Fictional life: a series about the artist Petr Leshchenko reached Russian television screens. Pedigree of Peter Leshchenko

Leshchenko Pyotr Konstantinovich - Romanian and Russian pop song performer, dancer of folk and characteristic types of dance, restaurateur. He was born in the small village of Isaevo, which is located near Odessa. The singer's mother was Maria Kalinovna Leshchenkova, who gave birth to a son without a legal spouse. Leshchenko never knew his own father. He also had half sisters.

The early years of life Leshchenko P.K.

Oh those black eyes
I've been captured
I can't forget them
They burn before me.
Oh those black eyes
I was loved.
Where have you disappeared to now?
Who is close to you?

Leshchenko Petr Konstantinovich

For eight years, little Peter was trained at home. His mother, grandmother and mother's husband, who worked as a dentist, were engaged in his upbringing. Maria Kalinovna was a very gifted woman, she sang folk songs and boasted an excellent ear. The future singer was also gifted with musical abilities, taking part in the choir at the church. Six weeks later, he becomes a student at the parochial school of the city of Chisinau.

At the age of seventeen, Pyotr Leshchenko graduated from music and general education schools and went to war. He joins the Cossack regiment, then takes the position of ensign and platoon commander. In August 1917, he received a concussion and a serious wound, and was treated in a hospital in Chisinau. When the performer finally recovered, he became a citizen of Romania. This happened after the famous revolution that took place in October.

Life in the post-war years and the beginning of a vocal career

After military service, Leshchenko worked in various fields - he was a church employee, a member of a quartet, performed folk dances and was a singer at the Chisinau Opera House. In 1919, he completely immersed himself in variety activities. The singer goes on tour, taking part in various musical groups, a guitar duet, and also performs solo songs.

The year 1926 of the singer began with a tour of European cities and Middle Eastern countries. In 1931, fate brings him together with Oscar Strok, a composer. He offers Leshchenko to sign up for the studio and he agrees. Soon there will be records with the singer's romances - "Black Eyes", "Blue Rhapsody", "Tatiana", "Nastya the Berry" and others.

These songs become so famous that the record company contacts the performer and offers to sign a contract. He agrees and writes about one hundred and eighty records. Peter begins to tour Europe and gives concerts in Odessa, which is occupied by Romanian soldiers.

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Biography of Peter Konstantinovich Leshchenko

Petr Konstantinovich Leshchenko was born on June 14, 1898 near Odessa in the village of Isaevo. The father was a small employee. Mother, Maria Konstantinovna, an illiterate woman, had an absolute ear for music, sang well, knew many Ukrainian folk songs - which, of course, had a proper influence on her son.

From early childhood, Peter showed extraordinary musical abilities. They say that already at the age of seven he spoke to the Cossacks in his village, for which he received a pot of porridge and a loaf of bread ...

At the age of three, Petya lost his father, and a few years later, in 1909, his mother remarried, and the family moved to Bessarabia, to Chisinau. Petya is placed in a parochial school, where a good voice is noticed in the boy and he is enrolled in the bishops' choir. In passing, we add that not only literacy was taught at the school, but also artistic and gymnastic dances, music, singing ...

Despite the fact that Petya went through only four years of study, he gained a lot. At the age of 17, Petya was drafted into the ensign school. A year later, he was already in the army (the First World War was going on) with the rank of ensign. In one of the battles, Peter was wounded and sent to a hospital in Chisinau. Meanwhile, Romanian troops captured Bessarabia. Leshchenko, like thousands of others, found himself cut off from his homeland, becoming "an emigrant without emigration."

It was necessary to work somewhere, earn a living: the young Leshchenko entered the Romanian theater society "Scena", performs in Chisinau, presenting dances that were fashionable at that time (among them - lezginka) between sessions at the Orpheum cinema.

In 1917, her mother, Maria Konstantinovna, gave birth to a daughter, they named her Valentina (in 1920 another sister, Ekaterina, was born) - and Peter was already performing in the Chisinau restaurant "Suzanna" ...

Later, Leshchenko toured Bessarabia, then, in 1925, he came to Paris, where he performed in a guitar duet and in the Guslyar balalaika ensemble: Peter sang, played the balalaika, then appeared in a Caucasian costume with daggers in his teeth, stuck daggers with lightning speed and deftly to the floor, then - dashing "squats" and "Arab steps". Has amazing success. Soon, wanting to improve his dance technique, he enters the best ballet school (where the famous Vera Alexandrovna Trefilova, nee Ivanova, who recently shone on the Mariinsky stage and won fame both in London and Paris) teaches.

In this school, Leshchenko meets a student from Riga, Zinaida Zakit. Having learned several original numbers, they perform in Parisian restaurants, and everywhere they are successful ... Soon the dancing couple becomes a married couple. The newlyweds make a big tour of Europe, performing in restaurants, cabarets, theater stages. Everywhere the audience enthusiastically accepts the artists.

And here is 1929. The city of Chisinau, the city of youth. They are provided with the stage of the most fashionable restaurant. The posters read: "The famous ballet dancers Zinaida Zakit and Pyotr Leshchenko, who came from Paris, perform every evening at the London restaurant."

In the evenings, Mikhail Weinstein's jazz orchestra sounded in the restaurant, and at night he went out singing gypsy songs to the accompaniment of a guitar (given by his stepfather), Pyotr Leshchenko, in a gypsy shirt with wide sleeves. After that, the beautiful Zinaida appeared. The dance numbers began. All evenings were a great success.

“In the spring of 1930,” recalls Konstantin Tarasovich Sokolsky, “posters appeared in Riga announcing the concert of the dance duet Zinaida Zakit and Petr Leshchenko, in the premises of the Dailes Theater on Romanovskaya Street N37. I was not at this concert, but after a while I saw their performance in the divertissement program at the cinema "Palladium" They and the singer Lilian Ferne filled out the entire divertissement program - 35-40 minutes.

