Music and war... At first glance, notions that seem distant and incompatible. Songs of the war years and lyrical songs of memory written in peacetime...

The theme of the Great Patriotic War concerned everyone, and it touched the best composers and poets of several generations. War is a time of bitter trial for all people, and there are many songs and many classical pieces of music written about human grief and disaster. They help to summon up strength and fight to the end in rugged times. The war and post-war years saw the creation of many works that have become the finest examples of Russian song culture. The war songs have everything: bitterness of retreat in the first months of the war and joy of returning home to the beloved ones, sad and lyrical memories, reflections on the lives of soldiers participating in the battles, and stories of the exploits of sailors, infantrymen, aviators and tank crews.

It is commonly said that the front song is a weapon.
Artists of drama and musical theaters, philharmonic associations and concert front-line units contributed to the common fight with the enemy. Front-line theaters and concert brigades were immensely popular. Risking their lives, musicians, singers, dancers, opera and theater artists demonstrated by their performances that the vigor of art is alive. Not only the enemy artillery thundered, but enthusiastic applause of soldiers and officers resounded. They broke the silence of the front line and encored their favorite performers -- Lydia Ruslanova, Leonid Utyosov, Klavdiya Shulzhenko, to the impromptu stage repeatedly.

Listening to the songs about the Great Patriotic War, we can at least faintly understand the feelings of the soldiers that defended their homeland. Thanks to the music of that time, we are able to feel the terrible grief of mothers’ tears waiting for them to return home, and the indescribable happiness felt by all the people of the Soviet Union on 9 May 1945. In terms of emotional and spiritual content, war songs surpassed everything that existed on our stage previously, and everything that was created later.

In the museum collection section “Music Records”, gramophone records date back to the 1940-1950s with recordings of wartime songs occupy a unique position.

Traditionally, for Victory Day, we post thematic music albums of records digitized from old gramophone records from the museum Sound Library. The presented selection “Melodies of the War Years” features recordings of war and post-war songs performed by Klavdiya Shulzhenko, Mark Bernes, Leonid Utyosov, Alexander Vertinsky, Georgy Vinogradov, Valentina Batishcheva and other prominent singers