Smuglyanka

"Smuglyanka", "Smuglianka", or "Smugljanka" (Russian: Смуглянка "the dark girl", from смуглый "dark, swarthy"; also Смуглянка-Молдаванка, romanized: Smugljanka-Moldavanka "the dark Moldovan girl" (swarthy)) is a Russian song written in 1940 by Yakov Shvedov (lyrics) and Anatoliy Grigorevich Novikov (music). It was commissioned by the Kiev Military District's political office for the District Song and Dance Ensemble, as part of a suite in honour of Grigory Kotovsky, leader of two Moldovan rebellions in Bessarabia Governorate against the Russian Empire in 1905 and 1915. It is written in the style of a Moldovan folk song. The song was intended to glorify the female partisans of the Russian Civil War. The lyrics tell how the singer met a pretty dark-skinned girl gathering grapes and tried to seduce her, but how the girl turns out to be a partisan and convinces him to join the partisans as well. The song was not performed as part of the suite. In 1940, songs composed for the troops on the front were supposed to be about revenge and victory. By 1942, fashions had changed, and songs with more romantic or lyrical themes were accepted by the military, so Novikov decided to re-release a revised version of the song, which was never performed before the war. Its piano score was lost, and the author only had drafts. When the artistic director of the Red Banner Ensemble A. V. Alexandrov called him and asked him to show songs for his group's new program, Novikov showed "Smuglyanka". Alexandrov liked it, and he immediately began to learn it with the choir and soloists Its first performance came in the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall in Moscow, by the Alexandrov Ensemble, with soloist Nikolaiy Ustinov. It was an immediate success, and had to be repeated three times as the audience requested encores. Because the song...