View from Munich: “Life is the most important miracle”

To the 95th anniversary of Alexander Merlin

This year, on June 25, the Russian-speaking Munich planned to get to the long-awaited evening of meeting with the beloved by many author, composer, screenwriter, creator and director of the Song Theater, veteran of the Great Patriotic War Alexander Merlin. The concert was timed to coincide with the big anniversary – Alexander Yulievich celebrated his 95th birthday on this day! Not only the participants of his Song Theater were supposed to perform on the stage, but also writers, poets, musicians, friends and colleagues.

The situation has changed – a virus prevented a big holiday. The organization of this event had to be postponed. But Alexander Yulievich and I managed to make a holiday for the soul – to communicate on many interesting, not only creative topics …

Our reference:

Alexander Merlin is a playwright, composer, screenwriter, and artist. Brilliant entertainer. For the first time in front of the audience, the artist performed in 1946 in the Far East as part of a concert brigade, immediately after demobilization from the border troops of the Soviet army.

The songs of Alexander Merlin were performed by the greats Klavdiya Shulzhenko, Eduard Khil, and novice artists of the theaters of Leningrad. He has written over 3,000 stage productions, including over a hundred plays, musical performances and revues. His works were published in the magazines “Neva”, “Aurora” and “Soviet stage”.

The playwright has been living in Munich for many years; he created the Song Theater here.

Member of the Great Patriotic War, served in the border troops in the Far East. He participated in the war with Japan in August – September 1945. He was awarded medals “For Victory over Japan”, “For the Defense of Leningrad”, “75 Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War.”

Alexander Merlin: Yes, ninety-five turned … If you think about it – almost a century. Life is the most important miracle that someone has given us. In the morning, when I just get up, the first thing I do is make my dreams of joy! All day. I know my day. I know what I have to do, where to go. And I do all this so that it brings me joy. From communicating with someone, from doing household chores. I have a lot of communication on the Internet, and I don’t even have to talk about the phone. And what an indescribable joy from communicating with my Vasilisa. This beautiful kitty was brought to me by my daughter from St. Petersburg. With Vasilisa we talk about everything – cats, these are the most intelligent creatures. Moreover, they are still unsolved by humanity. I also have a secret why I love cats. I have not yet revealed this secret, until today. I will reveal it for the first time in the new book I am writing now. One of the short stories will be called: “Why I fell in love with cats” …

Everything related to animals has always interested me. I watch any program about animals with pleasure. I get the joy of communicating with my fish – we have already developed a whole ceremony. Then my flowers are waiting for me. You need to water the flowers, rejoice at them. Then I have to continue writing my book, the second. It will consist of short stories. Then go to the store. And all this is a joy …

─ Alexander Yulievich, you were supposed to be on stage at the piano for the whole concert at the anniversary. Tell me, is it not a miracle to play for two or three hours at concerts at that age?

─ I believe this is a miracle supported by German medicine. German medicine – it has worked miracles with me many times. How many moments were in my life when doctors here simply pulled me out of the other world. I was resurrected in the full sense of the word. Here I am sitting in front of you, my legs are walking, my hands are in order. But I had broken arms, had injuries to my legs. I could no longer walk, they had already discharged me a wheelchair. And the legs started walking again – isn’t it a miracle? Isn’t it a miracle that after operations, after hand fractures, the fingers continue to play, run on the keys! And playing the instrument for three hours is not a job for me, but a joy!

And how many times God saved me from death, so they say in the language of believers. I have my own fellowship with God. One should always communicate spiritually. Confess to someone. Personally, so that no one knows about it. We are all sinful in some way … Therefore, sometimes I want to repent a little.

And from death, either God keeps me, or I was born in a happy shirt. I should have died a hundred times already. And I, as you see, live. Well, we don’t mean the blockade. War too. They could die there every day. But in a peaceful life … You know, I could have died in a plane crash, I could have died under a bus. Once I was saved by a trolleybus conductor from being stabbed in the stomach. Even here, and even then, I did not accidentally die from the fast train that was coming towards me. There are many such examples.

─ Tell me, when you came to Munich twenty years ago, how did you come to the idea that you need to create something, how did the Song Theater appear?

─ When I arrived in Munich, I was immediately invited to hold a recital at the Jewish Cultural Center. They were interested – an artist, an author arrived. I spoke, talked at a concert about my performances, songs, creative activities. After that, the choir leader, who already existed in Munich at that time, approached me. We talked for a long time, talked about the possibility of creating some new concert forms. We thought for a long time and now we did it. It’s a pity you didn’t see our first performance.

─ What was it called?

─ Let’s sing the history of Russia. It was a unique performance. First, we showed it eleven times in Munich. Then immigration arrived. New viewers all the time. Shown, including at the University. In the hall were not only students who studied at the Faculty of Slavic Studies. There were many German youth from other faculties. And at the end, when we sang “Katyusha”, the whole audience sang with us.