Zakit shone with perfection of movements and characteristic performance of Russian dance figures. And Leshchenko - with dashing "squats" and Arab steps, making shifts without touching the floor with his hands. Then there was a lezginka, in which Leshchenko temperamentally threw daggers ... But Zakit left a special impression in solo characteristic and comic dances, some of which she danced on pointe shoes. And here, in order to give his partner the opportunity to change clothes for the next solo number, Leshchenko went out in a gypsy costume, with a guitar and sang songs.

His voice had a small range, a light timbre, without "metal", on a short breath (like a dancer's) and therefore he was not able to cover the huge cinema room with his voice (there were no microphones at that time). But in this case it was not decisive, because the audience looked at him not as a singer, but as a dancer. But in general, his performance left a good impression ... The program ended with a couple more dances.
In general, I liked their performance as a dance couple - I felt the professionalism of the performance, the special working out of each movement, I also liked their colorful costumes.

The partner was especially impressed with her charme and feminine charm - such were her temperament, some kind of bewitching inner burning. Leshchenko also left the impression of a wonderful gentleman ...

Soon we had the opportunity to perform in the same program and get to know each other. They turned out to be pleasant, sociable people. Zina turned out to be our Rigan, a Latvian, as she said, "the daughter of the landlord at 27 Gertrudes Street." And Peter is from Bessarabia, from Chisinau, where his whole family lived: mother, stepfather and two younger sisters - Valya and Katya.

Here it must be said that after the First World War, Bessarabia went to Romania, and thus the entire Leshchenko family mechanically turned into Romanian subjects.

Soon the dance duet was out of work. Zina was pregnant, and Peter, left to some extent without work, began to look for opportunities to use his voice data and therefore came to the directorate of the Riga music house "Youth and Feyerabend" (these are the names of the directors of the company), which represented the interests of the German gramophone company "Parlofon" and offered his services as a singer...

Subsequently, I think in 1933, the Youth and Feyerabend company in Riga founded its own recording studio called Bonofon, on which, in 1934, after my first return from abroad, I sang for the first time "Heart", "Ha- cha-cha", "Charaban-apple", and a comic song "Antoshka on the harmonica".

The management took Leshchenko's visit indifferently, saying that they did not know such a singer. After repeated visits by Peter to this company, they agreed that Leshchenko would go to Germany at his own expense and sing ten trial songs at Parlofon, which Peter did. In Germany, the company "Parlofon" released five discs of ten works, three of which - on the words and music of Leshchenko himself: "From Bessarabia to Riga", "Have fun, soul", "Boy".

Our patrons in Riga sometimes arranged parties to which popular artists were invited. On one of these evenings at the “doctor of the ear, throat and nose” Solomir (I don’t remember his name, I just called him “doctor”), where I had repeatedly visited with the composer Oscar Davydovich Strok, we took Petr Leshchenko with us. He came with a guitar...

By the way, at Solomir's office walls were hung with photographs of our opera and concert singers and even guest performers, such as Nadezhda Plevitskaya, Lev Sibiryakov, Dmitry Smirnov, Leonid Sobinov and Fyodor Chaliapin, with touching autographs: "Thank you for the saved concert", "Wondermaker who returned my voice in time "... Solomir himself had a pleasant tenor timbre. We always sang duets at such evenings with him. So it was that evening.

Then Oskar Strok called Peter over, agreed on something with him and sat down at the piano, and Petya took the guitar. The first thing he sang (as I remember) was the song "Hey guitar friend". He carried himself boldly, confidently, his voice flowed calmly. Then he sang a couple more romances, for which he was awarded a friendly applause. Petya himself was delighted, went up to O. Strok and kissed him ...

To be honest, I really liked him that evening. There was nothing like when he sang in cinemas. There were huge halls, but here, in a small drawing room, everything was different; and, of course, the great musician Oscar Strok played a huge role. The music enriched the vocals. And one more thing, which I consider one of the main points: for singers, the basis-basics - to sing only on diaphragmatic, deep breathing. If in performances in a dance duet Leshchenko sang on a short breath, agitated after dancing, now some support of the sound was felt, and hence the characteristic softness of the timbre of the voice ...
At some similar family evening we met again. Everyone liked Peter's singing again. Oskar Strok became interested in Peter and included him in the concert program, with which we went to the city of Liepaja, on the coast of the Baltic Sea. But here again the history of acting in the cinema was repeated. The large hall of the Marine Club, where we performed, did not give Peter the opportunity to show himself.

The same thing happened in Riga, in the cafe "Barberina", where other conditions were unfavorable for the singer, and it was not clear to me why Peter agreed to perform there. I was invited there repeatedly, offered a good fee, but, cherishing my prestige as a singer, I always refused.

In old Riga, on Izmailovskaya street, there was a small cozy cafe called "A.T." What those two letters meant I don't know, probably they were the owner's initials. A small orchestra was playing in the cafe, conducted by the excellent violinist Herbert Schmidt. Sometimes there was a small program, singers performed, and especially often - a brilliant, witty storyteller-entertainer, artist of the Russian Drama Theater, Vsevolod Orlov, brother of the world famous pianist Nikolai Orlov.
Once we were sitting at a table in this cafe: Dr. Solomir, lawyer Elyashev, Oscar Strok, Vsevolod Orlov and our local impresario Isaac Teitlbaum. Someone suggested: "What if Leshchenko performs in this cafe? After all, he could be successful here - the room is small, and the acoustics, apparently, are not bad here."

During the break, when the orchestra paused, Herbert Schmidt came up to our table. Oskar Strok, Elyashev and Solomir started talking to him about something - we, who were sitting at the other end of the table, did not pay attention at first. Then, at the request of Teitlbaum, the manager of the cafe approached, and it all ended with Solomir and Elyashev "interesting" Herbert Schmidt to work with Leshchenko, and Oscar undertook to help him with the repertoire. Peter, when he found out about this, was very happy. Rehearsals have begun. Oskar Strok and Herbert Schmidt did their job and two weeks later the first performance took place.

