Biography
Alexander Vasilyevich Alexandrov (Russian: Александр Васильевич Александров) (April 1(13), 1883 - July 8, 1946) was a Russian composer, the founder of the Red Army Choir, who wrote the music for the national anthem of the Soviet Union. In 2001, it became the anthem of the Russian Federation (with new lyrics).
He was born on April 13 in Plakhino, a village south-east of Moscow. As a boy his singing was so impressive that he travelled to Saint Petersburg to become a chorister in Kazan Cathedral. A pupil of Medtner, he studied composition at Saint Petersburg and in Moscow, where he eventually became professor of music in 1918.
Alexandrov founded the Red Army Choir, and spent many years as its director, in which role he first gained favor with Joseph Stalin, the country's ruler during the last two decades of Alexandrov's life. His choir participated successfully in the Universal Exposition of 1937 in Paris, and in 1942, Stalin commissioned him and lyrist Sergey Mikhalkov to create a new Soviet national anthem, which was officially adopted on January 1, 1944.
He died in 1946, while on tour in Berlin.
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