Monument to Vysotsky (Samara)

In 1967, 5 concerts of V. Vysotsky took place in the city:

• two - May 24 (at the Philharmonic and the club named after Dzerzhinsky),
• two - November 29 at the Sports Palace,
• one - November 30 at the Polytechnic Institute.

According to the testimony of Vsevolod Khanchin , one of the organizers and the host of all the bard’s performances, Vysotsky’s arrival in the city did not know him at all yet. However, “after the May concerts, records were quickly distributed around the city, and Vysotsky’s songs won over everyone who heard them . ” In the summer, the premiere of the film "Vertical" took place, after which Vysotsky became famous. Before the November visit of Vysotsky, the organizers invited those who wanted to send applications, and very soon there were forty thousand applications. [1] “Vyacheslav Klimov, Vsevolod Khanchin, Arthur Scherbak, Boris Chernyshov, Isai Fishgoyt, Eugene Mitrofanov did not sleep at night, preparing the site for Vysotsky. We agreed on the site of the Sports Palace , but then the authorities seemed to wake up. Immediately there was a pause and ... a complete ban on the KGB , the regional party committee and the cultural department. Upon learning that he was invited to the sports palace, Vysotsky himself refused to speak ... Already almost forbidden concerts, although all the tickets were sold, took place only thanks to the personal intervention of the regional committee secretary V.P. Orlov , which the organizers gave to listen to “correctly chosen” Vysotsky's songs. [2] V. Khanchin left for Moscow with the goal of bringing Vysotsky at any cost, who agreed to go, not yet knowing that an indoor stadium and more than five thousand people were waiting for him in Kuibyshev. [3]

The memory of Vysotsky’s arrival in the city was carefully preserved. Here was organized first semi-underground, and then the official Memorial Center-Museum of Vladimir Vysotsky . [four]
The idea of ​​the monument, dating back to the early 2000s, did not arise from scratch. In January 2008, the Samarskie Izvestia newspaper wrote: “About 7 years ago the first promising shifts appeared [in perpetuating the poet’s memory], Vsevolod Khanchin met in New York with Mikhail Shemyakin and received the support of a sculptor ... The idea [of creating a monument] was supported by the then Samara Region Governor Konstantin Titov , and now the regional government, Governor Vladimir Artyakov brought the plan to its logical conclusion. A part of the funds for the delivery of the sculptural composition from across the ocean, its installation was collected by the memory fund, and the province’s government took up the main financial burden . ” ^[3]

In 2006, Konstantin Alekseevich Titov, who was then the governor of the Samara region , suggested that Mikhail Shemyakin erect a monument to Vysotsky near the Sports Palace, in which the actor and poet spoke in front of a six thousandth audience in 1967. ^[4] K. Titov made this proposal to M. Shemyakin on April 3, 2006, during a discussion of plans to build in Samara a “World Memorial to the Victims of Terror ... Governor Titov at the same time asked him to think about the design of the monument to Vladimir Vysotsky . ” [five]

The monument was unveiled on January 25, 2008 in honor of the 70th birthday of Vysotsky ^[5] .

Speaking at the opening of the monument, Governor V. Artyakov noted: “I think Vysotsky can be compared with Pushkin today. Moreover, for many of us, he was and remains “ours” ... I congratulate all the inhabitants of the region on the fact that a worthy monument to a worthy man appeared in our province ” ^[3] .

Mikhail Shemyakin could not attend the opening of the monument. Some media outlets titled their materials about the event as follows: "Shemyakin presented Samara with a monument to Vysotsky . " [6] The sculptor took no money for either the work or the casting of the monument.

The eve of the opening of the monument coincided with a natural disaster - a heavy snowfall; the snow cover in Samara reached 75 cm. The city was littered with snow, in some places sediments of two meters height were formed, completely closing the cars. The news of the unveiling of the monument in the ranking of references in the local press immediately followed the news of the battle with drifts, the cancellation of school activities and the resumption of the Kurumoch airport ^[6] .

