early years
We will begin telling the biography of Maya Kristalinskaya in 1932, when the heroine of our article was born in Moscow in the family of editor Vladimir Grigorievich and his wife Valentina.
It is generally accepted that the fate of the future artist was determined by her uncle Pavel Zlatogorov, who at that time worked as a director in a musical theater. He was married to her father's cousin Lilia, who played at the Stanislavsky Theater. For one of his birthdays, he gave Maya a harmonica. Despite her young age, the heroine of our article quickly mastered this musical instrument, and soon began performing popular military songs at that time, for example, “Blue Handkerchief” or “Friends and Fellow Soldiers” in front of her family and friends.
Maya’s father, although he was very busy at work, still managed to lead a circle at the House of Pioneers. He was visited by Valentina Kotelkina, who became the singer’s best friend for many years. They were united by a passion for creativity.
Biography
Maya Kristalinskaya is a famous Soviet singer with a unique voice. She sang as if she had known the listener for a long time, which attracted citizens from all over the country. For everyone, Maya seemed like a dear and familiar girl.
At the end of the twenties of the last century, a girl, Maya, was born into the family of Valentina and Vladimir Kristalinsky (contrary to popular belief, this is a real surname, not a pseudonym), who worked as an editor in several printed publications - unfortunately, due to a congenital illness, the child died a few years later . On February 24, 1932, the couple had another girl, who was again named Maya.
Maya Kristalinskaya | Records
The fate of the future artist must have been determined by her uncle Pavel Zlatogorov, who worked as a musical theater director. During the celebrations of one of Maya's birthdays, he gave her a harmonica. The girl, despite her young age, taught herself to play, and soon began to sing popular military songs at that time: “Friends and Fellow Soldiers,” “Blue Handkerchief,” and so on.
The girl’s comprehensively developed father, despite his active professional activities, found time to lead a circle in the House of Pioneers. From the age of ten, Valentina Kotelkina began visiting him, who would become Maya Kristalinskaya’s best friend for life. They were united by a love of creativity - in particular, singing.
Maya Kristalinskaya in childhood
At her school, Maya could perform on stage without preparation to the accompaniment of the piano. Her talent for singing was noticed and she was invited to join the choir of the Central Palace of Children of Railway Workers, whose director was the outstanding composer Isaac Dunaevsky, but she did not even think about becoming a professional singer. Maya was a comprehensively developed girl - she showed success in both mathematics and literature, and a foreign language was easy for her.
Maya Kristalinskaya in her youth
Before receiving a passport, the future singer, Russian on her mother’s side, but Jewish on her father’s side, decided to consult with Kotelkina about what nationality should be recorded in the documents. She immediately said: “According to our laws, nationality is determined by the father.” Maya could not imagine that in the 1960s she would not be allowed on television because of the choice she made.
Education
At school, Maya constantly demonstrated her talent. For example, she could perform on stage with virtually no preparation to the accompaniment of the piano. The leaders of the choir of the Central Palace of Children of Railway Workers drew attention to her abilities. At that time it was led by the famous composer Isaac Dunaevsky.
The singer herself admitted that at that time she did not even think that her fate would be connected with performing on stage. Being a comprehensively developed child, she demonstrated success in literature, mathematics, and foreign languages.
The incident came out before the girl was about to receive her first passport. The fact is that she was Russian on her mother’s side, and Jewish on her father’s side. Maya decided to consult with her friend Kotelkina about what nationality she should write down in the document. She replied that it has always been customary to determine origin by father. This fleeting decision played a certain role in the biography of Maya Kristalinskaya. But then she could not imagine that because of one column in her passport in the 60s she would not be allowed on television.
After graduating from school, the heroine of our article entered the capital’s aviation institute. Together with Valentina Kotelkina, they became students at the Faculty of Aircraft Economics. Five years later they received diplomas as engineers and economists. According to their assignment, they were sent to an aircraft plant in Novosibirsk.
Factory work
This was not the brightest streak in the biography of Maya Kristalinskaya. She recalls that the plant management greeted them coldly, without even offering them a place in the dormitory.
