Fragrant bunches of white acacia ... The history of romance. Fragrant bunches of white acacia "White acacia flowers of emigration"

The nightingale whistled to us all night,
The city was silent, and houses were silent.


Fragrant bunches of white acacia
All night they drove us crazy.
The garden was all washed by spring showers,
There was water in the dark ravines.
God, how naive we were
How young we were then!
The years have passed, making us gray.
Where is the purity of these living branches?
Only winter, but this blizzard is white
Remind them today.
At the hour when the wind is raging violent,
I feel with renewed vigor
Fragrant bunches of white acacia
Irretrievable, like my youth.
Fragrant bunches of white acacia
As unique as youth mob.

Translation

All night the Nightingale was whistling to us,
The city was silent, and silent house.
The night drove us crazy.
White acacia clusters of fragrant
The night drove us crazy.
The entire garden was washed by spring showers,
In dark ravines, there was water.
God, how naive we were
How young we were then!
The years have passed, making us gray.
Where the purity of these branches alive?
Only winter, but this Blizzard white
Remind them today about.
When the wind rages violently,
With the new power I feel,
White acacia clusters of fragrant
Done, as my youth.
White acacia clusters of fragrant
Unique as the youth mob.

Internet illustration. Collage of Vladimir PASTUKHOV

The romance can be heard performed by the chamber-vocal ensemble of teachers on the page in the list of concert numbers, located after the list of "favorites".

The controversy around the history of the creation of this romance is still ongoing. Is it poems by Mikhail Matusovsky, is the music composer Veniamin Basner or someone else? Whose acacia sung in a romance: Odessa, Moscow, Kiev? There are many versions, but none of them stand up to criticism.

Coming to the filming of the television movie "Days of the Turbins", Vladimir Basov turned to his favorite songwriter Mikhail Matusovsky with a request to write memorable words of the romance specially for this film. Moreover, such as to emphasize the leitmotif of the moods of the heroes of Mikhail Bulgakov's play "Days of the Turbins" and in places of his own novel "The White Guard", so that the viewer would immediately be mentally transported into the events of the civil war and the long-suffering Kiev city, tormented by the endless change of government ...

Matusovsky offered Basov one of their favorite romances "White Acacia Bunches of Fragrant", which, having been born in the distant 1902, having successfully survived several text alterations, lived to see the October Revolution. The words of the original source, most likely, were written by the poet A. A. Pugachev and set to music by the composer A. Zorin (real name - A. M. Tsimbal).

For the first time, the words of this romance were published in 1902 in the collection "Gypsy Nights" without specifying the names of the authors of the words and music, and therefore, disputes about the authorship of this work still continue. In the summer of 1903, the St. Petersburg Music Press of V. Bessel & Co., in the series "Gypsy Songs by N. P. Lyutsenko," published the clavier of the romance "with vocal parts for tenor and soprano" accompanied by a piano.

The romance became more and more popular. Its text and scores were published with the subtitle "the famous gypsy romance edited by Vary Panina and musical adaptation by Zorin", but at the same time, it remained unnamed.

During the First World War, the melody of a famous romance was used by the people, creating and completely replacing the text, a soldier's patriotic song, which began with the following words:

Heard, grandfathers, - war
started,
Throw your business on a hike
get ready.
We will go boldly into battle for
Holy Russia
And as one let us shed blood
young

The volunteers of the army of the tsarist general A. I. Denikin, having altered and supplemented the verses of this song, made it the anthem of their Volunteer Army, which in 1919 they sang in the captured Kiev.

Its text with different words was sung on different sides of the barricades, both white and red. And, of course, each in its own way.

Grandfathers heard - the war began,
Throw your business on a hike
get ready.
We will go boldly into battle
for the power of the Soviets
And as one we will die
In the fight for it.

Much time has passed ... the Great Patriotic War has passed. And only in the mid-70s, the authorities allowed the adaptation of this "ideologically harmful" work. Vladimir Basov also carefully read Bulgakov's White Guard. The director was imbued with his mood, the unique atmosphere of the City. Then he turned to the poet M. Matusovsky.

Starting filming, V. Basov recalled that at the time when the action takes place in the film; was a popular romance "White acacia fragrant bunches". The melody has changed beyond recognition over the years. The rhythm of the romance, which formed the basis of the revolutionary song "We will boldly go into battle", also became a marching rhythm.

The director wanted the themes of these two songs to sound in the film as a response, an echo, as a distant memory of those years. The next birth of the new-old romance began immediately after the premiere of the TV movie.

Once Lyudmila Senchina came to Veniamin Basner's dacha with a request to write melodies for several new songs for her. The composer offered her a new full version of White Acacia. Here are the first and fourth verses of the romance.

Nightingale to us all night
whistled,
The city was silent and silent at home.

All night they drove us crazy.

At the hour when the wind is raging
frantically
With renewed vigor I feel:

Irretrievable, like my youth.

Since then, the triumphal procession of the romance "White Acacia Bunches of Fragrant" began throughout the country. In any corner of our then fatherland one could hear the sad and heartfelt lines of the romance about youth and love, about the blossoming acacia and the great City ... This romance has already outlived all its creators and became truly popular.

