Katjuscha (song)

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Katjuscha ( Russian Катюша Katharinchen ) is a Russian love song . The text was written in 1938 by Michail Issakowski (1900–1973), the music is by Matwei Blanter (1903–1990). Just like Moscow nights , Dorogoi dlinnoju (international version: Those Were the Days ) and some other Russian hits , Katyusha developed into a popular classic song that has remained popular and has been interpreted by many artists. The Russian name of the multiple rocket launcher Katjuscha , known in German under the term Stalin organ , goes back to this song.

Spelling of the title

Due to the different transcriptions of the Cyrillic script into Latin, different spellings exist. In German Katjuscha (with “j” and “sch”) is most common, in Anglo-Saxon Katjusha (without “c” in “sch”) or Katyusha (with “y” and “sh”). Katiusha (Spanish), Katioucha (French) and Katiusza ( Polish ) are also widely used for language reasons. The scientific transliteration is Katjuša .

history

Katyusha was composed in 1938 as a hit composition as part of the official Soviet Estrada light music. The text was by Michail Issakowski, the music by Matwei Blanter. Both were established greats in the Soviet music business. Issakowski had already written a number of well-known hit texts. Blanter, who also set partisan songs to music during his career and received the Stalin Prize for his work in 1946 , pushed in stylistic terms a middle course between traditional folklore songs and more urban modern hits. Katyusha's text was kept simple. The song addresses the longing of a young woman who suffers from the fact that her lover is at war. The eponymous first name Katyusha is a loving diminutive of the Russian name Yekaterina ( Екатерина ). The play was premiered on November 27, 1938 in the Moscow House of Trade Unions . The orchestra was directed by Viktor Knuschewizki ; The singer was Valentina Batishcheva.

Interpreted one of the few English language versions: Nat King Cole.
Photo: William P. Gottlieb (around 1946)

The song Katjuscha experienced its popularization and worldwide distribution on the occasion of the attack by the German Wehrmacht on the Soviet Union and the Great Patriotic War that it triggered . The popularity of the song during the war years is said to go back to a student choir at a Moscow industrial college, who said goodbye to soldiers moving to the front with the song in July 1941. On the other hand, Wstawaj, strana ogromnaja (Stand up, you giant land; English title: The Sacred War) became the official war anthem of the Soviet Union - a piece that had been composed especially for this purpose and played a month earlier at an earlier farewell to the soldiers. Until the end of the war, Katyusha was sung by various performers and formations - including the folk singer Lidija Ruslanowa and the Red Army Choir . The name of the Soviet Katyusha rocket launcher also goes back to the song. In terms of importance for the Soviet soldiers at the front, historians rate Katyusha as similar to the well-known German world war hit Lili Marleen .

Katyusha's lyrics and melody spread throughout Europe during the war years. One of the most famous adaptations is the Italian partisan song Fischia il vento, composed in 1943 . The text was written by the doctor and resistance activist Felice Cascione . Unlike the Russian original, Fischia il vento was a pure mobilization and battle song. After Bella Ciao , it is probably the most famous Italian partisan song to this day. Two versions recorded later come from the singer and actress Milva (1966) and the politically left-wing folk rock band Modena City Ramblers (1995). Katyusha also adapted the Greek partisan movement. During the Greek Civil War from 1946 to 1949, the Katyusha melody was the basis of the anthem of the communist resistance movement EAM . This variant was recorded in writing, set to music and recorded later - under the aegis of the composer Thanos Mikroutsikos and sung by Maria Dimitriadi. A Hebrew version was also established during and after the war. The song was particularly popular with young Israeli pioneers and in kibbutzim . Katya's Hebrew text was written by the writer Noah Pniel, who wrote it in 1940, before he fled Lithuania. Like other Russian songs, Katyusha was and is very popular in Israel.

October 1967 Club in front of the Little Trumpeter Monument
Ivan Rebroff made the song known mainly in the Federal Republic of Germany

After the Second World War, the song's popularity changed little. Katjuscha was an integral part of the anti-fascist song repertoire in the GDR . In addition, its dissemination was promoted by the idea of ​​socialist friendship between peoples and close ties with the Soviet Union. A slightly modified version of the text, which came from Alexander Ott and was based on a free translation of the original, was widespread in the GDR . The GDR radio youth choir and the singing group formation Oktoberklub recorded the German lyrics on records. The song also spread in Western Europe and the USA . An early version from 1945 by the American jazz musician and swing entertainer Nat King Cole . In Germany, the singer Ivan Rebroff , who specializes in Russian folklore, added the piece to his repertoire. Trimmed for a discotheque hit , with new lyrics and under the title Casatschock , the Katjuscha melody stormed the hit parades in 1969/70. The first recording of the Casatschock variant came from the Italian singer Dori Ghezzi . The French text was interpreted by the Israeli singer Rika Zaraï and the Spanish- speaking singer Georgie Dann . The version widespread in the western part of Germany had the additional title Petruschka (traditional folk clown, Russian counterpart to Kasperle ) and was sung by Dalida . Under the original title Katjuscha , Karel Gott and Peter Alexander also recorded Germanized Schlager variants in the first half of the 1970s .

