- Victor Berkovsky
Victor Berkovsky (Russian: Виктор Семенович Берковский,
13 July 1932 ,Zaporizhia -24 July 2005 Moscow ) was aRussia n bard.He was born on July 13, 1932 in Zaporizhia, Ukraine. During the
Great Patriotic War (WWII), he was evacuated with his family toNovokuznetsk , where his mother, Etel Viktorovna Gertz, was a prominent cardiologist and head of the cardiology department in a hospital for wounded soldiers. His father, Samuil Mikhailovich Berkovsky, was drafted and mobilized on the first day of the war, serving in the infantry.After graduating from high school in 1950, Berkovsky left for Moscow, where he received a degree from
Moscow Institute of Steel and Alloys . In 1955, Berkovsky came back to Zaporizhia to work in the "Dneprostal" factory. In order to better learn his profession, Berkovsky voluntarily chose to work as a factory worker, and by 1962 he became head of the factory's technological department.In 1962, Berkovsky returned to Moscow for PhD studies at the Moscow Institute of Steel and Alloys. He received a PhD degree in 1967, and stayed on at the institute first as an instructor, and later as professor.
Practically all his life Berkovsky composed music. He wrote the music for about 200 songs. Many of these became very popular in the Soviet Union: "Grenada" (text by Mikhail Svetlov), "Песня шагом, шагом" (text by
Novella Matveeva ), "Ну что с того, что я там был" (text byYuri Levitansky ), "Сороковые роковые" (text byDavid Samoylov ), "Лошади в океане" (text byBoris Slutsky ), "Вспомните, ребята!", "Песенка про собачку Тябу", "Альма-матер" (text byDmitry Sukharev ), "Контрабандисты" (text byEduard Bagritsky ), "На далекой Амазонке" (text byRudyard Kipling , translated bySamuil Marshak ), "Черешневый кларнет" (text byBulat Okudzhava ), "Под музыку Вивальди" (music composed in collaboration with Sergei Nikitin, text byVelichansky ), "Снегопад" (text byYunna Morits ), and many others.Victor Berkovsky worked closely with Sergei Nikitin on composing music for the theater and movies, such as "Мэри Поппинс", "Коньки", "Морские ворота" (text by
Yuri Vizbor ), "Большая докторская сказка", "Али-Баба и 40 песен персидского базара", and songs for the children's show "Будильник" (texts byDaniil Kharms ).Victor Semenovich Berkovsky died on July 23, 2005 in Moscow.
References
* [http://www.biograph.ru/bank/berkovski.htm Victor Berkovsky biography]
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