Already the first two songs were successful, but when they announced that "My Last Tango" would be performed, the audience, seeing that the author himself, Oscar Strok, was in the hall, began to applaud, turning to him. Strok went up to the stage, sat down at the piano - this inspired Peter and after the performance of the tango the hall erupted into a storm of applause. In general, the first performance was a triumph. After that, I repeatedly listened to the singer - and everywhere the public accepted his introductions well.
It was at the end of 1930, which can be considered the year when Petr Leshchenko's singing career began. Zina, Peter's wife, gave birth to a son, who, at the request of his father, was named Igor (although Zina's relatives, Latvians, assumed a different, Latvian name).

In the spring of 1931, I was with the troupe of the Bonzo Theater of Miniatures, directed by the comedian A.N. Werner went abroad. Peter stayed in Riga, performing at the cafe "A.T." At that time, in the same place, in Riga, the owner of a large book publishing house "Gramatu Drauge" Helmars Rudzitis opens the company "Bellacord Electro". In this company, Leshchenko records several records: "My last tango", "Tell me why" and others ...

The directorate really liked the first recordings, the voice turned out to be very phonogenic, and this was the beginning of Petr Leshchenko's career as a recording singer. During his stay in Riga, Peter also sang on "Bellacord" in addition to the songs of O. Strok and the songs of our other, also from Riga, composer Mark Iosifovich Maryanovsky "Tatiana", "Marfush", "Caucasus", "Pancakes" and others. [In 1944, Maryanovsky died in Buchenwald]. The company paid a good fee for singing, i.e. Leshchenko finally got the opportunity to have a good income ...

Approximately in 1932 in Yugoslavia, in Belgrade, in the Russian Family cabaret, owned by Serb Mark Ivanovich Garapich, our Riga dance quartet Four Smaltsevs, which had European fame, performed with great success. The leader of this number, Ivan Smaltsev, heard P. Leshchenko's performance in Riga, in the A.T. cafe, he liked his singing, and therefore he suggested Garapich to engage Peter. The contract was drawn up on brilliant terms for Leshchenko - $ 15 for an evening in two performances (for example, I will say that in Riga you could buy a good suit for fifteen dollars).

But fate again did not smile at Peter. The hall turned out to be narrow, large, and even before his arrival, a singer from Estonia Voskresenskaya, the owner of an extensive, beautiful timbre of a dramatic soprano, performed there. Petya did not justify the hopes of the management, he got lost - and although the contract was concluded with him for a month, but twelve days later (of course, having paid in full according to the contract), they parted with him. I think that Peter drew a conclusion from this.

In 1932 or 33, the company of Gerutsky, Cavura and Leshchenko opened in Bucharest, on Brezolyanu Street, 7 a small cafe-restaurant called "Casuta nostra" ("our house"). The capital was invested by the imposing-looking Gerutsky, who met the guests-visitors, the experienced chef Kavura was in charge of the kitchen, and Petya with a guitar created the mood in the hall. Petya's stepfather and mother took the clothes of visitors to the wardrobe (it was at this time that the entire Leshchenko family moved from Chisinau to Bucharest, and their son Igor continued to live and be brought up in Riga, with Zina's relatives, and therefore the first language he began to speak - Latvian).

At the end of 1933 I arrived in Riga. He sang in the Russian Drama Theater all musical reviews, traveled to neighboring Lithuania and Estonia. Petya repeatedly came to Riga to visit his son. When they went for a walk, I always acted as an interpreter, because Petya did not know the Latvian language. Soon Peter took Igor to Bucharest. Things went well at the Casutsa Nostra, tables were taken, as they said, with a fight, and it became necessary to change the premises. When in the fall of 1936, under a contract, I again arrived in Bucharest, there was already a new, large restaurant on the main street of Calea Victoria (N1), which was called Leshchenko.

In general, Peter was very popular in Bucharest. He was fluent in Romanian and sang in two languages. The restaurant was visited by an exquisite Russian and Romanian society. A wonderful orchestra played. Zina turned the sisters Peter, Valya and Katya, into good dancers, they performed together, but, of course, Peter himself was already the highlight of the program.

Having comprehended all the secrets of singing on records in Riga, Petya agreed with the branch of the American Columbia company in Bucharest and sang many records there ... His voice in those records has a wonderful timbre, expressive in performance. After all, this is the truth: the less metal in the timbre of the voice of the performer of intimate songs, the better he will sound on gramophone records (some called Peter a "record singer": Peter did not have voice material corresponding to the scene, while performing intimate songs on gramophone records, tango , foxtrot, etc. I consider him one of the best Russian singers that I have ever heard, when I sang songs in the rhythm of tango, or foxtrot, requiring softness and sincerity of the voice timbre, I always tried, singing records, also to sing with a light sound, completely removing metal from the timbre of the voice, which, on the contrary, is necessary on the big stage).

In 1936 I was in Bucharest. My impresario, S.Ya. Bisker somehow tells me: soon here, in Bucharest, there will be a concert by F.I. Chaliapin, and after the concert, the Bucharest public arranges a banquet in honor of his arrival at the Continental restaurant (where the Romanian virtuoso violinist Grigorash Nicu played).
Chaliapin's concert was arranged by S. Ya. Bisker, and of course a place for the concert and for the banquet was provided for me ...

But soon Peter came to my hotel and said: "I invite you to a banquet in honor of Chaliapin, which will be held in my restaurant!" Indeed, the banquet took place in his restaurant. It turned out that Peter managed to negotiate with Chaliapin's administrator, managed to "interest" him, and the banquet from the "Continental" was transferred to the "Lescenco" restaurant.

I sat fourth from F. I. Chaliapin: Chaliapin, Bisker, critic Zolotorev and myself. I was all the attention, all the time listening to what Chaliapin was saying to those sitting next to him.

Speaking in the program of the evening, Peter was in a good mood, while singing he tried to turn to the table at which Chaliapin was sitting. After Peter's performances, Bisker asked Chaliapin: "What do you think, Fedor (they were on you), Leshchenko sings well?" Chaliapin smiled, looked in the direction of Peter and said: "Yes, stupid songs, he sings well."