Everything about this job repulsed them: swearing women, dirty workshops, mocking and arrogant attitude from management. Soon the friends decided to quit this job and simply run away. They returned to Moscow, and a complaint came from the plant demanding that the negligent employees be brought to justice.
However, the girls were lucky. The head of the main department knew them well, he was one of the reviewers of Kristalinskaya’s diploma, so they found a new place of work in the capital - in Yakovlev’s design bureau.
Institute and distribution
In the summer of 1950, Maya and her friend Valya became students at the Faculty of Aircraft Economics of the Moscow Aviation Institute.
At the institute, Kristalinskaya, as in her school years, sang in the choir. The managers noticed that the quiet and modest Maya had an almost perfectly trained voice by nature.
In the choir, Kristalinskaya had another friend, Galya Kareva, who in the future became the prima of Alexandrinka. Galya began to insist that Maya, having such a unique gift, devote her life to singing. But Kristalinskaya took this calmly and in 1955 she graduated from the Moscow Aviation Institute, received a diploma and was assigned to Novosibirsk (here she had to work at the Chkalov plant for three years).
Maya and her friend Valya went to the capital of Siberia to master the profession they had acquired at the institute and participate in cultural life (at least that’s what they thought when they were traveling by train to Novosibirsk). But the reality turned out to be not so rosy. The deputy director of the plant did not greet the girls very warmly and appointed them to the position of issuers (to issue parts to workers) with a salary of 730 rubles, which was not much at that time. The young professionals were not even offered a room in the dormitory; the director’s secretary took the girls to the “red corner”, where she assigned them a sofa for the night.
Later they were placed in a room at the accounting department, which the girls called among themselves a casemate. Maya and Valya asked the director to let them go back home to Moscow, to which they received a stern: “No!” Dirty production facilities, scolding women, 10-12 hour working days - all this contributed to the fact that the girls simply ran away.
A paper arrived from the Novosibirsk plant in Moscow stating that Kristalinskaya and Kotelkina left their jobs without permission, for which they must be prosecuted. Such a complaint was received by the Ministry of Aviation Industry. But the girls were lucky. The head of the main department was a reviewer for Mayin’s diploma, which she defended with “excellent” marks. He did not spoil the girls’ work history, took pity on them and assigned them to work in the Moscow design bureau under the leadership of general designer Yakovlev.
There was a lot of work, the manager was strict, so Maya spent almost the entire working day at the drawing board and spent only 15 minutes of her lunch break rehearsing concerts, and in the evenings she performed at the Central House of Children of Railway Workers.
During a break in the rehearsal, workers from all the KB laboratories came running to listen to Kristalinskaya. Soon, the young composer Yuri Saulsky, who was organizing a jazz ensemble for the festival of youth and students in Moscow, heard about the talented genius working in the design bureau.
Passion for music
Despite her workload, the heroine of our article did not give up her music studies, attending the amateur club of the Central House of Artists.
In 1957, in honor of the World Festival of Youth and Students in the USSR, it was allowed to organize a jazz orchestra, although the musical genre itself was then prohibited in the country. Composer Yuri Saulsky invited Kristalinskaya to participate in it.
Her performances captivated the audience, but they were assessed negatively in the press. The newspaper “Soviet Culture” even published a review entitled “Musical dudes.” Saulsky's work was criticized; everyone who took part in the work of the orchestra was expelled from the House of Artists.
Professional singer
After working for the required three years in a design bureau, the heroine of our article quit to devote herself to music. Singer Maya Kristalinskaya had already actually become a professional artist by that time. She went on tour with Eddie Rosner's orchestra.
Real popularity came to her in 1960, when Yevgeny Tishkov’s war drama “Thirst” appeared on Soviet screens. It featured Maya Kristalinskaya’s song “You and I are two shores.” Literally the next morning after the film's release, the artist woke up famous. Maya Kristalinskaya's album with recordings of songs from the film sold 7 million copies. The composition was played on the radio almost every day.
Popularity
The whole country fell in love with the voice of the heroine of our article. She released a large number of hits. Among them are the songs “And outside the window it’s raining, then it’s snowing”, “And it’s snowing”, “Grandchildren”, “Our mothers”. Photos of Maya Kristalinskaya were published in popular Soviet newspapers and magazines.
