Lydia Ruslanova. Soul of Russian Song Part 3
The life and work of Ruslanova is like a wonderful and immortal legend in the history of Russian culture. An amazing singer, actress - a beautiful, strong-willed and gifted Russian woman - remained forever in the hearts and souls of folk song lovers …
Lydia Ruslanova. The Soul of Russian Song Part 1. From Saratov to Berlin
Lydia Ruslanova. The soul of a Russian song Part 2. The personal life of the singer
In such crazy weather, you can't trust the waves …
The war ended, leaving behind millions of ruined lives, ruined cities and villages, plundered museums. Everything that was valuable in the occupied territories, the Germans took out to Germany. The winners had not only to return the stolen valuables to their homeland, but also to compensate for the huge material losses suffered in this terrible war.
Created trophy brigades compiled inventories and kept records of all valuables captured by the Red Army to be sent to Russia, in order to at least slightly compensate for the terrible damage that Germany inflicted on our national economy. Soldiers and officers returning home also brought trophies. General Kryukov brought back from the war some property that was assigned to him by rank - carpets, furs, tapestries, furniture. The entire generals acted on the orders of the country's leadership, preventing robberies and looting on German territory.
The Soviet country was celebrating a victory! And besides the great Stalin, the people more and more often called the name of another famous commander - Georgy Zhukov. It was he who was the Marshal of Victory. It was his sincere and emotional Lydia Ruslanova who called him Georgy the Victorious, expressing with apt oral word what was on the minds of millions of Soviet people. Such popular love threatened to split the government in a country weakened by the war. This was unacceptable.
Zhukov was demoted and sent to Odessa, and his entourage, military officers and generals, began to be arrested in the "trophy case". General Kryukov did not escape this fate. He was arrested almost simultaneously with his wife in September 1948. They did not dare to leave Lydia Ruslanova at large, they knew that the headstrong, uncontrollable and completely fearless "guard singer" would not be silent. She was not afraid, did not tolerate injustice, did not betray her friends and could "raise a fuss" throughout the camp.
Ruslanova was arrested on a trumped-up charge of anti-Soviet propaganda. During the searches, all property and valuables of their family were confiscated and they tried to impute looting and robbery on German territory. However, all the valuables were bought by the singer with honestly earned money at different times, and they were accompanied by receipts and checks. She denied all accusations, although interrogations lasted six to seven hours and exhausted her incredibly. Under the threat of reprisals against her husband and daughter, Ruslanova, without hesitation, gave up her jewelry box, which she kept outside the house.
Interrogations did not give anything, the singer refused to sign papers containing outright lies. She almost lost her voice, finding herself in an ice punishment cell, but she never gave any testimony defaming Marshal Zhukov and her husband. The trophy case crumbled before our eyes, there was no material evidence. And Ruslanova was sentenced to 10 years for anti-Soviet propaganda, banned from performing her songs on the radio and sent to the Ozerlag women's colony.
“My God, how ashamed! It's a shame in front of the people!"
Lydia Ruslanova did not like to remember how those camp years passed. But she sang even there. During the construction of the first branch of the BAM, her powerful voice was carried so far that whole stages of prisoners froze and listened. Then they said that these songs were like a breath of living water.
The strong, strong-willed nature of Lydia Andreevna showed itself in these inhumanly difficult conditions. She never became discouraged and as she could brighten up the life and life of the women who sat with her. Ruslanova possessed a surprisingly kind heart and sparkling humor, which sustained resilience and vitality in the people around her.
The singer was not broken, crushed by the circumstances, although she was very worried about the unfair accusation. She was ashamed in front of her audience and fans. But she behaved so courageously and with dignity that she was remembered by many not only as a great singer. People who were nearby recalled that in these wild conditions the singer was for them a symbol of the Russian soul - free and unbending.
Lydia Andreevna was very worried about her husband and daughter. What happened to them, are they alive? Will she ever see them? These thoughts lay like a stone in her heart. And only the love of the audience, condemned and free, and the daring song for a while distracted her from heavy thoughts. And then she was transferred to the Vladimir Central, replacing the colony with ten years in prison.
With her sat the actress Zoya Fedorova, whom Lydia Andreevna saved from suicide by literally pulling out of the loop. The singer fiercely defended her friends in misfortune, quarreled with the prison authorities. She was taken away and put into an ice punishment cell, from which there was only one way - to the infirmary. It's incredible, but in prison Ruslanova suffered several heart attacks and more than twenty pneumonia! What fortitude and will to live one had to have in order not only to survive in such conditions, but also to maintain a clear mind and a magic voice.
The prison erased Ruslanova's life for five years. It seemed that these years had changed her, undermined her health. There was no longer that sparkling cheerfulness and energy that swept away everything in its path. But very little time passed, and Lydia Andreevna again blossomed with that indescribable beauty that nature endowed her with. The soul-singer again entered the big stage, captivating the audience with her stunning voice and spiritual generosity.
"Release from custody and fully rehabilitate …"
When Stalin died, Zhukov quickly returned from disgrace and freed Kryukov and Ruslanova. Urethral Marshal of Victory restored justice. He understood that all the testimony that the general gave against him had been provoked by torture, beatings and terrible threats.
In August 1953, the singer arrived in Moscow. The apartment and all property was confiscated, and she stayed with friends. Soon Kryukov returned. They began to live in a rented hotel room. Of course, Lydia Andreevna thought about returning to the stage. But she was afraid that she had lost her voice. She tried to speak in a whisper, and could not stand loud sounds.