Petya at first, when he found out about these words of Chaliapin, was offended, and then I hardly explained to him:

"You can only be proud of such a remark. After all, what you and I sing, various trendy hits, romances and tangos, are really stupid songs compared to the classical repertoire. But you were praised, they said that you sing these songs well. And who said it - Chaliapin himself! This is the biggest compliment from the mouth of a great actor. "

Fedor Ivanovich was in a great mood that evening, he did not skimp on autographs.

In 1932, the Leshchenkos returned from Riga to Chisinau. Leshchenko gives two concerts in the Diocesan Hall, which had exceptional acoustics, the building of which was the most beautiful in the city.

The newspaper wrote: "On January 16 and 17, the famous performer of gypsy songs and romances, Pyotr Leshchenko, who enjoys tremendous success in the capitals of Europe, will perform in the Diocesan Hall." After the performances, the following messages appeared: "Pyotr Leshchenko's concert was an exceptional success. Sincere performance and a successful selection of romances delighted the audience."

Then Leshchenko and Zinaida Zakit perform at the Syuzanna restaurant, after which they again travel to different cities and countries.

In 1933 Leshchenko is in Austria. In Vienna, at the company "Columbia" he recorded on records. Unfortunately, this best and largest company in the world (whose branches were in almost all countries) recorded far from all the works that Petr Leshchenko performed: the owners of the companies in those years needed works in rhythms that were fashionable at that time: tango, foxtrot and they paid for them several times more than for romances or folk songs.

Thanks to the records released in millions of copies, Leshchenko is gaining extraordinary popularity, the most famous composers of that time willingly work with Peter: Boris Fomin, Oscar Strok, Mark Maryanovsky, Claude Romano, Efim Sklyarov, Hera Vilnov, Sasha Vladi, Arthur Gold, Ernst Nonigsberg and others. He was accompanied by the best European orchestras: the Genigsberg brothers, the Albin brothers, Herbert Schmidt, Nikolai Chereshnya (who toured Moscow and other cities of the USSR in 1962), Frank Fox's Columbia, and Bellacord-Electro. About half of the works of Petr Leshchenko's repertoire belong to him and almost all of them to his musical arrangement.

It is interesting that if Leshchenko experienced difficulties when his voice “disappeared” in large halls, then his voice was recorded perfectly on the records (Chaliapin even once called Leshchenko a “record singer”), while such stage masters as Chaliapin and Morfessi, who sang freely in large theater and concert halls, were always dissatisfied with their records, according to K. Sokolsky, which transmitted only a fraction of their voices ...

In 1935 Leshchenko came to England, performed in restaurants, he was invited to the radio. In 1938 Leshchenko with Zinaida in Riga. An evening was held in the Kemeri Kurhaus, at which Leshchenko, with the orchestra of the famous violinist and conductor Herbert Schmidt, gave his last concert in Latvia.

And in 1940 there were last concerts in Paris: and in 1941 Germany attacked the Soviet Union, Romania occupied Odessa. Leshchenko receives a call to the regiment to which he is assigned. He refuses to go to war against his people, he is judged by an officer's court, but he, as a popular singer, is released. In May 1942 he performed at the Odessa Russian Drama Theatre. At the request of the Romanian command, all concerts had to begin with a song in Romanian. And only then the famous "My Marusichka", "Two Guitars", "Tatiana" sounded. The concerts ended with "Chubchik".

Vera Georgievna Belousova (Leshchenko) says: “I lived then in Odessa. I graduated from a music school, I was then 19 years old. I performed in concerts, played the accordion, sang ... Somehow I see a poster: “The famous, inimitable Russian performer is performing and gypsy songs Petr Leshchenko." And at the rehearsal of one of the concerts (where I was supposed to perform), a man of short stature comes up to me, introduces himself: Petr Leshchenko, invites me to his concert.

I sit in the hall, listen, and he looks at me and sings:

You are nineteen years old, you have your own way.
You can laugh and joke.
And I have no return, I've been through so much...

So we met and soon got married. We arrived in Bucharest, Zinaida agreed to a divorce only when Peter left a restaurant and an apartment for her ...
We settled with his mother. In August 1944 Russian troops entered the city. Leshchenko began to offer his performances. The first concerts were received very coldly, Peter was very worried, it turned out that an order was given: "Leshchenko should not be applauded." Only when he gave a concert in front of the commanding staff, everything changed at once. We both began to perform in hospitals, in units, in halls. The command gave us an apartment...

So ten years flew by like one day. Peter kept trying to get permission to return to his homeland, and one day he received this permission. He gives the last concert - the first part passed with triumph, the second begins ... but he does not come out. I went into the dressing room: there was a suit, a guitar, two people in civilian clothes approached me and said that Pyotr Konstantinovich was taken away for a conversation, "clarifications are needed."

Nine months later, they gave me a meeting address and a list of things I needed. I arrived there. They measured six meters from the barbed wire, ordered not to approach. They brought Peter: neither speak nor touch. Parting, he folded his hands, raised them to the sky and said: "God knows, I have no guilt before anyone."
Soon I was also arrested, "for treason", for marrying a foreign citizen. Brought to Dnepropetrovsk. Sentenced to death, then replaced with twenty-five years - sent to a camp. Released in 1954. I learned that Peter Konstantinovich was no longer among the living.

I began to perform, to travel around the country. In Moscow, she met with Kolya Chereshnya (he was a violinist in the Leshchenko orchestra). Kolya said that in 1954 Leshchenko died in prison, allegedly poisoned by canned food. They also say that they imprisoned him because, having gathered his friends for a farewell dinner, he raised his glass and said: “Friends! I am happy that I am returning to my homeland! My dream has come true. I am leaving, but my heart remains with you. "

The last words were ruined. In March 1951, Leshchenko was arrested ... The voice of "the favorite of the European public, Pyotr Konstantinovich Leshchenko," ceased to sound.