In her creative biography, she was lucky enough to work with the best composers and performers of that time in the Soviet Union. These are Joseph Kobzon, Mikael Tariverdiev, Valentina Tolkunova.
In 1966, Kristalinskaya was recognized as the main pop singer of the year; at that time she was at the peak of her popularity. The composition “Tenderness” performed by her, which was performed in Tatyana Lioznova’s melodrama “Three Poplars on Plyushchikha,” became a hit for many years.
A dramatic change in her biography will occur just a few years after the change of chairman of the State Committee of the Soviet Union for Television and Radio Broadcasting. The artist will virtually become persona non grata on the national stage for many years to come.
Creation
Saulsky’s amateur ensemble was called “First Steps”, Kristalinkaya became its soloist. Already in 1957, at the Moscow youth festival, the group received the title of laureate of a song competition.
After the festival, a devastating publication was published in “Soviet Culture”, where the group was nicknamed “musical dudes”, the ensemble “First Steps” had to be closed, but Kristalinskaya’s magical voice sank into the hearts of listeners, Maya began to gain fame as a singer.
She continued to work in the bureau, took vacations at her own expense and went on tour. In the summer of 1958, Maya took out two months of vacation at once (another one at her own expense). She went on a long tour of Transcaucasia. This summer became fateful; Kristalinskaya never returned to work. She understood the magnitude of the audience's love when, after one of the concerts, a young girl handed her her institute record book for an autograph.
Maya was absolutely unlike other pop stars: she sang on stage not in concert dresses, but in casual suits, as if she had just run out for a break from her design bureau, and would now sing and go back to work. For this and for her amazingly clear, gentle voice, her fans idolized her. The manner of her performance was absolutely individual, there was so much soulfulness in her voice that newspapers often called Kristalinskaya “homey,” “cozy,” “the mother of the Soviet stage.”
The most popular composers and songwriters wrote songs for her, she collaborated with the jazz orchestras of Oleg Lundstrem and Eddie Rosner, records with Kristalinskaya’s songs sold out in no time.
In the late 60s - early 70s of the 20th century, Maya became a symbol of Soviet pop music; her songs were constantly played on radio and television, they were sung when it was fun, in large and noisy companies, and when sad, alone:
- “Stomp, stomp, the baby is stomping”;
- “We choose, we are chosen”;
- “And in the Moscow region”;
- "Snow is falling";
- “Now it’s snow, now it’s raining”;
- “Today is a holiday for the girls”;
- "Old Maple";
- “This will never happen again”;
- “You and I met by chance in life.”
The most popular song performed by Maya is considered the composition “Tenderness,” which viewers know from the film “Three Poplars on Plyushchikha.”
Unfortunately, Maya was crushed by Soviet reality. Officials in power admitted that there was a lot of sadness in her songs, and the Soviet singer was supposed to sing only happy songs. First, her performances on television were banned, then concerts in big cities; she was only allowed to sing in rural clubs in the Ryazan, Oryol and Tula regions.
But no matter where Maya sang, her concerts always had full houses, Kristalinskaya captivated the audience with her soulful manner of performance and absolutely unstellar, modest appearance. In 1966, viewers recognized her as the best singer of the Soviet Union. She received the title of Honored Artist in 1974, but for listeners she was truly a People's Artist.
Health problems
Despite popularity, fame and success, at the end of the 60s a difficult period began in Kristalinskaya’s life. After she performs the romance “It’s Raining in Our City” on New Year’s broadcast, management accuses her of “promoting sadness,” and the singer’s number of broadcasts is sharply reduced.
At the same time, doctors discover she has a serious illness for her profession - a tumor of the lymph glands. This is an oncological disease that can cause numbness in the lymph nodes in a person’s neck.
For a long time, Kristalinskaya was treated, and at concerts she performed with a scarf around her neck to hide traces of the disease. After all, her lymph nodes were greatly enlarged. Over time, the scarf became her calling card, present in almost all of her images. At the same time, the audience did not even suspect that these were not details of style, but a necessary measure. On tour, she had to take entire suitcases of medications with her.
With the arrival of Sergei Lapin to the leadership of Gosteleradio, Kristalinskaya was almost completely removed from television. Presumably, this was due to her nationality indicated in her passport, since Lapin was rumored to be an anti-Semite.
