Vertinsky Alexander Nikolaevich, the name given at birth Alexander Nikolaevich Vertinsky, artist, composer, poet, film actor, singer was born on March 9, 1889 in Kiev, Russian Empire. He died on May 21, 1957.
When Alexander was three years old, his mother died, after 2 years - from consumption, his father. Alexander is raised in the family of relatives of his mother. At the age of 9, Vertinsky passed an excellent exam at the Alexandria Gymnasium, but two years later for poor performance and bad behavior was expelled and transferred to an educational institution “simple” (Kyiv classical gymnasium). Here he is fond of theater, plays on stage and serves as an extra in the Kiev Solovtsov Theater.
Alexander earns a living in various ways: working as a loader, selling postcards, serving as a proofreader in a printing house, and even playing in performances. It was during this period that he became acquainted with poets.
B Livshitz by artists A. Osmerkin,
"How are people alive?" .
In 1912, Vertinsky began to perform in the Theatre of Miniatures under the leadership of M. Artsybusheva. The following year he tried to enter the Moscow Art Theater, but because of a speech defect, he was not accepted by Stanislavsky himself.
On the day of the October Revolution, Vertinsky holds his benefit in Moscow, shortly after which he goes on tour. In Bolshevik Russia, Vertinsky’s performances became increasingly impossible, and in 1920 he emigrated to Constantinople, where he again began his speeches. Then there was Romania, Bessarabia and everywhere the concerts of Vertinsky are of great interest.
In 1923, Vertinsky filed a petition for return to Russia, the execution of which was refused. Vertinsky is moving to Berlin. Where he continues to act in films, release his collections of poems. In 1925, the musician again applied for a return, which was again rejected. In the same year, Vertinsky moved again, this time to Paris. The period of Vertinsky’s Parisian creativity is not without reason considered a flowering. It was during that period of his life that Vertinsky met representatives of the Romanovs, the Prince of Wales,
Charlie Chaplin Greta Garbo,
Fyodor Chaliapin actress
Marlene Dietrich . And in 1934 he settled in the United States. And only for the third time, in 1943, Vertinsky’s third attempt to return to Russia was successful. The musician returns to Moscow with his wife and daughter
.
To feed his family, Vertinsky has to tour on the front lines, write and perform his songs, and hold 24 concerts for a month. In the early 50s, a campaign began against lyrical songs that allegedly lead listeners away from socialist construction. And the songs of Alexander Vertinsky unobtrusively begin to ban, records are withdrawn, his name disappears from newspapers, radio, etc.
The pressure on the musician had an impact, on May 21, 1957, Alexander Vertinsky died of acute heart failure, and was buried in the Novodevichy cemetery. /
Discography of Alexander Vertinsky
1993 – VERTINSKI (Russian Season, RSCD 0002; 2000 Boheme Music, CDBMR 007143)
1994 What I Have to Say (MEL CD 60 00621)
1995 Songs of Love (RDM, CDRDM 506089; 1999 Boheme Music, CDBMR 908089)
1996 VERTINSKI 2CD (Le Chant du Monde, LDX 274939-40)
1996 Yellow Angel (CD-Media, CDM 96–3)
1997 – Alexander Vertinsky. Unpublished (CVPIKNO, AB 97-1)
1999 - Legend of the Century (Boheme Music, CDBMR 908090)
2007 - Private Alexander Vertinsky (AML+)