Vera Georgievna Leshchenko performed on many stages of the country as a singer, as an accordionist and pianist, she sang in Moscow, in the Hermitage. In the mid-eighties, she went on a well-deserved rest, just before our meeting (in October 1985), she returned with her husband, pianist Eduard Vilgelmovich, to Moscow from the city where her best years had passed - from the beautiful Odessa. Our meetings took place in a friendly and relaxed atmosphere...

Pyotr Leshchenko's sister, Valentna, once saw her brother when the convoy was leading him down the street to dig ditches. Peter also saw his sister and cried... Valentina still lives in Bucharest.

Another sister, Catherine, lives in Italy. The son, Igor, was a magnificent choreographer of the Bucharest theater, died at the age of forty-seven...

Yuri Sosudin

Are Petr Leshchenko and Lev Leshchenko relatives or namesakes? As is often the case, talented people who work in the same direction and have the same last name are associated with kinship for many. Take, for example, Peter and Lev Leshchenko. Singer Petr Leshchenko was known long before his namesake, Leo, appeared on the stage.

Pyotr Konstantinovich Leshchenko (1898-1954) is known as a Romanian and Russian pop singer who also performed folk dances. In the beginning he was in the military. Creative career began with a dance group. Later, the vocal talent of this artist was clearly manifested. Lev Valerianovich Leshchenko (born 1942) is a Soviet and Russian pop and operetta singer. Since 1983 he has the title of People's Artist of the RSFSR. Pyotr Leshchenko first saw the light on June 2, 1898. A native of the Kherson province, the small village of Isaevo (now the Odessa region in Ukraine). The boy was born out of wedlock, so he bore his mother's surname, and in the metric in the line "father" they wrote him "illegitimate". His mother, Maria Kalinovna, had an absolute ear for music, she sang folk songs wonderfully, which influenced the formation of the boy, who already in early childhood showed outstanding abilities in music. When the baby was nine months old, Maria Kalinovna left for Chisinau with her little son and her parents.

Until the age of eight, the boy was brought up and educated at home, and in 1906 he was accepted into the soldier's church choir, as Petya was very capable in music and dancing. In addition to these talents, he also very quickly studied languages, spoke Russian, Ukrainian, German, Romanian and French. The choir director helped determine the boy in the Chisinau parish school, informs ftimes.ru. And by 1915, Peter already had a musical and general education. In 1907, my mother married Alexei Vasilyevich Alfimov. The stepfather turned out to be a simple and kind man, he loved the boy. Later, sisters were born to Peter: in 1917, Valya, in 1920, Katya. Alfimov worked as a dental technician, was a little fond of music, played the guitar and harmonica. His stepfather accepted Petya as his own son, saw that the boy was growing talented and gave him his guitar as a teenager. In addition to studying at the school and singing in the choir, Petya from childhood helped with the housework, worked hard and even had a small independent income. At the age of 17, the young man's voice changed, and he could no longer sing in the church choir. Having lost his salary, he decided to go to the front. Until the end of autumn 1916, Peter was in the Don Cossack regiment. From there he was sent to the Kiev Infantry Ensign School, from which he graduated in the early spring of 1917 and received the appropriate rank. From Kiev, through the reserve Odessa regiment, the young man was sent to command a platoon of the Podolsky infantry regiment on the Romanian front. Less than six months later, Peter was seriously injured and was shell-shocked, in connection with this he was sent for treatment. At first he was in a field hospital, later the patient was transferred to Chisinau, where he learned about the revolutionary events.

In 1918, Chisinau was declared a territory of Romania and Peter left the hospital already as a Romanian citizen. The beginning of the creative path. In the early autumn of 1919, Peter was accepted into the Elizarov dance group, with whom he performed for four months at the Alhambra Theater in Bucharest, and then at the Orpheum and Susanna cinemas. These were Leshchenko's first steps in his creative career. For about five years he toured Romania as part of various groups as a singer and dancer. In 1925, Peter left for Paris, where he continued his performances in cinemas. He performed many numbers that were successful with the public: he performed in the Guslyar balalaika ensemble; participated in a guitar duet; performed Caucasian dances with a dagger in his teeth. He considered his dance technique to be imperfect, so he enrolled in the best French ballet school. Here he met the artist Zinaida Zakitt, her stage name was Zhenya. Zinaida was a Latvian by origin, originally from Riga. Together with Peter Zhenya, she learned several numbers, and they began to perform in pairs in restaurants in Paris, informs ftimes.ru. A resounding success quickly came to them, and soon Peter and Zinaida got married. Since 1926, Leshchenko and Zakitt, together with Polish musicians, toured Europe and the Middle East for two years. They were applauded in Thessaloniki and Constantinople, in Athens and Adana, in Aleppo and Smyrna, Damascus and Beirut. After the tour, the couple returned to Romania, where they went to work in a theater called Teatrul Nostra, which was located in Bucharest. But they did not stay in one place for long. For about three months they performed in a restaurant in Chernivtsi, then they gave performances in Chisinau at cinemas. Later, Riga became their haven, where Peter alone went to work in the restaurant “A. T." as a vocalist. They stopped dancing due to Zinaida's pregnancy. In early 1931, the couple had a son, Igor. While working in a restaurant, Peter met the composer Oscar Strok, who later wrote many songs and romances for the singer. His musical compositions gained popularity, Leshchenko began to collaborate with other composers, and from 1932 he began to record on gramophone record companies. In 1933, Peter settled in Bucharest with his wife and child, from where he sometimes went on tour and on recordings. Zinaida also returned to dancing, and the couple again began joint performances. In 1935, Peter opened his own restaurant called Leshchenko, in which he performed himself, and the Leshchenko Trio ensemble, which included Zinaida and Peter's younger sisters, was very popular.