Over time, the heroine of our article began not only to sing, but also to try herself in journalism. She wrote articles and notes for Evening Moscow and translated the biographical book of Marlene Dietrich “Reflections” into Russian.
Maya Kristalinskaya
Maya Kristalinskaya was born on February 24, 1932. Diletant.media publishes a biography and a selection of video clips of this singer.
At the end of the 20s, Vladimir Kristalinsky and his wife had a girl, whom they named Maya. But the child lived only two years. The parents' grief was inconsolable, and when a girl was born again on February 24, 1932, she was also named Maya. She will become a famous singer.
Her father made a living by writing and creating puzzles and charades for various publications. His sister’s husband worked as a director in a musical theater, and it was he who gave little Maya an harmonica, which she learned to play on her own. She also loved to sing.
As a child, Maya taught herself to play the harmonica
The girl studied well, she was good at mathematics, literature, and a foreign language. In the end, she ended up in the choir of the CDJ (Central Palace of Children of Railway Workers), which was directed by I. Dunaevsky himself. On a graduation evening in June 1950 on Manezhnaya Square, Maya decided to sing for a random audience. She sang “Friends and Fellow Soldiers”, “Blue Handkerchief” and other songs of the recent war years. Her next performances before the public took place when Maya was already studying at the Moscow Aviation Institute and, of course, actively participated in student activities.
After working at an aircraft factory in Novosibirsk after college, Maya returned to Moscow and began working at Yakovlev’s design bureau, continuing to participate in amateur performances, this time in the pop ensemble of the Central House of Artists (CDRI). And then, fortunately for the aspiring singer, the World Festival of Youth and Students was held in Moscow. Kristalinskaya's performances at the festival venues were noticed. Very supportive of colleagues and very angry with party journalism. In the article “Musical dudes”, the ensemble with which Maya performed suffered greatly. However, as they say, you cannot stop the course of history.
Maya was married to Arkady Arkanov for only a year
In 1957, the singer married one of her admirers, a young physician, Arkady Arkanov, who later became a famous satirist writer. But their marriage did not last long - after a year they separated. Too much in her and his fate changed dramatically at that time. Kristalinskaya was already gaining fame in musical circles, combining work in a design bureau with performances on the stage. The State Concert offered her a tour of Transcaucasia: Baku, Tbilisi, Yerevan. The ardent southern public received the singer with delight. She receives an offer in the capital to become a professional artist and soon performs with the famous jazz orchestras of Oleg Lundstrem and Eddie Rosner.
The record with the song “Two Shores” sold 7 million copies.
Cities and audiences replaced each other, records were released one after another. The songs “Silence”, “Princess-Nesmeyana”, “Perhaps”, “It’s raining in our city”, “You have such eyes”, “Thank you, stork”, “August is coming” and dozens of others performed by Kristalinskaya were adored by the whole country. The singer was one of the first to perform Bulat Okudzhava’s song “Ah, Arbat” on stage, which had previously been heard only in tape recordings. The record with the song “Two Shores” sold 7 million copies in a country where not every home had a record player. A unique musical series about a boy and a girl from the same yard, which opened with Kobzon’s song “And in our yard” and ended with Kristalinskaya’s melancholic song “And everything came true and didn’t come true,” also became a huge success. She received wide recognition after the release of the film “Thirst”, in which she performed A. Eshpai’s song based on the poem by G. Pozhenyan “You and I are two shores”. The record with the recording of this song sold 7 million copies. In 1966, television viewers named Kristalinskaya the best singer of the year. She recorded several songs in English: Solovyov-Sedoy's Moscow Evenings, M. Fradkin's Volga Flows, in Polish A. Pakhmutova's Old Maple and A. Eshpaya's Muscovites. She collaborated with many famous composers A. Pakhmutova, A. Babajanyan, L. Lyadova, M. Tariverdiev. The song Tenderness (A. Pakhmutova, N. Dobronravov) is considered the pinnacle of Kristalinskaya’s singing art. In 1974, the singer was awarded the honorary title of Honored Artist of the RSFSR.
