Soviet "Beatles" and the smell of freedom: how the cartoon "The Bremen Town Musicians" was created

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Famous cartoon "The Bremen Town Musicians" was released in 1969 and has since become a favorite of several generations of viewers. For the 1960s. it was a real revolution - the story of four unusual musicians, similar to hippies, was quite bold. The animated musical was called “a breath of freedom” for adults and just a good fairy tale for children. The history of its creation was no less interesting than the cartoon itself.

It all started with the idea of filmmaker Inessa Kovalevskaya, who decided to create an animated musical film for children. She dreamed that the audience "sang the cartoon." We chose the Brothers Grimm fairy tale "The Musicians of Bremen", which at first seemed to the authors not the best in the collection, and, moreover, was not dynamic enough. “When I read the script about four animals that roam the world, meet robbers, scare them, and then settle in their house, I was horrified. But such nonsense has not yet been filmed, and the cartoon was supposed to be made unusual - in the form of a musical. And I decided - I will! I will only alter a little bit,”recalls Kovalevskaya.

The poet Yuri Entin, the author of the lyrics for all the songs of the cartoon, turned to the artist and writer Vasily Livanov for help. He showed him the first song, written after reading the tale - "The Robbers" - and explained the plan. Livanov approved the song and joined the work on the cartoon. They decided to add the Troubadour to the company of wandering musicians, and at the suggestion of the composer Gennady Gladkov, they also introduced a love line. So the Princess appeared in the fairy tale, and after her the King.

To record the music for the cartoon, we agreed with the Melodiya recording studio and invited the Akkord quartet. The ensemble did not arrive at the appointed time, they had to urgently look for a replacement. Oleg Anofriev, who was supposed to sing only the part of the Troubadour, had to perform other parts in different voices. He could even sing for the Atamansha!

The appearance of the heroes was created by the artist Max Zherebchevsky. The first option was rejected, as the characters did not correspond to rock and roll music. The Troubadour's type, after much debate, was found in a foreign magazine with portraits of avant-garde musicians. The princess dress was also looked at in an overseas fashion magazine.

For the longest time they could not decide on the appearance of the robbers. But then a calendar appeared in the studio with the popular comedians Nikulin, Vitsin and Morgunov. The controversial issue has been resolved!

Yuri Entin recalls: “It was the 1960s, the foreign world was ruled by hippies, even we had an unreal smell of freedom. We were also very young, and we desperately wanted to do something different. But the most important thing is that our composition was absolutely not like anything that existed then, in the late 60s. Our Bremenskys were a real discovery, a breakthrough to freedom. Then the Beatles were already known, and we also had four musicians in the Bremenskys. Our Bremenskys fell in love even with the then dudes, who did not recognize a single work of the "scoop"."

The cartoon was censored, but later the problems still began. Some film critics called the cartoon "a spoiled fairy tale", others argued that the "Bremen Town Musicians" had a detrimental effect on young people, the creative team was accused of promoting pernicious Western culture. As a result, the cartoon did not receive any awards.

Simultaneously with the release of the cartoon, a disc was released, which sold millions of copies. Oleg Anofriev was invited to speak at the Kremlin Palace of Congresses, and he, pointing his hand at the government tribunes, sang: "We will never be replaced by tempting arches of palaces with freedom!" After that, Anofriev did not record anywhere and did not perform for a long time.

And later, a monument was even erected to the "Bremen Town Musicians": 7 monuments to your favorite characters from Russian cartoons