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The Sacred War

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1941 patriotic soldier's song composed by Alexander Vasilyevich Alexandrov with lyrics by Vasily Lebedev-Kumach performed by Alexandrov Ensemble

Key facts

Genre
Martial music
Composer
Alexander Vasilyevich Alexandrov
Lyricist
Vasily Lebedev-Kumach

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Country of origin
Soviet Union
Duration
302
Show 4 more facts
publication date
1941-06-28
date of first performance
1941-06-26
language of work or name
Russian
title
Священная война
Sources (1)

via Wikidata · CC0

~1 min read

Encyclopedic overview

1941 recording "The Sacred War" is one of the most famous Soviet songs of World War II. The music is by Alexander Alexandrov, founder of the Alexandrov Ensemble and the musical composer of the State Anthem of the Soviet Union. The lyrics are by Vasily Lebedev-Kumach.

The circumstances of the composition and first performance of the song were hurried; the lyrics were published on 24 June 1941, and Alexandrov immediately wrote the music for them, writing the notes out on a blackboard for the singers to copy manually. The first performance was on 26 June at Belorussky Railway Station, where according to eyewitnesses it was sung five times in succession.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “The Sacred War” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.