Aleksandra Pakhmutova

Aleksandra Pakhmutova studied at Central Music School and Moscow Conservatory. Training under Vissarion Shebalin is recorded. The recorded working language is Russian. The field of work recorded is waltz, song and concert. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are waltz, song and symphony. Distinctions recorded are USSR State Prize, Order of Lenin, Hero of Socialist Labour and People's Artist of the USSR.

• Name — Aleksandra Pakhmutova • Birth Name — Aleksandra Nikolayevna Pakhmutova • Born — 9 November 1929 • Birthplace — Beketovka, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union • Education — Moscow Conservatory • Occupation — Composer • Years Active — 1955–present • Title — * Hero of Labour of the Russian Federation (2024) • Hero of Socialist Labour (1990) • People's Artist of the USSR (1984)

She was born on November 9, 1929, in Beketovka (now a neighborhood in Volgograd), Russian SFSR, Soviet Union, and began playing the piano and composing music at an early age. In 1936, she entered the Stalingrad City Music School. After the German invasion of the Soviet Union, she briefly went to Karaganda for refuge and study. She was admitted to the prestigious Moscow Conservatory and graduated in 1953. In 1956, she completed a post-graduate course led by composer Vissarion Shebalin. Her career is notable for her success in a range of different genres. She has composed pieces for the symphony orchestra (The Russian Suite, the concerto for the trumpet and the orchestra, the Youth Overture, the concerto for the orchestra); the ballet Illumination; music for children (cantatas, a series of choir pieces, and numerous songs); and songs and music for over a dozen different movies from Out of This World in 1958 to Because of Mama in 2001. She is best known for some of her 400 songs, including such enduringly popular songs as The Melody, Russian Waltz, Tenderness, Hope, The Old Maple Tree, Song of Restless Youth, a series of the Gagarin's Constellation, The Bird of Happiness (from the 1981 film O Sport, You Are Peace!, this song is subsequently very known in both Russia and China when performed by Russian singer Vitas since 2003) and Good-Bye Moscow which was used as the farewell tune of the 22nd Olympic Games in Moscow. Tenderness was used with great effect in Tatyana Lioznova's 1967 film Three Poplars in Plyushchikha. Her husband, the eminent Soviet-era poet Nikolai Dobronravov, contributed lyrics to her music on occasion, including songs used in three films. One of her most famous ballads is Belovezhskaya Pushcha, composed in 1975, which celebrates Białowieża Forest, a last remnant of the European wildwood split now between Poland and Belarus. Another much-aired song was Malaya Zemlya, about a minor outpost where the then Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev served as a political commissar during World War II. Alexandra Pakhmutova found favor with the state establishment as well as the public. Reputedly Brezhnev's favorite composer, she received several Government Awards and State Prizes and served as the Secretary of the USSR and Russian Unions of Composers. She was named a Hero of Socialist Labour in 1990. Her name was given to Asteroid # 1889, registered by the planetary centre in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States.

In 1956, Pakhmutova married an actor and poet Nikolai Dobronravov. He was assigned by the radio officials to work with her as a lyricist on a children's tune "Little Motor Boat" (Lodochka motornaya). They have written a lot of songs for children but the couple didn't have children of their own.

Pakhmutova is accredited with composing over 500 individual songs; and thus, only the most well-known are listed here. • «Надежда» ("The Hope") • «Песня о тревожной молодости|Песня о тревожной молодости» ("Song of Restless Youth") • «Мелодия» ("Melody") • «Беловежская пуща» ("Białowieża Forest") • «Нежность» ("Tenderness") • «Команда молодости нашей» ("Our Youth Team") • «Старый клён» ("Old Maple") • «Как молоды мы были» ("How Young We Were") • «Трус не играет в хоккей» ("No Coward Plays Hockey") • «И вновь продолжается бой» ("And the Battle Is Going Again") • «Слава вперёдсмотрящему» ("Glory to the Ones Who Look Forward") • «Знаете, каким он парнем был» ("Do You Know What Kind of Guy He Was")

• Gagarin's Constellation • Songs about Lenin • Aiga Stars • Motherland • Hugging the Sky

• 1953: Russian Suite for symphony orchestra • "Ode to Lighting the Fire" (for mixed choir and symphony orchestra). • 1957: Music for children: Suite "Lenin in our heart" • 1972: Heroes of Sport (Written for the final credits of the Russian sports movie Moving Up)

• 1955: Trumpet Concerto • 1972: Concerto for Orchestra (based on the ballet Illumination, staged in 1974, Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow)

• Beautiful as youth, country • 1953: Vasily Turkin • 1962: Red Pathfinders • 1972: Squad Songs

• 1957: Youth • 1958: Thuringia • 1967: Merry Girls • 1967: Russian Holiday, for the orchestra of Russian folk instruments

• The Rhythms of Time • Carnival • Auftakt • Robinsonade (from the film "My Love in the Third Year of Study") • Heart in the palm • A moment of luck • Morning big city • Elegy (from the film O Sport, You Are Peace!)

Aleksandra Pakhmutova is recorded as having received USSR State Prize, Order of Lenin and Hero of Socialist Labour.