Leningrad Cowboys (2010)
Betty Vezzani, singer of the Italian folk punk band Modena City Ramblers (2007, Rome )
Red Army Choir: Performance in Warsaw (2009)

The fall of the Iron Curtain not only supported the cross-border distribution, but also a stylistic diversification of the interpretations. In the West, the piece was adapted as a Russian hit. Another version was recorded by the Finnish band Leningrad Cowboys in 1991 - initially solo, two years later at a live concert with the Red Army Choir. Katjuscha has also been adapted by different bands in the punk and folk punk scene. In 1991 a punk rock version by the Duisburg band Dödelhaie was released under the title Heut Nacht . The band 44 Leningrad from Potsdam also took the song into their repertoire. In an interview, she attributed the popularity of pieces such as Katjuscha or Partisanen vom Amur to a certain Ostalgie mood that was widespread in the new federal states and according to which corresponding songs were well received by the audience. However, the band emphasized that the modern interpretation is at least as important. Your assessment: “We have managed to combine a very typical Eastern story with the West. To build a bridge that didn't exist yet. "

In the CIS and other countries of the former Warsaw Pact , the song continues to convey memories of the painful experiences in World War II as well as the self-confidence that was restored by the victory. There are hundreds of Estrada, orchestral and karaoke recordings. Examples of artists arrested at the Estrada are Georgi Winogradow , Sarah Gorby , Eduard Chil , Anna German , Dmitri Chworostowski and Vitas . In addition, there are different interpretations in the areas of rock , electronic music , techno and house (or Popsa , the Russian variant). More recent versions have recorded the Estonian ethnopop formation Camille & The Band , the Bulgarian singer Dessy Dobreva , the electronic formation Global Planet , the folk punk band Red Elvises and the Czech punk band Zina & The Stereophonic Punx. Commercially successful, internationally known new recordings in the field of dance music come from the group Moskwa Beat (2000) and the house formation The ART (2005). The Katyusha melody is regularly used as a stadium sing-along anthem by fans of the Russian national soccer team. Worldwide, the number of versions recorded should be in the four-digit range - including Chinese and Japanese. The song was used as the theme or melody quote in the US war film Die Going Through Hell and the German production Der Untergang , as well as in the Japanese anime series Girls and Panzer (sung by Hisako Kanemoto and Sumire Uesaka ) and the Nintendo game Super Dodge Ball .

text

According to the numerous modifications and adaptations by Katjuscha , different versions of the text are also circulating. The two best known - the Italian partisan song Fischia il vento and the disco hit Casatschock  - only use the original melody. Casatschock's text replaced the original song content with common, generally held clichés about longing , wine and playing balalaikas . As an additional, musically different element from the original, he introduces the Cossack dance Kasachok in the chorus . Other Schlager Germanizations proceeded similarly freely. The version common in the GDR, on the other hand, was lyrically based closely on the original and only adapted it for the new song structure. Here the comparison of the Russian original version, the transcription in Latin script, the German translation and the original lyrics by Alexander Ott from 1949.

original transcription translation song lyrics

Расцветали яблони и груши,
Поплыли туманы над рекой.
Выходила на берег Катюша,
На высокий берег на крутой.

Выходила, песню заводила
Про степного, сизого орла,
Про того, которого любила,
Про того, чеьи писесьмалписесьма.

Ой ты, песня, песенка девичья,
Ты лети за ясным солнцем вслед.
И бойцу на дальнем пограничье
От Катюши передай привет.

Пусть он вспомнит девушку простую
И услышит, как она поёт,
Пусть он землю берешёт роднКу,
А лёюборвежеа он землю берешёт роднку, А лёюборвежежт.

Отцветали яблони и груши,
Уплыли туманы над рекой.
Уходила с берега Катюша,
Уносила песенку домой.

Raszwetali jabloni i gruschi,
Poplyli tumany nad rekoi.
Wychodila na bereg Katyusha,
Na wyssoki bereg na krutoi.

Wychodila, pesnju sawodila
Pro stepnogo, sisogo orla,
Pro togo, kotorogo ljubila,
Pro togo, tschji pisma beregla.

Oi ty, pesnja, pessenka dewitschja,
Ty leti sa jasnym solnzem wsled.
I boizu na dalnem pogranitschje
Ot Katyushi peredai private.