From the outside everything looked great. In fact, the life of Maya Kristalinskaya from the mid-60s, with the end of the “thaw,” became more and more difficult. Yes, there were tours abroad, the love of millions of people, records, radio and television. But after the song “It’s Raining in Our City” at the New Year’s “Blue Light,” television management accused the singer of promoting sadness, which should not happen in our sunny country. Her relationship with her new heart friend, a famous journalist, did not work out either. But the worst thing is the disease that Maya developed in the mid-60s: a tumor of the lymph glands. Performances on the stage were followed by long-term treatment in hospitals.
When she was not allowed to sing, Kristalinskaya wrote wonderful articles in “Evening Moscow” and translated Marlene Dietrich’s book “Reflections” into Russian. A loving husband, architect Edward Barclay, appeared. And suddenly everything came to an abrupt end. In the summer of 1984, Barclay died suddenly. Maya’s speech deteriorated, and her arms and legs began to fail. In the spring of 1985, her speech completely disappeared; she could only cry. Maya Vladimirovna Kristalinskaya died in the hospital on June 19, 1985. There is an epitaph on her grave: “You didn’t leave, you just left, you’ll come back and sing again.” To this day, the singer’s work is widely in demand, and her name is forever included in the pantheon of the brightest stars of our stage.
Family
The personal life of Maya Kristalinskaya was not easy; she was married twice. Her first husband, Arkady Arkanov, had just graduated from medical school at that time. The young people were practically the same age - Arkanov was a year younger.
They met in early 1958 and signed in the summer. Moreover, the newlyweds informed their parents about this after the incident. The amazed relatives were not delighted, so, according to recollections, the festive wedding dinner took place in complete silence.
Years later, Arkanov would claim that he met the singer on a dare, but there was never real love between them. In addition, according to their mutual friends, the husband was jealous of his wife’s success, since at that time he himself worked as an ordinary local doctor, and Kristalinskaya’s popularity grew every day.
Already in October 1958, Arkanov went to vote at his parents’ place of registration, but never returned. The couple divorced, remaining on friendly terms.
An important role in the biography and personal life of Maya Kristalinskaya was played by her second husband, architect and designer Eduard Barclay. He took care of the singer when she was diagnosed with a serious illness. It was thanks to him that she was able to live for so long. Maya Kristalinskaya and her husband never had children.
Death
However, Edward himself also had health problems. In the summer of 1984, he died of diabetes.
For the artist, his death was a heavy blow, as he remained her support and support over the past many years. Almost immediately after the death of her husband, Maya’s cancer worsened. She was able to live alone for only a short time.
In June 1985, at the age of 53, Kristalinskaya died. But just before that, she was completely speechless. Ironically, the singer, whose songs were admired throughout the country, could not utter a word in recent months. The disease finally got the better of her. And after the loss of a close and beloved person, there was no one to support her.
Farewell to the singer was organized at the Central House of Artists. Throughout the civil funeral service, her songs were played, and the coffin was carried out of the building to the composition “Rus”. The heroine of our article is buried in the capital’s New Donskoye Cemetery.
Birth and family
Maya was born in Moscow on February 24, 1932. The family where the girl was born was Russian-Jewish.
Dad, Vladimir Grigorievich Kristalinsky, was from the Chernigov province. In Mogilev, he studied at a real school, then at the art and design department of the Higher Art and Technical Courses in Moscow. He was a mathematician, worked in the All-Russian Society of the Blind, and compiled all kinds of puzzles, children's games and crosswords, which were often published in Pionerskaya Pravda. In 1958, the Detsky Mir publishing house published the book “Minute Jokes,” the author of which was Maya Kristalinskaya’s father. Vladimir Grigorievich willingly taught classes for children at the House of Pioneers (later the institution was renamed the Central House of Children of Railway Workers).
Mother, Kristalinskaya Valentina Yakovlevna (maiden name Pytkina), was born in Pavlodar.
After the wedding, my parents moved to Moscow. At the end of the 20s, their first girl was born, she was named Maya, but at the age of two the baby died. For Vladimir and Valentina Kristalinsky, this was a severe blow, from which they were able to recover only with the birth of their second daughter in 1932, she was given the same name Maya.