Shemyakin in the book "Vysotsky V. S., Shemyakin M. M. Two Fates" writes:

“Vysotsky in a suit and a cloak of Hamlet is standing, leaning on a guitar, against a bronze wall resembling the walls of the Taganka Theater, in the right corner is a hanging theater curtain. To the left in the wall aperture is a prison lattice, in front of which there is a figure of a policeman standing with his back to the viewer holding a bunch of keys from either the prison cells or the country itself, locked up from the free world and turned into a “large zone”. To the right of the prison door, an alkonost bird sits on an overgrown blackthorn bush. In front of a fairytale bird is the figure of Marina Vladi in the role of Princess Cleves, whom she once played in a movie. In her hands, Marina is holding the book “Vladimir, or Interrupted Flight”, written by her after her husband’s death, from which a small snake crawls out as a symbol of anger and intrigue that fell on Russia’s head after Marina’s departure Volodya. Above Vlad's head hangs Shemyakin's beloved Vysotsky's work “Metaphysical Portrait with Urka”. And in the right corner, the viewer sees the figure of Lady Death, covering her skull with a theatrical mask and holding in her hand the cup of Fate intertwined with a poppy, which Vysotsky designated for himself the symbol of Death. And under the cup these lines are engraved: “How good, how fresh the poppies were, of which the doctors cheated death!” And on the bronze wall, thanks are also thanked to the former “Komsomol leader”, who once discovered Vysotsky’s Samarians, Kostya Titov, thanks to whom this monument". ^[one]

An important element of the monument is fragments of Vysotsky’s poems engraved on bronze .

Vysotsky-Hamlet Image

About the attitude of Vysotsky to the role of Hamlet and to the Shakespearean character in particular, is the poem My Hamlet (1972) [7] . O. Yu. Kazmirchuk writes: “This text is a poem written by Hamlet. However, his name, “My Hamlet”, indicates that the author only tries on this role, gives his own interpretation of the plot, which means that the story about the fate of the prince and his friends is also a story about the author and his generation ... Hamlet Vysotsky seeks to avoid the fate of the ruler destined for him, he seeks to oppose himself to a cruel world ... According to Vysotsky, the question of “to be or not to be ” tormenting Hamlet is not the most difficult and important, the most necessary question has not yet been found, not formulated ... ” [8] .

“A brilliant surge is like nonsense,

In birth, death peeps askance ...

And we all put a tricky answer

And we don’t find the right question. ”

(V. Vysotsky. “My Hamlet”)

“Telling reporters about how the central Hamlet monologue is played out at the Taganka Theater , Vysotsky explained: “ The hamlet that I play, he doesn’t think of me, to be or not to be. Because - to be; he knows that it’s good to live, nevertheless ... Oddly enough, the question that is clear to everyone - to be better and to live - still faces certain people the whole history of mankind. This is what Hamlet is tormented with - it means that something is not right, if it is clear that life is better, and people always solve this issue. The question is that this question does not arise “ ” [9] .

"Something is wrong ..." "No, guys, it's not like that ..." . What exactly did not suit Vysotsky? The most complete answer to this question is given by his poems . The poet most willingly opened the process of their creation to his friend Mikhail Shemyakin. Marina Vlady was jealous of his wife, when he, flying to Paris , in the first place was in a hurry not to his wife, but to Shemyakin, to show him his new poems and songs ^[1] .

The Image of the Lady of Death

In 2011, M. Shemyakin released the book-album “Vysotsky V. S., Shemyakin M. M. Two Fates” ^[4] , which consists of 42 illustrations for Vysotsky’s poems, as well as texts on their friendship. Two images that are present in the composition of the monument are often found in Shemyakin's illustrations for the works of Vysotsky: the image of Death and the image of the Policeman-Guard.

To the right of Marina Vlady’s high relief , almost with her back to her, is a figure wrapped headfirst in soft clothes that are folded into smooth vertical folds below the waist. In his left hand, the barefoot Death holds a mask that sank a little and revealed the true face of the Lady: a skull with sagging eyes. Her “look” is directed at Vysotsky, who is standing with his back to her on his pedestal. In his right hand, Death holds a full bowl, entwined with a poppy flower. Next to the bronze wall are the poet's poems ( spelling and punctuation preserved):

"How good, how fresh the poppies were,

Of which death was shamed by doctors ... ”

From a close distance you can see: the failures of the Death Eye of the Lady go deep into the wall, the emptiness of her skull is not a counter-relief (a deepened figure), but the recesses in the bas-relief .