After some time, the apartment was returned to them, almost all the paintings and property. Only the jewelry box disappeared without a trace, but Ruslanova was not particularly worried about this. The general was reinstated in rank, his awards were returned and he was given the opportunity to return to service. But his health was greatly undermined by torture and the unbearable conditions of the prison. He was hunched over, aged and did not bear much resemblance to the handsome general in whom Lydia Ruslanova fell in love. She was very worried about her husband and tried as best she could to make his life easier.
She wanted to go on stage faster, but when posters appeared all over Moscow, Ruslanova was scared. What if no one comes? For more than five years she did not sing in front of the public. Perhaps she was forgotten, because her songs were banned, the newspapers did not write, there was no tour. How will she now, disgraced, condemned … "enemy of the people"? However, time seemed to have turned back - tickets from the box office disappeared instantly, and the concert was planned to be broadcast on the All-Union radio throughout the country.
Like a phoenix from the ashes. The return of the "Saratov bird"
Memories of that concert have been preserved by many eyewitnesses. It was truly the return of a great singer! The hall was full of spectators who greeted her with thunderous applause. When everything calmed down and music poured out, Lydia Andreevna could not immediately start the song. She was so worried because of what seemed to her weak voice and was so afraid of failure that she could not utter a word. This was the first time this had happened to her.
Ruslanova tried to calm down, gave a sign to the musicians … and again could not sing. The orchestra fell silent, and there was a tense silence. And then the audience began to get up and clap the singer. They understood her, felt her suffering and pain, rejoiced at her victory. The audience applauded standing for almost twenty minutes. And Lydia Andreevna began to sing. She sang in a way she had never sung before. It was as if all the barriers had collapsed, and the singer again gave in the song all her passion, all her soul. Tours around the country began, the release of records and radio concerts. The beloved singer returned to her people, who supported them in difficult years.
She sang live without using a microphone and still worked a lot with full dedication. For the first royalties from the concerts, Ruslanova bought a car so that her beloved general, exhausted by illness and suffering, would not walk. She could not allow the Russian soldier, a hero who had gone through three wars and aged from grief and humiliation, to be pushed by passers-by on the street. The ability of the skin-visual singer for sacrificial love and compassion helped to extend the life of a loved one for several years.
Kryukov's health was steadily deteriorating, he often lay in the hospital for a long time. Ruslanova invited the best doctors, but they could not do anything. The general's heart was not even kept on a thread - on a cobweb. And Lydia Andreevna strengthened this web as best she could. In the summer they lived in a country house, walked hand in hand, as they once did, and invited friends to a fun and delicious feast. Margosha was married … and two years later, in 1959, her beloved husband died without having survived another heart attack.
Lydia Andreevna suffered incredibly. She canceled all appearances indefinitely. She immediately had health problems, as if something had broken in this powerful and amazingly strong woman. For a whole year she did not perform, she was busy with the house, with her granddaughter - she was treating her wounded soul. And then she again reached out for what she had always lived - for the song, without which she could not imagine her existence.
Immortal Russian legend
Lydia Ruslanova literally gave new life to many forgotten Russian songs, which the whole country began to sing after her. An amazing musical memory, perfect pitch of the owner of the sound vector and the undoubted talent of the skin-visual actress allowed each song to be played like a performance on stage, where she performed several roles at once. Ruslanova felt the audience very well and tried to choose an outfit that matched the repertoire and setting. The image of a strong and dignified Russian woman, close to every spectator, made her performances expressive and soulful.
Lydia Andreevna's concerts were always sold out. But the years made themselves felt: the singer could not tour as much as before. She was already over sixty years old, and her health failed more and more often. One day, due to a cold, she almost canceled the concert. However, the audience did not want to disperse, so Ruslanova went to apologize to them for her hoarse voice. The audience greeted her with incessant applause. In the end, this most unusual concert in her career took place. No, she did not sing, it was a conversation with the audience, answers to questions and a story about her difficult and such a happy fate.
The singer's acting gift was, perhaps, not at all less than musical. Lydia Ruslanova herself said that if she suddenly lost her voice, she would begin to tell epics and legends about Ilya Muromets, Ivan Tsarevich and Vasilisa the Beautiful, which she had heard from her grandmother in childhood. And indeed, Lydia Andreevna received an offer to appear in several programs on television. In these programs, the singer responded to a huge number of letters from her admirers and sang. The broadcasts with Ruslanova became a bright cultural event - a sincere conversation with fans of her talent and song, where the whole country became a concert hall.
And then she was offered to star in a film dedicated to the great war, "I am Shapovalov" and play … herself! So, thirty years later, the singer returned back to that heroic time when, together with the country, she was going through the hardships and horrors of war. She was ashamed of her age and begged the director to shoot herself from afar or from the back. But she sang in the same way as always - strongly, fervently, sparklingly.
Over the years, her health deteriorated, her heart ached, and Lydia Andreevna often ended up in the hospital. However, she could not stay there for a long time and left without permission. And she performed, gave concerts as much as her strength allowed. The last tour of the singer took place in 1973 - a series of concerts in large stadiums. The last city was Rostov-on-Don. In this city fifty years ago Ruslanova began her career as a professional singer. Her last concert took place here.
It was a real triumph for the singer. To the incessant ovation, Lidia Andreevna made several laps of honor around the stadium. The singer was driven in an open car, very slowly, giving the audience an opportunity to pay tribute to her fame and talent. She smiled at everyone and was very happy with the sincere love of the audience. I am happy that I was able to bring them joy. And a month later she was gone …
Lydia Andreevna Ruslanova created the standard of folk songs. Her style of performance, sheer dedication and passion with which she gave people her art, are admired today. The life and work of Ruslanova is like a wonderful and immortal legend in the history of Russian culture. An amazing singer, actress - a beautiful, strong-willed and gifted Russian woman - has remained forever in the hearts and souls of folk song lovers.
