5 songs by Andrei Eshpai the entire USSR sang

Eshpai was one of the most famous and honored composers of the Soviet era. He wrote ballets, operettas, concertos and symphonies and received numerous prizes and awards. However, as often happens, it was not academic music that brought him widespread love and recognition, but songs composed for cinema. They were sung in courtyards and at tables, listened to at concerts and on records. They expressed the feelings, mood and spirit of the post-war time, the bitterness of military losses and hopes for the future.

‘Ty odna v moyey sudby’ (‘You Are the Only One in My Destiny’, 1957)

The plot of the movie ‘A Tale of First Love’ by director Vasily Levin seems relevant even today: A physical education teacher openly flirts with a ninth-grader. The girl, meanwhile, is mutually in love with a classmate. The song ‘You Are the Only One in My Destiny’ in the movie was performed by Vladimir Troshin and is still covered today by many artists.

‘Pesnya o Rodine’ (‘A Song About the Motherland’, 1957)

Those close to him testified that, from an early age, Eshpai was unusually musically gifted. Which is no coincidence. His father, Yakov Eshpai, was a famous Mari composer and his grandfather and great-grandfather were psaltery (medieval string instrument) players. Yakov learned to play the violin and harmonica on his own and, in 1913, he graduated from the Kazan Music School and, later, from the Moscow Conservatory. In 1940, he published the classic work 'National Musical Instruments of the Mari People', helped to preserve hundreds of folk melodies and arrange them for a symphony orchestra, violin and piano. His mother (a Chuvash by nationality) was the niece of composer Anatoly Togaev and also loved music. The son continued his father's work, studying and popularizing Mari folklore a lot and ending up discovering its connection with Hungarian legends. And you can clearly hear the declaration of love for his native land in 'A Song About the Motherland'.

‘Moskvichi’ (‘Muscovites’, 1958)

One of the most acclaimed songs about World War II and one of Eshpai's most famous, perhaps because it turned out so sincere and poignant, as it actually coincided with the musician's own life. He said that the words were brought to him by famous actor and singer Mark Bernes, with whom he was friends. The Eshpais then lived in downtown Moscow in a semi-basement apartment and guests often jumped right through their window to enter. After reading the poems, the composer realized that they were about him and his family. 

When the war broke out, Andrei tried for a long time to break through to the front, but wasn’t accepted as a minor. He then entered the Chkalov machine-gun school, graduated as a military interpreter from the Military Institute of Foreign Languages of the Red Army and, from the end of 1944, fought on the 1st Byelorussian Front. He reached Berlin. His older brother Valentin, however, did not return from the war, dying near Leningrad. His mother lit a lamp by the window until her last days in the hope of seeing her son again. Valentin's girlfriend later married someone else. The song was featured in the movie ‘I Want to Believe’, directed by Nikolai Mashchenko.

‘Dva Berega’ (‘Two Shores’, 1959)

Another legendary song that existed in the repertoires of Soviet divas Maya Kristalinskaya and Helena Velikanova. For the first time, however, it was not heard from the stage. In 1959, Yevgeny Tashkov's movie 'Thirst' was released. Its plot was based on real events, in which screenwriter and poet Grigory Pozhenyan, who served in the intelligence service, took part. The lyrics were also written by Pozhenyan, while the song was performed by Valentina Dvoryaninova. It deals with love, separation and hope. By the way, the composer himself was happily married to the pianist Alexandra Eshpai for many years. One of their two sons is now a famous director.

‘A sneg idet’ (‘And it’s snowing’, 1961)

One of the most tender and lyrical New Year's songs was written for Frunze Dovlatyan and Lev Mirsky's diploma film 'The Career of Dima Gorin'. Eshpai later said that he wrote a “light melody” for the song and asked famous poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko to put words to it: “I performed the song, he liked it and began to write poetry, then read [them] to me: 'How was it?' – 'Amazing!' That was the conversation we had.” The future hit song was also sung by Maya Kristalinskaya.