After the war, Leshchenko spoke a lot to a diverse audience in Romania. But he really wanted to return to his homeland, he wrote repeated petitions addressed to Stalin and Kalinin on this subject, but did not receive a positive answer for a long time. In the early spring of 1951, after another appeal to the leadership of the Soviet Union, Peter Konstantinovich was given the go-ahead to return, but did not have time to do so. The Romanian security authorities arrested him. It happened right during the intermission, Leshchenko gave a concert, there was a full house in the hall, and between the first and second parts, the singer was taken directly from the dressing room. Pyotr Konstantinovich was interrogated as a witness in the case of Vera Belousova-Leshchenko. His young wife was accused of betraying the Motherland. On July 16, 1954, Petr Konstantinovich Leshchenko died in a prison hospital, all materials on his case are still closed. Due to such secrecy, there is no exact data, but most likely, Pyotr Leshchenko was one of the thousands of builders of the Danube Canal, who remained unknown and nameless. Until now, no one knows where the grave of the singer is. In the summer of 1952, Vera was also arrested for marrying a foreign citizen, which qualified as treason, and also for taking part in concerts in occupied Odessa. The court sentenced her to death, but then the sentence was commuted to 25 years in prison. And in 1954, Vera was released, her criminal record was removed and she was sent to Odessa. She died in Moscow in 2009.

Petr Leshchenko and Lev Leshchenko: biography and life path of Lev Valerianovich. Lev Valerianovich was born in the Moscow district of Sokolniki on February 1, 1942. There stood an old, still merchant building, wooden house of two floors, in which the Leshchenko family lived. It was in him, and not in the maternity hospital, that a boy was born. There was a war, especially fierce battles were near Moscow, but despite this, the life of the Leshchenko family in those years cannot be called difficult. Their house was almost comfortable, which for that time was an extraordinary luxury, they only had to heat the stove themselves. Although my father was at the front, he served in a special purpose regiment located in Bogorodsky, not far from Sokolniki. Therefore, he was able to visit his family often and bring food from his dry ration. The Leshchenko family was accommodated in one of the three rooms of the communal apartment, where neighbors lived in the other two ─ Aunt Nadia and Baba Zhenya, who took the newly born child Leo in her arms. The Leshchenko family consisted of a mother, a born boy and his older sister Yulia, and, of course, a father when he managed to visit his relatives. Lev Valerianovich is now perplexed how they could then accommodate the whole family in a small room. On that February day, in honor of the birth of his son, the father came home, and they arranged a whole feast. Dad brought half a loaf of bread, a quarter of alcohol and a few more products from his ration. On this occasion, the stove was well heated with firewood, and the house became warm. The father of the future singer, Valerian Andreevich, graduated from the Kursk gymnasium before the war, and began his career at the state farm. In 1931, he was sent to the capital to the Krasnopresnensky vitamin plant, where he worked as an accountant. Participated in the Soviet-Finnish war, returning from which he went to serve in the NKVD. From the beginning to the end he went through the Great Patriotic War, was awarded many orders and medals, after the war and until his retirement he served in the MGB. Papa Lev Leshchenko can be attributed to long-livers, he died at 99 years old. The singer's mother, Klavdia Petrovna, died very early, when the boy was only a year old, and by that time she herself was barely 28 years old. After the death of his mother, little Leo was raised by his grandparents. And 5 years later, in 1948, my father married a second time, according to ftimes.ru. Lev Valerianovich recalls his stepmother Marina Mikhailovna with respect and warmth, according to him, she always treated him like her own son, the boy did not experience a lack of love and attention. And in 1949, Lev's little sister Valya was born. In early childhood, his father often took little Leo with him to the military unit, the soldiers jokingly nicknamed him "the son of the regiment." Since the boy grew up very frisky and agile, it was difficult to keep track of him, because the father assigned the foreman Andrey Fesenko to the child. The boy dined with the soldiers in the dining room, went to the cinema with them in formation, at the age of four he had already been to the shooting range and wore a military uniform. And the foreman Fesenko taught the kid to ski in winter, which were three times longer than the boy himself. And the little Leo had a chance to face music in early childhood. He often visited his grandfather Andrei Vasilyevich Leshchenko. He worked at a sugar factory as an accountant and in his free time played the violin in the factory string quartet, and before the revolution he sang in the church choir. In terms of music, grandfather was a very gifted person and gradually taught little Leo to this art: he played the violin and taught him singing. Leshchenko's childhood passed in Sokolniki, and then the family moved to the Voikovsky district, where the boy began his studies at secondary school No. 201. In addition to the school program, he became a choir soloist at the House of Pioneers, was fond of swimming in the pool, studied in a circle of artistic expression and a brass band. Soon, teachers in the choir advised Leo to leave all other hobbies and circles, focusing only on singing. Yes, and the boy himself has already firmly decided to connect his future with creativity, but has not yet decided who he would like to become more - an artist or a singer. Therefore, he left himself two classes - in the choir and the drama club. And at home, he listened to records with Utyosov's songs, adored his style of performance, imitated the great singer. After some time, the vociferous boy performed Utyosov's songs at all school events, and then at city competitions. Army and Institute After school, an attempt to enter a theater school was unsuccessful. Lev went to work as a stage worker at the Bolshoi Theatre, during the day he worked, and in the evenings he watched performances from the gallery. Then he tried himself as a fitter at the factory of measuring instruments. In 1961, Lev Leshchenko was drafted into the ranks of the Soviet Army. In the military registration and enlistment office, the young man said that he would very much like to serve at sea, but his father corrected all his plans, having registered his son in the Soviet tank troops, which were located in the GDR. But already from the first months of service, the army leadership sent Leo to the song and dance ensemble, where he soon established himself as the main soloist. In addition to solo performances of songs, Lev recited poetry, was the host of concert programs, and participated in a quartet ensemble. It is service in the army that Lev Valerianovich considers the beginning of his musical career and a long successful creative path. Any free army minute he was preparing to enter the theater institute. And in 1964, after graduating from the army, Leshchenko entered GITIS. In 1969, at the Moscow Operetta Theater, Lev was already a full member of the troupe, he had many roles on his account, but something was missing. He wanted a lot of work on the stage. In early 1970, he successfully passed the competition and became a soloist of the USSR State Radio and Television. Following this, he won the All-Union competition of variety artists. His popularity grew at a frantic pace, and rarely any concert on radio or television could do without the participation of Lev Leshchenko. In 1972, Leshchenko was the winner of two prestigious music competitions at once: the Bulgarian Golden Orpheus and the Polish Sopot. The victory in Sopot made him famous throughout the country, the fashion for Leshchenko began in the Soviet Union. One after another, he received awards and prizes: the Moscow Komsomol Prize (1973); the title of Honored Artist of the RSFSR (1977); Lenin Komsomol Prize (1978); Order of Friendship of Peoples (1980); the title of People's Artist of the RSFSR (1983); Order of the Badge of Honor (1985).

