Moscow nights
Moscow Nights ( Russian Подмосковные вечера , transcription: Podmoskownyje Wetschera ; literally, Moscow evenings ) is the title of one of the most popular Russian Estrada - Schlager , whose melody was very well known outside of Russia ( English : Midnight in Moscow ).
original
The song was composed in 1955 as Leningradskije Wetschera ( Leningrader Nights ) by Vasily Solovyov-Sedoi (1907–1979) and the lyricist Mikhail Matusowski (1915–1990) as a commissioned production by the Soviet Ministry of Culture, which, however, found Moscow as a more appropriate title. The authors then renamed the title Podmoskovnye Vechera . Because of the typically Russian sounding melody, the song is often mistaken for a traditional folk song . The song was recorded for the first time in 1956 for a documentary about the Spartakiad of the RSFSR with the singer Vladimir Troschin . He sang the song for the sports documentary of the Spartakiad in September 1955. The single was released in 1956 on the monopoly state label Melodiya 27620 and became famous in Russia via numerous radio broadcasts. In August 1957 it won the song competition at the Moscow World Festival .
Cover versions
It took 4 years for the song to become popular in the West.
Jan Burgers And His New Orleans Syncopators
The melody apparently only reached Western Europe at the end of 1960. The Dutch jazz band Jan Burgers And His New Orleans Syncopators took the melody as Midnight in Moscow with the line- up Peter Bos (trumpet), George Kaatee (trombone), Bertus Kruyt (clarinet), Jan Burgers (Piano), Henk Mulder (banjo), Rudy Danckaarts (bass) and Kuuk Griep (drums) on January 4, 1961 in Amsterdam as instrumental music . The single Midnight in Moscow / Shine ( Storyville Records A45042) was released in February 1961. There was already a copyright error (“Traditional”), since those responsible considered Midnight in Moscow to be a public domain Russian folk song.
Kenny Ball And His Jazzmen
Kenny Ball was in April 1961, his Jazzmen in London's Pye Records - recording studios (ATV House, Great Cumberland Place), the LP Midnight in Moscow take. Ball received the title Midnight in Moscow from representatives of the record company Pye Records as a "demo recording of a Dutch band". The line-up appeared in the same instrumentation as the Dutch model: Kenny Ball (trumpet), Johnny Bennett (trombone), Ron Weatherburn (piano), Paddy Lightfood (banjo), Vic Pitt (bass), Dave Jones (clarinet) and Ron Bowden ( Drums). Ball increased the tempo slightly , trombonist John Bennett played a muffled sound with a plastic children's potty as a mute . After completing the LP recording session in September 1961, the participants decided to release the single Midnight in Moscow / My Mother's Eyes (Pye Jazz 7NJ 2049) in October 1961. The LP of the same name (Hallmark Records, HMA 212) was only released in December 1961. In Great Britain the single reached number 2 on January 6, 1962, in the USA it also reached number 2. On April 8, 1962, it reached number 2 for 1 week Rank 1 in Australia . It sold 1 million copies worldwide, making it the most successful cover version of the title and ball's biggest hit (Germany: January 1962, 29th place). The Russian authors did not receive royalties because the Soviet Union had not signed the world copyright treaty. In 1964 the Russian music broadcaster Radio Mayak took over the melody and continues to play it for 30 minutes as a station jingle . On August 15, 1961, Maurice Zuckerman secured US copyright (A521374). Vladimir Troschin's original Russian version was published by Oriole International in September 1962.
More cover versions
There are at least 41 cover versions in total. In France, Le Temps du muguet (1959, André Claveaux) was released as vocal music, Max Greger (LP My Favorite Melodies ; 1959) played instrumental under the title “Midnight in Moscow”. There were German hit versions in 1960 by Peter Wieland ("When it gets evening") and Gitta Lind ("Song of loneliness"). After Eddie Condon (recorded January 27, 1962) the Village Stompers (1963) and Bert Kämpfert (April 1965) followed. Alexandra sang the Russian text in 1966 on her first television appearance in the Gilbert Bécaud Show, her version with the German text by John O'Brien-Docker (translated by Siegfried Behrend) under the title Moscow Nights was published in 1968. This was followed by Peter Alexander (text : Kurt Feltz , 1969) and Ivan Rebroff (Russian, 1969). In 2008, Moscow Nights was selected by Russian gymnast Evgenia Kanaeva for her lecture with the ribbon at the 2008 Olympic Games , where she won the gold medal.
text
| Russian text | transcription | Literal translation | Kurt Feltz (1969) |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Не слышны в саду даже шорохи |
Ne slyschny w sadu dasche schorochi |
Even the rustling in the garden can hardly be heard. |
When the moon shines |
Individual evidence
- ↑ Pod moskownyje are the Moscow suburbs, so the more accurate translation evenings with Moscow is
- ^ Walter Bruyninckx, Traditional Jazz 1897-1985 , A-Cr, 1987, p. 256
- ↑ Kenny Ball, Kenny Ball's and John Bennett's Musical Skylarks, 2011, no p.
- ^ Joseph Murrells, Million Selling Records , 1985, pp. 148 f.
- ↑ Smorodinskaya, Encyclopedia of Contemporary Russian , 2013, p. 469
- ^ Library of Congress, Catalog of Copyright Entries , July-December 1961, 1962, p. 1841
Web links
- Concert excerpt (youtube) from Red Square with Anna Netrebko and Dmitri Chworostowski