Yuri Iosifovich Vizbor (20 June 193417 September 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 press correspondent, a ski instructor, and an actor in many Russian films and plays. He participated in and documented expeditions to remote areas of the Soviet Union. His compositions included songs, poetic prose, plays, screenplays and short stories.
Early years Vizbor's father, a commander in the Red Army, was of Lithuanian descent. His family name was originally Vizbaras. His mother was an ethnic Ukrainian from Krasnodar.Анатолий Кулагин. Визбор (in Russian) In 1937, his father fell victim to Stalin's purges. In 1941, Yuri and his mother moved to Siberia. This period influenced the artist's distaste for politics and his fascination with the wilderness.
In 1951, he graduated from high school and after several failed attempts to start studies in several high-ranking universities (he was denied the place as the "son of the enemy of the People") was accepted as a student of the Moscow State Pedagogical Institute. It was here that he wrote his first song, entitled "Madagascar".
Professional activities After graduating with a degree in Russian language and literature in 1955, Vizbor worked as a teacher in Arkhangelsk. In 1957, he was conscripted to the army where he worked as a radio operator. He married in 1958. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Vizbor began to acquire fame as a songwriter by circulating homemade tapes.
Vizbor is often compared with his contemporaries, Vladimir Vysotsky and Bulat Okudzhava. The topics of Vizbor's songs were observational, focusing on his love of nature and of travel. By using his extremely varied professions as a template, Vizbor attempted to document various aspects of "normal life" at the height of Brezhnev's era of stagnation. His trademark was a relaxed singing style that often sounded on the verge of laughter. Vizbor recorded songs with a traditional Russian seven-string guitar that was often slightly out of tune.
While most Russian bards relied on a rhythmic strumming pattern as the basis for their musical accompaniment, Vizbor was fond of a slow plucking style epitomized by songs such as "Fanskie Gory". His best-known tune was a romantic ballad called "Milaya Moya" or "My Dear." On a more somber note, his song "Seryoga Sanin" told the story of a free-spirited friend who dies tragically.
Illness and death In March 1984, Vizbor wrote his last song, having written over 250 of them during the past thirty-three years. His poetry had also been set to music by numerous musicians. His last writings were letters to his daughter from his sickbed while he lay dying of liver cancer from April to September 1984.
Filmography Year Title Role Notes1967 July Rain Alik 1969 Retribution Zakharov 1969 The Red Tent Behounek 1970 My Dad is A Captain passenger1970 Cross the Threshold Viktor Vasilyevicch 1970 The Beginning Stepan Ivanovich 1970 Passing Through Moscow employee of Evening Moscow1971 Belorussian Station Balashov 1971 Night Shift Aleksandr Fyodorovich Kovalenkov 1971 You and Me Sasha 1973 Seventeen Moments of Spring Martin Bormann 6 episodes, his best known in the Soviet film1975 Diary of a School Director Pavlik Smirnov 1982 Tenderness for the Roaring Beast Odintsov
Legacy A minor planet 3260 Vizbor discovered by Soviet astronomer Lyudmila Zhuravlyova in 1974 is named after him.
Discography My Little Sun of Forest, 1998
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