Pust on wspomnit dewuschku prostuju
I uslyschit, kak ona pojot,
Pust on semlju bereschjot rodnuju,
A ljubow Katyusha sbereschjot.

Otzwetali jabloni i gruschi,
Uplyli tumany nad rekoi.
Uchodila s berega Katyusha,
Unossila pessenku domoi.

The apple and pear trees were in bloom,
wafts of mist lay over the river, so
Katyusha went out onto the bank,
onto the high, steep bank.

She went out and sang a song
about a gray steppe eagle,
about the one she loved,
about the one whose letters she was keeping.

Oh, you song, you little girl's song,
fly after the bright sun
and bring
a greeting to the warrior at the distant border of Katyusha.

He should think of his simple girl
and hear how she sings,
he should protect the native earth
and Katyusha will keep her love.

The apple and pear trees withered,
wafts of mist flowed over the river,
Katyusha left the bank,
carried the song home with her.

Apple blossoms shone brightly all around
, and fog still drifted into the land quietly from the river.
Katyusha walked briskly through the meadows
to the steep bank of the river.

And from a joyful heart a song swung
cheerfully, rejoicing up to the light;
because the loved one wrote a letter that
speaks of coming home and of love.

O you little song of happiness and joy,
with the sun's rays hurry away.
Bring
Katjuscha's answer and word of love to the friend.

He should always remember
her lovingly , her tender voice, silver sound.
Because he is deeply devoted to his homeland,
Katyusha's love remains as a thank you.

Apple blossoms shone brightly all around;
Silently from the river, fog was moving into the land.
Singing happily, Katyusha went home,
lonely, dreaming of the sunny beach.

Instead of the fifth stanza, the first is often sung again in the original.

Known versions (selection)

  • 1938: Orchestra Wiktor Knuschewizki (vocals: Valentina Batishcheva) - Katyusha (world premiere, Russian)
  • 1941: Lidija Ruslanowa - Katyusha (Russian version)
  • 1945: Nat King Cole - Katyusha (US jazz version)
  • 1965: Hootenanny Singers - Katjusha (Finnish version)
  • 1966: Milva: Fischia il vento (well-known recording of the Italian partisan song variant)
  • 1966: Hein & Oss - Katjuscha on the LP Soldiers' Songs (Russian version)
  • 1969: Dori Ghezzi - Casatschock (Italian version)
  • 1969: Rika Zaraï - Casatschock (French version)
  • 1969: Georgie Dann - Casatschock (Spanish version)
  • 1969: Peter Alexander - Katjuschka (German version)
  • 1969: Dalida - Petruschka (Casatschok)
    (German version)
  • 1974: Karel Gott : Katjuscha (German version)
  • 1986: Ivan Rebroff : Katjuscha (Russian; with shortened text)
  • 1990: First general uncertainty :
    someone goes around the world
  • 1991: 44 Leningrad : Katyusha (Speedfolk version)
  • 1991: Dödelhaie : Tonight (German-language punk adaptation)
  • 1991: Leningrad Cowboys : Katyusha (rock version)
  • 1995: Modena City Ramblers : Fischia il vento
    (folk punk version)
  • 2000: Moskwa Beat - Katjuscha
    (Russian; Euro House version)
  • 2005: The ART: Katjuscha (Russian version)
  • 2007: Katyusha Tolmacheva Sisters (Russian version)
  • 2012: Girls and Panzer: Hisako Kanemoto and Sumire Uesaka : Katyusha (Russian version)
  • 2013: Abney Park : Katyusha (English version)
  • 2013: The Committee: Katherine's Chant

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ "Katjuscha": I pesnja, i oruschije ( Memento from December 30, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF) Gorodok No. 46, p. 5, November 16, 2007 (PDF; Russian; 5.4 MB)
  2. ↑ a b c “Stalin organ” and Katyusha. Story of a song and a weapon , Wolf Oschlies , shoa.de; accessed on May 24, 2015
  3. ↑ Katyusha (song) , music source comparison site TopShelfReviews; accessed on May 25, 2013
  4. ↑ Winfried R. Garscha: The Soviet Union on June 22, 1941 , In: Weg und Ziel , Edition 6/1991 (online version)
  5. ↑ The second broadcast. "Katyusha" , Radio Voice of Russia, August 31, 2010
  6. ↑ Katjuscha , list of versions at Coverinfo.de; accessed on May 26, 2013 (title must be entered in search mask)
  7. ↑ 44 Leningrad - Press Review ( Memento of October 22, 2013 in the Internet Archive ); Retrieved May 25, 2013
  8. ↑ life. To sing. Fight. Songbook of the FDJ , Verlag Neues Leben 1949, p. 254f.
  9. ^ Text of the German adaptation by Alexander Ott
  10. ↑ demo version on youtube ,