Lidia Andreyevna Ruslanova Лидия Андреевна Русланова | |
|---|---|
 Ruslanova in Berlin, 1945 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | (1900-10-27)27 October 1900 |
| Died | 21 September 1973(1973-09-21) (aged 72) |
| Genres | russian folk music |
| Instrument | singing |
Lidia Andreyevna Ruslanova (sometimes speltLidiya orLydia,Russian:Лидия Андреевна Русланова; 27 October 1900 inSaratov Governorate – 21 September 1973 inMoscow) was a performer ofRussianfolk songs.[1]
She was born in the village of Chernavka nearSaratov, into a peasant family, and was baptized asPraskovya Andrianovna Leykina-Gorshenina (Russian:Прасковья Андриановна Ле́йкина-Горшенина).[2] Her mother was anErzya by ethnicity.[3] By the time she was five, both her parents had died; her father in theRusso-Japanese War and her mother soon after. As a result, she spent most of her childhood in an orphanage.[4] She began singing when she joined the local parish children's choir and soon became a soloist.[5][3]
Her uncle invited her to work in a furniture factory. One of the factory's owners heard her singing as she worked and recommended that she go to study at theSaratov Conservatory.[6] However, she did not enjoy academic study.[1] During theFirst World War, she worked on a hospital train and met Vitalii Stepanov during this period, with whom she had a child, born in May 1917. He left her after a year, due to her erratic lifestyle.[6] According to a Saratov source, she married a different man who later died in theRussian Civil War, whom she took her surname from.[7]
Ruslanova gave her first concert at the age of 16, to a military audience, where she sang everything she knew.[6] She first started singing for Russian soldiers during theRussian Civil War, and debuted as a professional singer inRostov-on-Don in 1923.[5] She was noted for her peculiar singing voice andtimbre, which was a revival of old traditions in which female soloists would perform on festive occasions.[1] Until 1929, she lived with aCheka official, then she married again, this time to Vladimir Kryukov.[8]
During the 1930s, Ruslanova became extremely popular.[8] She became an artist of the state association of musical, variety and circus enterprises in 1933, and performed all over Russia throughout the rest of the decade.[1] WhenWorld War II broke out, she ceaselessly toured from one front to another, helping to boost the soldiers' courage with her patriotic songs.[9] Her signature songs wereValenki andKatyusha, written specially for her. During theBattle of Berlin, she performed on the doorsteps of the smoulderingReichstag.[10]
Ruslanova became one of the richest women in Soviet Russia and even financed the construction of twoKatyusha batteries, which she presented to theRed Army in 1942.[5] That same year, she was made an Artist of Honour of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic.[1] Her rough manners and racy language appealed to the soldiers to the point that she was regarded as a potential threat to the Soviet authorities. In 1948, due to association with MarshalGeorgy Zhukov (who led theRed Army to the defeat ofNazi-Germany duringWorld War II, and who became a strong political opponent ofJoseph Stalin in the post-war years) Ruslanova's husband, Hero of the Soviet Union, Lieutenant-GeneralVladimir Kryukov was arrested and Ruslanova followed two years later. Ruslanova was forced to sign a declaration that her husband was guilty of treason, but refused, so she was sentenced to 10 years of camp labour.[5]
In thegulag she was dispatched to, Ruslanova became a star lionized by inmates and administration alike. Therefore, she was moved to a prison cell in theVladimirsky Tsentral. Following Stalin's death, she was released on 4 August 1953; she was thin, gray, and had difficulty walking. However, she returned to singing almost immediately. Her time in prison was unmentioned in the press until decades after.[11] Although awards and titles bypassed her, Ruslanova presided over the first All-Soviet Festival of Soviet Songs, together withLeonid Utyosov,Mark Bernes, andKlavdiya Shulzhenko. She went on singing right up until her death in 1973, at the age of 72.[5]
Ruslanovacrater on Venus is named after her.
