Aleksandr Zatsepin

Aleksandr Zatsepin Александр Зацепин
Born	Aleksandr Sergeyevich Zatsepin (1926-03-10) 10 March 1926 (age 95) Novosibirsk, Siberian Krai, RSFSR, Soviet Union
Nationality	Russian
Occupation	Composer
Years active	1947 — present
Title	People's Artist of Russia (2003)
Awards	Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" (4th class)

Aleksandr Sergeyevich Zatsepin (Russian: Алекса́ндр Серге́евич Заце́пин; born 10 March, 1926 in Novosibirsk, RSFSR, Soviet Union) is a Soviet and Russian composer, known for his soundtracks to many popular movies, notably comedies directed by Leonid Gaidai. People's Artist of Russia (2003).

Biography[]

Aleksandr was born on 10 March, 1926 in Novosibirsk in the family of the surgeon Sergei Dmitriyevich Zatsepin and teacher Valentina Boleslavovna Oksentovich. In 1941, Aleksandr's father was arrested under Article 58 and sentenced to 10 years in prison. After his release, he did not return to his family. The mother raised her son alone.^[1]

After graduating from high school number 12, he entered the Novosibirsk Institute of Railway Engineers. In March 1945 he was expelled from the university and drafted into the army. While in the military service, he independently mastered playing several instruments. The platoon commander, where Aleksandr served, was the future famous artist Yevgeny Matveyev, who invited Aleksandr to participate in the army amateur performances.^[2] As a result, he was admitted to the Novosibirsk Army Song and Dance Ensemble.

After leaving the reserve in 1947, he worked at the Novosibirsk Philharmonic. According to Zatsepin, if he had not joined the army, he would not have become a composer.^[2]

During his tour in Alma-Ata, Zatsepin decided to apply to the music school, but he was recommended to immediately enter the conservatory. In 1956 he graduated from the Conservatory in Alma-Ata, piano and composition (teacher E.G. Brusilovsky). His diploma work was the ballet "Old Man Hottabych", which was staged at the Alma-Ata Opera and Ballet Theater. He worked as a music designer at the Kazakhfilm studio. In the same 1956 he wrote the music for his first film — Our Dear Doctor. To record music, Zatsepin often had to come to Moscow, since Kazakhfilm did not have the necessary working conditions. As a result, the head of the Moscow Symphony Jazz, Viktor Knushevitsky, suggested that he move to the capital.

At first it was difficult to find a job in Moscow. The future composer earned money by playing the accordion in restaurants. Then the already very popular director Leonid Gaidai began work on the comedy Operation Y and Shurik's Other Adventures. Prior to that, he collaborated with Nikita Bogoslovsky, but for the next picture he decided to find a new composer. An aspiring composer was recommended to him, and the creative tandem took place.^[3] That is how Zatsepin began to work in the field of Soviet cinema.

Since 1965, Zatsepin worked with Leonid Derbenyov and their creative duet became the most famous. Together they wrote over 100 songs. Their collaboration continued until the poet's death in 1995. In the mid-1970s, the composer met Alla Pugacheva. By that time, Zatsepin, a keen electronics engineer, had built his own recording studio. To do this, he had to exchange two apartments for a new one. The high technical level and capabilities of the home studio were the reason for the joint creativity of Pugacheva and Zatsepin. Many songs were arranged and recorded in it, which brought popularity to Pugacheva. Zatsepin wrote several songs for the singer's solo repertoire and music for films dubbed by Pugacheva. However, after the film The Woman who Sings, disagreements arose between Zatsepin and Pugacheva, and they no longer collaborated. The new studio also arranged and recorded the chase music for the film Ivan Vasilievich: Back to the Future. It was impossible to perform such a theme live at such a pace. In the Soviet Union, there were only 2 studios where it was possible to speed up musical recordings, and this task was managed on Zatsepin's equipment. In 1978, the film 31 June was released, which became a great creative success for the composer. Songs from the film to the verses of Leonid Derbenyov and Yuri Entin gained great popularity. The revolutionary (for that time) arranged melodic music was again recorded in his apartment. However, six months after the premiere of the film, one of its actors, Alexander Godunov, emigrated to the United States, and the film “was lying on the shelf” for seven years.

In the summer of 1982, the composer went to live in France without changing his citizenship.^[4] After his departure, his songs were mercilessly criticized, in particular, the newspaper Work on June 3, 1983 published an article "Is there only a moment?", Where it was said that this song, in fact, is about weak people who only whine that life is fleeting and care only about their own destiny. It was argued that this is frank vulgarity, clothed in a beautiful melody, and therefore easily remembered, disturbing young souls with false romanticism, philistine ideas of happiness.^[5] In 1986, with the advent of Perestroika, the composer returned to the Soviet Union.

Honors and awards[]

• Merited Artist of the Russian Federation
• People's Artist of Russia
• Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", 4th class
• Medal "For Distinguished Labour"

Selected songs[]

• "Pesenka o medvedyakh" (1966, from the film Kidnapping, Caucasian Style)
• "If I was a Sultan" (1966, from the film Kidnapping, Caucasian Style)
• "Island of Bad Luck" (1968, from the film The Diamond Arm)
• "The Song about Hares" (1968, from the film The Diamond Arm)
• "There is Only a Moment" (1973, from the film The Land of Sannikov)
• "January Blizzard is Ringing" (1973, from the film Ivan Vasilievich: Back to the Future)
• "Conversation with Happiness" (1973, from the film Ivan Vasilievich: Back to the Future)
• "There was Suddenly no Peace" (1989, from the film Private Detective, or Operation Cooperation)
• "Cooperative" (1989, from the film Private Detective, or Operation Cooperation)
• "Hello, America!" (1992, from the film Weather Is Good on Deribasovskaya, It Rains Again on Brighton Beach)
• "My Train has Left" (1992, from the film Weather Is Good on Deribasovskaya, It Rains Again on Brighton Beach)

Filmography[]

Films

1. 1961 — Absolutely Seriously
2. 1965 — Operation Y and Shurik's Other Adventures
3. 1966 — Kidnapping, Caucasian Style
4. 1966 — Man without a Passport
5. 1967 — The Formula of Rainbow
6. 1968 — The Diamond Arm
7. 1968 — Film, Film, Film (together with Yevgeny Krylatov)
8. 1969 — The Red Tent
9. 1970 — Well, Just You Wait!, second episode (together with Georgy Garanian)
10. 1971 — The Twelve Chairs
11. 1972 — Commander of the Lucky 'Pike'
12. 1973 — The Land of Sannikov
13. 1973 — Ivan Vasilievich: Back to the Future
14. 1975 — Captain Nemo
15. 1975 — It Can't Be!
16. 1976 — The Throw, or Everything Started on Saturday
17. 1977 — Incognito from St. Petersburg
18. 1978 — The Woman who Sings
19. 1978 — 31 June
20. 1980 — The Orion Loop
21. 1980 — Borrowing Matchsticks
22. 1981 — Dusha
23. 1981 — The Mystery of the Third Planet
24. 1982 — Sportloto-82
25. 1987 — Where is the Nophelet?
26. 1987 — She with a Broom, He in a Black Hat
27. 1987 — Island of Lost Ships
28. 1990 — Private Detective, or Operation Cooperation
29. 1992 — Weather Is Good on Deribasovskaya, It Rains Again on Brighton Beach
30. 2014 — Kidnapping, Caucasian style! (used music)

References[]

External links[]

• Aleksandr Zatsepin at IMDb

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