Guard Image

On the left side of the bronze wall is the niche that the grill covers. In front of her is a huge (224 cm) figure of a policeman in boots, riding breeches , tunic and harness , on which a holster hangs. The Guard's hands are folded behind his back and hold a bunch of keys. The head - a hexagonal prism - resembles a bolt , and a cap - a nail head.

A man in boots and a cap (often armed) is found in 12 of 42 illustrations by Shemyakin to Vysotsky's texts:

On the wall next to the guard is the first and last stanza from the poem “My black man in a gray suit ...” (spelling and punctuation preserved):

"My black man

In a gray suit -

He was a minister , housekeeper, officer ...

Like an evil clown, he changed faces

And beat under his breath, suddenly, for no reason.

...

But I know what is false and what is holy -

I realized this all the same a long time ago.

My path is one, just one guys

Fortunately, no choice has been given me! ”

V. Vysotsky

The image of Marina Vladi

On the bronze wall the bush of blackthorn “grew”, its branches - like long spikes twisted into semicircles create a beautiful ornament . On the bush sits the mythical bird Alkonost with the chest and head of a young woman. Her hair is smoothly pulled back - kokoshnik , but her face looks modern. The bird raised its wings and looks at Marina, who is listening to her and as if deepened in her thoughts. Marina is dressed in an old dress, but the hairstyle is modern. In her hands she holds the book “Vladimir, or Interrupted Flight” ^[8] , from under which a snake crawls out.

The high relief of Marina Vlady is shifted to the right from the center of the wall. The story of the life of the hero is conducted from left to right. Marina came to the life of Vladimir 12 years before his departure. She is represented by the sculptor in the role of Princess Cleves in the film of the same name by Jean Delannoy (1961) [10] , based on the novel by M. M. de Lafayette . [11] Marina played the role when she was 23 years old.

To the right of the high relief is the quatrain from the famous last poem of the poet written on 11.6.1980 (spelling and punctuation are preserved):

Marina Vladi

"I'm less than half a century - forty-odd

I’m alive, I’ve been keeping you for twelve years.

I have something to sing, before the Almighty ,

I have something to justify before Him ... "

Alconost

This name is found in the song dedicated to M. Shemyakin by Vysotsky "Dome" :

“... The bird of Syrin is joyfully rocking for me,

Cheers, invites from the nests;

On the contrary, she’s sad and sad

Poisons the soul of the wonderful Alconost! ... " ^[9]

“Alkonost, in Byzantine and Russian medieval legends, a bird of paradise with a human face (often mentioned together with another bird of paradise - the Sirin). The image of the Alkonost dates back to the Greek myth of Alkion , turned by the gods into a kingfisher . Alkonost carries eggs on the seashore and, plunging them into the depths of the sea, makes it calm for six days. The singing of the alkonost is so beautiful that he who hears it forgets about everything in the world. ” ^{[10] The} contrast in the image of the alkonost between Vysotsky’s “melancholy-sadness” and the mythical “beautiful singing”, which makes the listener “forget about everything in the world”, does not make the Shemyakinsky image contradictory, it defines the peculiarity of Vysotsky’s gift: melancholy, pain and sympathy in his poetry - a synonym for the " Beautiful ", awakening the soul , calling it out of nothingness.

The message of the nonconformist Shemyakin, expressed in the figurative structure of the monument , naturally provokes an ambiguous reaction from the Samara public.

The author of the site “Monuments of the whole world. Everything that is dear to the heart ”wrote ^[11] :

At the first and each subsequent look at the monument to Vysotsky in Samara, it becomes a little uneasy, something in it is repulsive

Citizens and tourists are lost when meeting with the magical and self-sufficient work of Shemyakin, since they know little about Vysotsky, Shemyakin and their creative friendship.