Sixty eight years ago today

[necturus]

On May 9, 1945, the first day of peace dawned in Europe after almost six years of war. On that day, Tsesar Solodar, a Russian writer serving as a war correspondent in the recently occupied German capital, saw a group of Cossack cavalrymen encounter a young woman in Red Army uniform directing traffic at a major intersection. He was inspired to write a poem, which the brothers Dmitry and Daniel Pokrass set to music. The resulting song, "Cossacks in Berlin", became a hit in Russia. I first heard it on the radio in Moscow in 1974, almost thirty years after its composition. There are many videos of this song online; in this one the singer is the incomparable Dmitry Hvorostovsky.


On a Berlin avenue horses were being taken to water,
Horses of the Don, their manes shaking;
Sang a rider: "hey boys, this isn't the first time
We've had to water Cossack horses in a foreign river."

He was leading the horses at a walk
When he saw the girl standing on the corner with a flag,
Her braided hair stuffed under her cap;
As thin as a rod she stood, her turquoise eyes burning;
"Don't hold up traffic!" she shouted at the Cossack.

He would have been glad to stop, but perceiving the angry glance,
"Well, then, gallop!" he cried to his men;
The cavalry passed by with spirit,
And the girl blushed and gave him a tender look,
Not by the book.

On a Berlin avenue he rides again,
Speaking of the girl, a fellow Cossack, to his friends:
"When I return to my home, to the quiet Don,
the blue-eyed Cossack girl I will meet again."