Alexander Vasilyevich Alexandrov

Aleksandr Vasil'evič Aleksandrov (Russian Александр Васильевич Александров, viss. transliteration Aleksandr Vasil'evič Aleksandrov; * 1.^jul. / 13. April 1883greg. in Plachino near Ryazan; † 8. July 1946 in Berlin) was a Russian and Soviet composer and choral conductor.

Alexandrov studied sacred music at the St. Petersburg Conservatory with Anatoly Konstantinovich Lyadov and Alexander Konstantinovich Glasunov and in Moscow with Sergei Nikiforovich Vasilenko. He was first a music teacher in Tver, and from 1922 a teacher of music theory at the Moscow Conservatory. On October 12, 1928, he founded and subsequently directed the Red Army song and dance ensemble, the Alexandrov Ensemble.

In 1941 he composed the song The Holy War, in 1943 the anthem of the Soviet Union. It remained the Soviet national anthem until the collapse of the Soviet Union and became the anthem of the Russian Federation with new lyrics from 2000.

For his services he was honored in 1937 as People's Artist of the USSR, and in 1942 and 1946 was awarded the Stalin Prize. He was also awarded the Order of Lenin.

He died in 1946 when or after visiting Berlin during a tour of Poland and Czechoslovakia by the Alexandrov Ensemble. Alexandrov's death is often mistakenly associated with the legendary concert of the Alexandrov Ensemble at the Gendarmenmarkt in Berlin. However, this took place only on 18 August 1948.

Alexandrov composed an opera, a symphony, a symphonic poem, choral works and folk song arrangements.

During the celebration of the 65th anniversary of the victory over Germany in the German-Soviet War, a military orchestra of more than a thousand members played Alexandrov's song The Holy War in Moscow's Red Square on May 9, 2010.