“Chubchik”, “Captain”, “I and my Masha are at the samovar”, “Black Eyes” are just a small part of the ageless hits performed by the legendary musician Pyotr Leshchenko.

In the first half of the 20th century, the easily recognizable voice of Peter Leshchenko sounded in different parts of the world, and the listeners were not embarrassed that the artist was singing in an unfamiliar language. What matters is how he does it. We recall the tragic life of a musician who was sung by all of Europe, but he was banned in his homeland...

From the church choir to the war

Pyotr Leshchenko was born in 1898 in the Kherson province of the Russian Empire, and spent his childhood in Chisinau. The son of a poor peasant woman did not know his own father, but the boy was lucky with his stepfather: Alexei Vasilyevich was one of the first to see an artist in him, he also gave his stepson a guitar.
The young man himself did not remain in debt, he helped his parents as best he could, earning money in the church choir. But already at the age of 16, Leshchenko's life changed dramatically: due to age-related voice changes, he could no longer participate in the choir. At the same time, the First World War began.
There are no patriotic words in Leshchenko's diaries that he wanted to fight for his homeland. The young man went to the front simply because he was left without a salary, and the “new job” almost cost him his life.
Already at the end of the summer of 1917, Ensign Leshchenko was seriously wounded in the Chisinau hospital. The treatment was long, but the Russian officer, who had not yet fully recovered, found out that he was now a Romanian subject - Bessarabia was declared a Romanian territory in 1918.
A turner for a private entrepreneur, a psalmist in a shelter church, a choir director in a church choir at a cemetery - and this is not a complete list of professions that the former military man had to earn his living. Only by the end of 1919 did pop activities become the main income of a born musician.


At the beginning of his career, Leshchenko performed in a guitar duet, as part of the Elizarov dance group, and in the Guslyar musical ensemble. The author's number was especially popular with the audience, where he played the balalaika, then, dressed in a Caucasian costume, went on stage with daggers in his teeth, dancing in a "squat".
Despite the approval of the public, Leshchenko considered his dance technique to be imperfect, so he entered the best French ballet school, where he met the Latvian dancer Zinaida Zakitt. They learned several numbers and began to perform in pairs in restaurants in Paris. Soon the young people registered their marriage, and a year later they celebrated the birth of their son Igor.
Finally, at the age of 32, Leshchenko began to go on stage alone and immediately gained overwhelming success. A huge role in this was played by his new friend, the famous composer Oscar Strok, who skillfully combined the intonations of Argentine tango with soulful Russian romances. He also helped Leshchenko record the first gramophone records, on which such hits as "Black Eyes", "Blue Rhapsody", "Tell me why" sounded.

Stage instead of service

On the eve of World War II, Leshchenko's tour of European countries was a success, and the best record companies in Europe opened their doors to him.
Leshchenko had no time for everything that was not connected with music, although during the war years the popular singer was suspected of collaborating with the USSR state security agencies and with the Nazis. In fact, the artist tried by all means to distance himself from politics, and even more so from the army - a military tribunal even tried him "for draft evasion."


At the end of 1941, Leshchenko received an offer from the Odessa Opera House to come to the city on tour, and after a long agreement, the Romanian side gave the artist permission to visit the city, which by that time had already been occupied by German-Romanian troops.
After familiar tangos, foxtrots, romances, the auditorium thanked the artist with an unprecedented standing ovation. However, the tour in the occupied city was remembered by Leshchenko not so much for the warm welcome of the public, but for the meeting with a new love. At one of the rehearsals, the popular musician met Vera Belousova, a student at the conservatory, and at the next meeting he proposed to her.
To marry a second time, Leshchenko still had to divorce his first wife, but she gave her husband a "warm" welcome. There is a version that it was Leshchenko's first wife, after asking for a divorce, that contributed to the fact that the army again remembered the musician, and he received another subpoena.


In every possible way, Leshchenko tried to "slope" from the service. He even decided to have an operation to remove his appendix, although there was no need for this. The artist spent some time in the hospital, but he did not manage to finally get a commission. As a result, the popular singer ended up in the military artistic group of the 6th division, and after that he received an order to go to the Crimea, where he continued to serve as the head of the officer's canteen.
As soon as in 1944 the musician received a long-awaited vacation, he went to Vera in Odessa to get married. And after he found out that his young wife and his family should be deported to Germany, he moved them to Bucharest.
It is known that after the Victory Leshchenko was looking for any opportunity to return to the Soviet Union, but he was not welcome there. Cooperation with a German recording studio and tours in Western countries did not go unnoticed.
Stalin himself spoke of Leshchenko as "the most vulgar and unprincipled white émigré tavern singer who stained himself with cooperation with the Nazi occupiers." The musician was also accused of forcing the Soviet citizen Belousova to move to Romania.


On March 26, 1951, a popular artist was arrested right during a concert in Romanian Brasov. The young wife of Leshchenko, who, like him, was accused of treason, was sentenced to 25 years, but in 1953 she was released due to lack of corpus delicti. Many years later, she learned that Leshchenko died in Tirgu-Okna prison on July 16, 1954, for an unknown reason. The location of his grave is unknown.
Elena Yakovleva

Romanian singer of Russian origin; bandleader. One of the most popular Russian-speaking performers of the 1930s.

Leshchenko was born on July 3, 1898 in the village of Isaevo, Kherson province (now the Odessa region of Ukraine). He studied at a rural school, sang in the church choir, joined the work early. His stepfather saw artistic inclinations in him and gave him a guitar. At the age of sixteen, he entered the Chisinau ensign school, but he was mobilized ahead of schedule to help the Romanian army and sent to the front. After a serious wound, he ended up in the hospital, where he was caught by the October Revolution.