The second performance was also wonderful, it was called “Moonlight Sonata” …

I was on the operating table again last month. It was necessary to operate on the eye. For a long time, the doctors were afraid to contact me – anesthesia for such an operation needs complete, and it was difficult for them to decide on this. But I convinced them not to be afraid. So, for some reason, anesthesia during the operation did not completely take me over. And I, lying on the table and trying to distract myself from the pain I felt, just wrote a song. About birches. Just about birches, which are beautiful everywhere – even in Russia, even in Germany. I realized this when I came to Germany.

By the way, the anesthesiologist at that operation turned out to be Russian-speaking. He then said to me: “Yes, Mr. Merlin. You are truly an unusual person. After all, I lay down on the operating table and wrote a song. “

─ Continuing the topic of the miraculous … Do you think miracles are really miracles? Or are we just collecting some facts, coincidences and just inventing all this ourselves?

─ Well, you know, Freud said: “Nothing is accidental, everything has a root cause.” Well, first of all, as I said, our life is a miracle. The greatest miracle that has been created in the world.

This year, on my 95th birthday, I had one hundred and forty-nine congratulations! Isn’t it a miracle? Who am i? But it means that people who love me congratulated me.

In general, I’m not the same as you saw me before. Strength is already leaving me … But I came to the conclusion – fortitude is the most effective medicine of all the medicines that are. And in this phenomenon all the substances necessary for a person for his existence are concentrated.

I live according to three mottos. My first motto is: “Take your time.” We are always hustling. This cannot be done. When you fuss, you don’t have time anymore. You waste your health and nerves. Everything must be done calmly and measuredly.

My second motto is: “Do not be lazy to fight laziness.” Laziness is present in every person. This is very wicked. You have to fight this laziness, then you do a lot. Here, you have to wash the dishes, so you have to get up and wash. And not to say: “Oh, I’ll rest now, and wash it later.” You can’t!

My third motto: “Exclude from life two words:” later “and” I will have time! ” I said goodbye to them forever. Has long been. We will not be in time and we will not do anything later. Life is moving forward rapidly. We must do everything now!

Joy should be sought in everything where possible. Then leaving this life will not be a tragedy. Do you know what Gorky said? Birth and death are one and the same celebration. The man leaves just as solemnly. There is no need to gasp or lament. First, we don’t know what kind of world he went to. So, it is necessary to solemnly meet – the person was born. And just as solemnly conduct. And this is some kind of sermyaga, I’ll tell you. That’s all. The joy is that a person lived with us, did, did good. We got joy when he lived. And now everyone, let him sleep calmly. Now I look at funerals differently. I think how a person lived, how much good he did. This is the triumph of life.

And I can also say that patriotism is a double feeling. Look, I have been cut off from Russia for twenty years. I am out of touch, but here I am not bad. Germany cannot become a native. The homeland cannot be “second”. It doesn’t work that way. We are sitting with you in Bavaria. Is this your homeland? Your Motherland is the Krasnodar Territory, close to your heart. My Motherland is also in Russia. There are our roots … But we respect this country. The sky, of course, is the same everywhere, the trees are the same. But this, of course, has nothing to do with the Motherland.

I have lived here for the twenty years I have lived, what football team do you think I root for? That’s right, for Zenit! Because Zenit is also part of the Motherland.

─ Are there places in Russia where you have not been?

─ Wherever I’ve been … Well, when the Soviet Union was, I rarely visited Central Asia. And so, he traveled all over the country.

– Have you been to Kaliningrad?

─ In Kaliningrad? There was, of course, more than once. What are you, I wrote programs there. In Kaliningrad, there was a wonderful jazz orchestra at the Philharmonic. I wrote a program for the Baltic Fleet Ensemble. I have a lot to do with Kaliningrad. A lot is also connected with Ukraine. I flew to Kamchatka four times. I have been to the Arctic Circle, in the Far North. In Altai. Altai Territory is very beautiful. Divinely beautiful rivers. I was in Siberia. In the gold mines. The prospectors taught me how to properly wash gold. Nothing worked for me.

On donkeys we crossed the Yablonovy ridge, this is in Siberia. The clouds were below us. There was a teahouse upstairs. We were sitting, drinking tea, and suddenly it became dark and dark. This cloud passed through us. And in Kamchatka we drove along the coast of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk. And they didn’t have time – the tide began. They began to nail us to the rocks. All could have died. But there were some steps on the rocks – we were on them, on them. So they were saved. Everything we lost – both the luggage and the car …

Oh, where have I not been! There are so many places in Russia that are divinely beautiful. Sometimes I can’t even believe that I saw all this with my own eyes. Russia…

Elena DUTSOG.

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