The Unknown Tsesarevitch. Reminiscences and Considerations on V. K. Filatov’s Life and Times. Oleg Vasiljevitch Filatov

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      Chapter II

      RELATIONS WITH OTHER PEOPLE

      When I was 5—6 years old, we lived in the village of Pretoria, in a large house of cut limestone, with an enormous roof. The front part of the house was occupied by our family, the Urbanovichs lived behind us. They were also teachers in our school. Across the street lived our former director of studies Yakov Yakovlevich Kliver. The Trunovs lived next door. Trunov was the music teacher in our school. I observed that father associated with him both at work and after work. Father loved music and played various instruments, both keyboard and stringed. At school the music teacher Trunov Alexander Alexandrovich had bayans. Father would often take the school bayan, play it and sing songs. He did it in the following way: he would take the bayan, run his fingers over the buttons and then start playing. Especially popular were the war-time waltzes and the war-time songs – with lingering melody, sad, about the people’s lives, even sorrowful, one might say. I tried to understand then, what the matter was with him, why he was singing them if all of us were alive. But he would sing looking into the distance and suddenly would break off the song, sigh and lay the bayan aside. You could see how sad he was

      It was very interesting to see how he, pressing the buttons, derived a melody from a special mosaic of black and white buttons. I myself tried to repeat this mosaic, but it was difficult. I was little and could derive nothing but a cacophony of sounds. Father saw it and later took me to Trunov A.A. He listened to me and said that “a bear had trod on my ear”. Father took it to heart, and even though I tried to persuade him to buy me a bayan, he never did it. Though many a boy whom I knew had bayans, Petia Peters, in particular

      But father would try to develop my love of music since he considered that Trunov A.A. should not have said those words in my presence. Father showed us how to chord, how to press the bass buttons to harmonize them with the melody. Father would often sing the songs about “Orenburg down kerchief”, “River Volga”, “At an Unnamed Height”, “In a dug-out”, “Song about anxious youth”, about Maria, whom he was going to come to. He also sang chastushki. He was not a professional poet, but sometimes he wrote poetry. We have in our family a greetings card wrote by him for his younger daughter on August 31, 1985

      В день рождения с любовью посылаем Вам привет

      Желаем счастья и здоровья, и славных трудовых побед

      Мы поздравляем Вас до срока, чтоб не забыли Вы о нас

      И чтоб хорошая погода стояла в городе для Вас

      Чтоб всё сбылось, о чем мечтали, в годину трудную для Вас

      И чтобы нас не забывали, не проклинали бы подчас

      Бывает в жизни часто трудно, без этого прожить нельзя

      Но закаляться в этом нужно, тогда легко пойдут дела

      Here is an English version

      With love on your birthday we send you best regards

      And wish your health and happiness, and great labour feats

      We send congratulations beforehand so you do not forget us, And wish a spell of fine weather continuing for you

      Let everything you’ve dreamed about in times of stress be realized

      We ask you, do remember us and do not curse us much sometimes

      Life’s often difficult to people, and no one avoids his fate

      But steel your will, then СКАЧАТЬ