Kirsha Danilov ( Russian: Кирша Данилов) was the supposed compiler of a collection of Russian heroic, religious and humorous folksongs that made its first appearance in print in 1804. The anthology is entitled ''The Ancient Russian Poems'' and includes 71 texts set down in manuscript in the mid-18th century, probably in the

Urals The Ural Mountains ( ; rus, Ура́льские го́ры, r=Uralskiye gory, p=ʊˈralʲskʲɪjə ˈɡorɨ; ba, Урал тауҙары) or simply the Urals, are a mountain range that runs approximately from north to south through western ...

. It was one of the first authentic collections of folksongs to be published in Europe. The original manuscript was owned by industrialist Prokofi Demidov and is kept in the

Russian National Library The National Library of Russia (NLR, russian: Российская национальная библиотека}), located in Saint Petersburg, is the first, and one of three national public libraries in Russia. The NLR is currently ranked amo ...

in St Petersburg. Nothing is known about Kirsha Danilov. His first name is the

diminutive A diminutive is a root word that has been modified to convey a slighter degree of its root meaning, either to convey the smallness of the object or quality named, or to convey a sense of intimacy or endearment. A ( abbreviated ) is a word-form ...

of "

Cyril Cyril (also Cyrillus or Cyryl) is a masculine given name. It is derived from the Greek name Κύριλλος (''Kýrillos''), meaning 'lordly, masterful', which in turn derives from Greek κυριος ('' kýrios'') 'lord'. There are various vari ...

". The name is written on the manuscript, but may be fictitious. His collection proved very popular with a literate public whose patriotic feelings and interest in the national history were awoken by Napoleon's invasion and Karamzin's research. An extended edition with melodies was prepared by at the bidding of Count Rumyantsev in 1818. Several obscene songs from Kirsha's collection were not published until the 20th century.

References

Danilov Russian folklore National Library of Russia collection 1804 books {{russia-stub