The title of People's Artist of the Soviet Union was awarded for great services in literature, music and other arts. Yan Abramovich Frenkel, composer and musician, singer and arranger, received this title at a mature age.
Difficult childhood
The future composer was born on November 21, 1920 in an ordinary Jewish family. Parents lived in the city of Kiev. My father worked as a hairdresser. Mother was engaged in housekeeping. The boy was being prepared for adulthood from an early age. They taught hairdressing and playing the violin. The training was carried out by my father, who himself played this instrument well. “He who spares his rod does not love his son,” so the Bible says. They loved Yan, and they didn’t spare the cuffs for the fake chords.
When the time came, Ian was sent to school. He studied well, but he devoted most of his time to music lessons. After leaving school, Frenkel listened to well-known music teachers in Kiev. Then he was recommended to enter the conservatory. In 1938 he became a student at this educational institution. The outbreak of the war did not allow the young man to complete his higher education. Frenkel got a referral to the Orenburg Anti-Aircraft School. In 1942, the regiment was sent to the front. After a while, the soldier was seriously wounded. After being removed, he did not return to the combat unit, since he received a disability, and he was enrolled in the front-line ensemble.
Thin spikelet
Together with the ensemble, Jan Abramovich reached Berlin, where he played the accordion in a victorious concert on the steps of the defeated Reichstag. After the victory, Jan Frenkel settled in Moscow. He managed to settle in a small room where he huddled with his wife and daughter. A grand piano was also located here, which occupied half of the usable area. In the post-war years, life was hard for everyone. In order to somehow improve his financial situation, the composer played in restaurants in the evenings, taught at a music school, and at the same time, composed music.
Over time, Frenkel established creative contacts with famous Soviet poets. The radio began to sing songs to verses by Konstantin Vanshenkin, Robert Rozhdestvensky, Mikhail Tanich, Inna Goff. The real hits were "What can I tell you about Sakhalin", "Waltz of Parting", "Kalina Krasnaya". The list goes on and on. A special place in the work of Jan Frenkel is occupied by the song "Russian Field", to the words of Inna Goff. We are all Russians, all who live in a harsh climate and retain their human appearance.
Personal life
The programmatic, if I may say so, for Yan Frenkel was the song "Cranes", written on the verses of Rasul Gamzatov. The first to sing this song was the famous singer in the Soviet Union Mark Bernes. In terms of its artistic level, in terms of its impact on listeners, this is a unique composition. It will remain in the memory of the people as long as this people is present on the planet.
Yan Abramovich met his wife, Natalya Mikhailovna Melikova, during the war, when, after being wounded, he got into the front-line ensemble. They raised and raised a daughter. Frenkel managed to see his grandson, who now lives in the United States. People's Artist of the Soviet Union Yan Frenkel passed away in August 1989.
