Viktor Semyonovich Berkovsky (; July 13, 1932 in

Zaporizhzhia Zaporizhzhia, formerly known as Aleksandrovsk or Oleksandrivsk until 1921, is a city in southeast Ukraine, situated on the banks of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. It is the Capital city, administrative centre of Zaporizhzhia Oblast. Zaporizhzhia ...

– July 24, 2005 in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

) was a

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

and

Ukrainian Jewish The history of the Jews in Ukraine dates back over a thousand years; Jewish communities have existed in the modern territory of Ukraine from the time of the Kievan Rus' (late 9th to mid-13th century). Important Jewish religious and cultural move ...

bard In Celtic cultures, a bard is an oral repository and professional story teller, verse-maker, music composer, oral historian and genealogist, employed by a patron (such as a monarch or chieftain) to commemorate one or more of the patron's a ...

Early years and education

Berkovsky was born on July 13, 1932 in Zaporizhzhia,

Ukrainian SSR The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, abbreviated as the Ukrainian SSR, UkrSSR, and also known as Soviet Ukraine or just Ukraine, was one of the Republics of the Soviet Union, constituent republics of the Soviet Union from 1922 until 1991. ...

to a

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

family. During the

Great Patriotic War The Eastern Front, also known as the Great Patriotic War (term), Great Patriotic War in the Soviet Union and its successor states, and the German–Soviet War in modern Germany and Ukraine, was a Theater (warfare), theatre of World War II ...

(WWII), he was evacuated with his family to

Novokuznetsk Novokuznetsk (, , ; )Чиспияков Э. Ф. (1992) ''Учебник шорского языка''. Кемеровское книжное издательство. p. 27. is a city in Kemerovo Oblast (Kuzbass) in southwestern Siberia, Russia ...

, where his mother, Etel Viktorovna Gerts, was a prominent cardiologist and head of the cardiology department in a hospital for wounded soldiers. His father, Samuil Mikhaylovich Berkovsky, was drafted and mobilized on the first day of the war, serving in the infantry. After graduating from high school in 1950, Berkovsky left for Moscow, where he received a degree from

Moscow Institute of Steel and Alloys The National University of Science and Technology (MISiS) () is a public technological university in the field of steelmaking and metallurgy, based in Moscow, Russia. It was established in 1918 as a part of the Moscow Mining Academy. In 1930 ...

. In 1955, Berkovsky came back to Zaporizhzhia to work in the "Dneprostal" factory. In order to better learn his profession, Berkovsky voluntarily chose to work as a factory worker, and by 1962 he became head of the factory's technological department. In 1962, Berkovsky returned to Moscow for PhD studies at the Moscow Institute of Steel and Alloys. He received a PhD degree in 1967, and stayed on at the institute first as an instructor, and later as associate professor.

Music career

Practically all his life Berkovsky composed music. He wrote the music for about 200 songs. Many of these became very popular in the Soviet Union: "Grenada" (text by Mikhail Svetlov), "Песня шагом, шагом" (text by Novella Matveeva), "Ну что с того, что я там был" (text by

Yuri Levitansky Yury Davidovich Levitansky (; January 22, 1922, Kozelets, Chernigov Oblast, Ukrainian SSR — January 25, 1996, Moscow, Russia) was a Russian- language poet and translator from the USSR, a master of lyrical parody of genres, and Laureate of the ...

), "Сороковые роковые" (text by

David Samoylov David Samuilovich Samoylov (, born Kaufman, (); 1 June 1920 — 23 February 1990) was one of the most notable representatives of the War generation of Russian poets and neo-Acmeist poetry. Biography Samoylov was born in Moscow into an assimilated ...

), "Лошади в океане" (text by

Boris Slutsky Boris Abramovich Slutsky (; 7 May 1919 – 23 February 1986) was a Soviet Union, Soviet poet, translator, Great Patriotic War (term), Great Patriotic War veteran, major, and member of the Union of Soviet Writers, Soviet Union of Writers (1957). ...

), "Вспомните, ребята!", "Песенка про собачку Тябу", "Альма-матер" (text by Dmitry Sukharev), "Контрабандисты" (text by

Eduard Bagritsky Eduard Georgyevich Bagritsky ( rus, Эдуа́рд Гео́ргиевич Багри́цкий, p=ɨdʊˈard ɡʲɪˈorɡʲɪjɪvʲɪdʑ bɐˈɡrʲitskʲɪj, a=Eduard Gyeorgiyevich Bagriczkiy.ru.vorb.oga; February 16, 1934) was a prominent Russia ...

), "На далекой Амазонке" (text by

Rudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English journalist, novelist, poet, and short-story writer. He was born in British Raj, British India, which inspired much ...

, translated by

Samuil Marshak Samuil Yakovlevich Marshak (alternative spelling: Marchak) (; 4 July 1964) was a Soviet writer of Belarusian Jewish origin, translator and poet who wrote for both children and adults. He translated the sonnets and some other of the works of Willi ...

), "Черешневый кларнет" (text by

Bulat Okudzhava Bulat Shalvovich Okudzhava (; ka, ბულატ ოკუჯავა; ; May 9, 1924 – June 12, 1997) was a Soviet and Russian poet, writer, musician, novelist, and singer-songwriter of Georgian-Armenian ancestry. He was one of the founders o ...

), "Под музыку Вивальди" (music composed in collaboration with Sergei Nikitin, text by Alexander Velichansky), "Снегопад" (text by Yunna Morits), and many others. Viktor Berkovsky worked closely with Sergey Nikitin on composing music for the theater and movies, such as "Мэри Поппинс", "Коньки", "Морские ворота" (text by

Yuri Vizbor Yuri Iosifovich Vizbor (June 20, 1934September 17, 1984) was a Soviet bard and poet as well as a theatre and film actor. Vizbor was born in Moscow where he lived for most of his life. He worked as a teacher, a soldier, a sailor, a radio and pre ...

), "Большая докторская сказка", "Али-Баба и 40 песен персидского базара", and songs for the children's show "Будильник" (texts by

Daniil Kharms Daniil Ivanovich Kharms (; – 2 February 1942) was a Russian avant-gardist and absurdist poet, writer and dramatist in the early Soviet era. Early years Kharms was born as Daniil Yuvachev in Saint Petersburg, then the capital of the Ru ...

Personal life

Berkovsky died on July 23, 2005 in Moscow.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Berkovsky, Viktor National University of Science and Technology MISiS alumni Academic staff of the National University of Science and Technology MISiS 1932 births 2005 deaths Russian bards Russian male singer-songwriters Russian singer-songwriters Soviet songwriters Soviet male singer-songwriters Soviet singer-songwriters 20th-century Russian male singers