
There was love without a signature, the separation will be without a seal.
What a pity I didn’t meet you twenty kilograms ago.
I’ll let down my mustache. Let them go.
Fake lady.
Considering the current prices of sunflower oil, Annushka would be more careful.
The cows honored the deceased bull with a minute of mooing.
And their leader stepped forward: what a huge dwarf!
Cinema “Zauryadye”.
Do you remember a wonderful moment? I do not remember.
He had more luck playing cards than a decent person should have.
The ancient Russian city “Bribe”.
Of all the arts, the most important to us is the art of getting money.
Russia has a rich history, but a poor population.
Pure cognac!
Don’t believe rumors until they are officially debunked.
Our people, let’s get drunk!
Komsomolskaya Pravda (No. 21) published a recipe for face cream from Empress Elizaveta Petrovna: “Pour lemon juice into whipped cream and dilute everything with grape vodka.” It is not indicated how much of this cream you should drink.
The plagiarist’s book was called “Torn.”
The poet K. said: “My husband is such a womanizer that I don’t even know who I have children from!”
A book about French cooking: “Madame, cook!”
Loving sultan: “A thousand and one daughters.”
In bed, all women are the same height.
A faithful husband is a homosexual.
Gray hair in the beard – social security in the ribs.