The romance is presented in E minor key, favorable for singing. Its melody is very conveniently sung in two voices: it can be performed by a duet of female voices - soprano, alto, and it also sounds beautifully performed by soprano and tenor. A special harmonic beauty of the melody is given by the almost intuitive adjustments during the singing of the third in the second voice in the solo and the wide and beautifully sounding sixths in the chorus.

Reviews

Thank you very much for your feedback, Pavel. You can listen to this romance
in the same place, on my page, performed by the ensemble of teachers
our DSHI (CHILDREN'S ARTS SCHOOL). This concert took place at the Hall
Union of Artists on Okhta (in St. Petersburg). Not only this one sounded there
romance. And not only in this St. Petersburg hall ... We led the most active
concert activity. Your review brought me back to memories ..., for
that my thanks and appreciation to you -

There are many versions of the origin of the famous romance "White Acacia Fragrant Bunches". The first version of this romance was published in 1902 in the collection "Gypsy Nights" without specifying the authors of the words and music.
In the summer of 1903 in the St. Petersburg publishing house "V. Bessel & Co. Notopress" in the series "Gypsy Songs of N. P. Lyutsenko" the clavier of the romance "with vocal parts for tenor and soprano" appeared. The romance was gaining popularity. The text and sheet music had the subtitle "a famous gypsy romance edited by Vary Panina and musical adaptation by Zorin", but there were still no authors. Then there were such words in him

Fragrant bunches of white acacia
Full of aromas again
The song of the nightingale is spreading again
In the quiet glow of the wonderful moon!

Do you remember summer, under the white acacia
Have you listened to the song of the nightingale? ..
Quietly whispered to me, a wonderful, bright:
"Darling, forever, forever yours."

The years have passed, passions have cooled down,
The youth of life has passed
White acacia with a delicate scent,
I will not forget, I will never forget ...

The most popular was the performance of Yuri Morfessi (1882-1957) after his significant creative processing. The romance began to be called simply "White Acacia":

White acacia branches fragrant
They blow with the delight of spring,
The song of the nightingale is quietly echoing
In the pale sparkle, the sparkle of the moon.

Do you remember at night among the white acacias
The nightingale trumped,
Gently cuddling, you whispered to me, languid:
"Believe, forever, forever I am yours"?

Time has flown by, and merciless old age
They sent us years
But the scent of fragrant acacia
I will not forget, I will never forget.

Gramophone records with recordings of "White Acacia" performed by Panina, Vyaltseva, Sergeeva, Emskaya, Morfessi and the Sadovnikov brothers quickly spread to all the cities of the vast country and even went to emigrate with their owners.

But the transformation of the romance did not end there. The First World War was raging in the country. On the motive of a popular romance, the people created a patriotic soldier song, which began with the following words:

Heard, grandfathers, - the war began,

The grandfathers sighed, waved their hands,
Know, that's the will, and the tears wiped away ...

Volunteers from the army of Tsarist General Denikin, remade the words of this song and made it the anthem of their Volunteer Army. This song sounded in the captured Kiev.

It turns out that this song was sung on both sides of the barricades, but each with his own words. Here are the words of the White Guard "Volunteer Song":

Grandfathers heard - the war began,
Throw your business, get ready for a hike.
We will bravely go into battle for Holy Russia
And as one let us shed young blood.

We will soon end the calculations with the enemies.
We will bravely go into battle for Holy Russia
And as one let us shed young blood.

Red chains appeared,
With them we will fight to the death.
We will bravely go into battle for Holy Russia
And as one let us shed young blood.

And here are the words of the song sung by the Red Army:

Listen, worker, the war has begun:
Throw your business, get ready for a hike!

Shells explode, machine guns crack,
But the red companies are not afraid of them.
Bravely we will go into battle for the power of the Soviets
And as one we will die fighting for it.

White chains appeared,
With them we will fight to the death.
Bravely we will go into battle for the power of the Soviets
And as one we will die fighting for it.

But the transformations of the famous romance did not end there either. The First World War, the Civil War, the Great Patriotic War ended ... In the 1970s, it was decided to start shooting a television movie based on Bulgakov's novel "The White Guard". Director Basov went to Kiev to get acquainted with the scene of the novel.

This is what the musicologist E. Biryukov recalls: “When he started filming Days of the Turbins, Vladimir Pavlovich remembered that in those ancient times, when the action of Bulgakov’s play takes place, the romance“ White acacia fragrant bunches ”was in vogue, the melody of which later changed almost to unrecognizability, acquired a marching character and formed the basis of the famous revolutionary song "We will boldly go into battle."

The director wanted the themes of these two songs to sound like a distant memory of those years in the film, and set this task to M. Matusovsky and composer V. Basner. So two songs appeared in the TV movie. The marching song about the armored train "Proletarian" did not leave the film and did not gain wide popularity. But "Romance", as the poet and composer called the song-reminiscence of "White Acacia", received its rebirth and fame.
And it was precisely the Kiev flowering acacia that inspired the poet M. Matusovsky, and he conveyed his mood to the composer.
And here are the final words of the popular romance.