Emigrant, Paris, marriage (1918-1926)

In connection with the separation of Bessarabia from Russia (January 1918), he suddenly became an emigrant. He worked as a carpenter, choirboy, assistant to the cathedral regent, dishwasher in a restaurant, worked part-time in cinemas and cafes. Feeling a lack of professional training, in 1923 he entered the ballet school in Paris. There he married nineteen-year-old dancer and classical ballerina Zinaida Zakis, a Latvian who came to France from Riga with a choreographic ensemble. They prepared several song and dance numbers.

Success, records, war (1926-1941)

In the summer of 1926 they made a tour of Europe and the Middle East and gained fame. In 1928 they returned to Chisinau. Leshchenko began his solo career at almost 32 years old and, nevertheless, unexpectedly found a resounding success.

The singer became friends with the famous composer Oscar Strok - the creator of the most popular tangos, romances, foxtrots and songs. It was Strok who managed to combine the intonations of the burning Argentinean tango with the melody and sincerity of the Russian romance.

Leshchenko performed and recorded the best works of the famous composer: "Black Eyes", "Blue Rhapsody", "Tell me why" and other tangos and romances of the maestro. He also worked with other talented composers, in particular with Mark Maryanovsky, the author of Tatyana, Miranda, and Nastya-berries. In 1932, two Englishmen were captivated by his vocal abilities and with their help Leshchenko recorded several works already in London. In 1933 he moved permanently to Bucharest. In 1935-1940, he collaborated there with the recording companies Bellacord and Columbia and recorded more than a hundred songs of various genres. In 1935, he again traveled to England, performed in restaurants, in 1938 - in Riga, in 1940 - in Paris ...

Tour in occupied Odessa, second marriage (1941-1951)

In 1941, Romania, together with Germany, entered the war against the USSR. Leshchenko at that time was on tour in Paris. With great difficulty, he managed to return to Bucharest, where he continued to perform in his restaurant.

The question of conscripting Leshchenko into the Romanian army was repeatedly raised, but Leshchenko managed to avoid being sent to the front. He was even tried by a military tribunal "for draft evasion." Long before the occupation of Odessa, Leshchenko received an offer from the director of the Odessa Opera House, Selyavin, to give a concert in Odessa. Tickets were sold out, posters were hung around the city when Odessa was occupied by German-Romanian troops. The concert was postponed, as there were difficulties with the arrival of Leshchenko. The director of the theater obtained permission from the cultural and educational department of the governorate for Leshchenko to arrive. Pyotr Konstantinovich left for Odessa.

In April 1942, he arrived in Nazi-occupied Odessa, where he held a triumphal concert. At one of his rehearsals, he saw Vera Belousova. I learned from the musicians that she sings in the cinema and accompanied herself on the accordion. He liked the girl, her voice, demeanor, and she was beautiful. He met her and invited her to his concert. Vera Belousova studied at the Odessa Conservatory. Their romance developed rapidly, despite the fact that Peter was 25 years older than Vera.

In April 1943, in order to again avoid being drafted into the active Romanian army, at the suggestion of a doctor friend, he agreed to an operation to remove the appendix. He spent ten days in the hospital, then he was granted leave for 25 days. After the vacation, there was an order to report to the operational department of the headquarters of the infantry regiment in Kerch. But Leshchenko did not go to the regiment, but returned to Odessa. He managed to get a job in a military artistic group. As part of this team, he performed in the Romanian military units. In October 1943, he was forced to leave for Kerch, where until mid-March 1944 he served as head of the canteen at the headquarters of an infantry regiment. In May 1944, he divorced Zinaida Zakis and registered his marriage with Vera Belousova. In September 1944, after the liberation of Bucharest by the Red Army, Leshchenko gave concerts in hospitals, military garrisons, and officers' clubs. He performed patriotic songs composed by him about Russian girls - "Natasha", "Nadya-Nadechka", sang "Dark Night" by Nikita Bogoslovsky, popular Russian songs. His new wife also performed with him. Their concerts were also attended by major military leaders - Marshals Zhukov and Konev.

In 1944-1945, Leshchenko changed his repertoire and sad tonality began to dominate in his songs: "Tramp", "Bell", "Mother's Heart", "Evening Ringing", "Don't Leave".

From the summer of 1948, the couple performed in various cafes and cinemas in Bucharest. Then they found work in the newly created Variety Theater.

Leshchenko found out the possibility of returning to the Soviet Union, turned to the "competent authorities", wrote letters to Stalin and Kalinin with a request for Soviet citizenship. It is difficult to say what guided him in this, because he was immediately told that Vera Belousova was considered a traitor in the USSR.

Arrest, prison and death (1951-1954)

Official Soviet propaganda during Stalin's time characterized him: "The most vulgar and unprincipled white émigré tavern singer, who stained himself with cooperation with the Nazi occupiers." On March 26, 1951, on the direct orders of the Ministry of State Security of the USSR, Leshchenko was arrested by the state security authorities of Romania during the intermission after the first part of the concert in Brasov and placed in a prison near Bucharest. On August 5, 1952, Belousova, who, like Leshchenko, was accused of treason (performances in occupied Odessa), was sentenced to 25 years in prison. In 1953, she was released for lack of corpus delicti. Many years later, his wife found out: Peter Konstantinovich became one of the thousands of builders of the Danube Canal in Romania and died on July 16, 1954 at the age of 56, either from a stomach ulcer or from poisoning. The location of his grave is unknown. The archives of the Soviet and Romanian KGB in the case of Leshchenko have not yet been investigated.

Resurgence in popularity in 1988

During his creative life, the singer recorded over 180 gramophone discs, but until 1988 none of these recordings was reissued in the USSR. The first disc from the Pyotr Leshchenko Sings series was released by the Melodiya company on the 90th anniversary of the singer's birth in 1988 and in the same year took first place in the TASS hit parade.