Wassilij Ivanvocih Agapkin
From Marchdb.net
February 3, 1884 - October 29, 1964
Wassilij Ivanvocih Agapkin was born in Shantchevo, Russia, and became an orphan at the age of eight. He was accepted as a pupil in the band of the 308th Tcharov Reserve Battalion. He was named conductor of the Cheka Band in Tambov in 1920. Two years later he moved to Moscow, where he assumed leadership of the 115th Division, Cheka Forces Battalion Band. This Battalion was later renamed the 17th Special Regiment of the OGPU (Secret Police). By the end of the 1920’s, Agapkin was assigned to the 1st Moscow Transport Department School of the OGPU and, in 1930, he became conductor of the band at the Central School of the OGPU. In 1941, he was named conductor for all the bands of the Dzerzhinsky Motorized Rifle Division. He ended (1947-1957) his military career as conductor of the State Security Ministry’s Model Band, stationed in Moscow.
In 1912, while serving as a staff trumpeter with the 7th Cavalry Regiment in the garrison at Tambov, he composed the world-famous march, A Slavonic Woman’s Farewell. He dedicated it to all Balkan women who were seeing their husbands off to military service. The march soon fell into disuse. In 1957, it was included in a scene in the Russian film The Cranes Fly. This propelled the march into newfound popularity.
Marches composed by Wassilij Ivanvocih Agapkin
- A Slavonic Woman’s Farewell, (1912) (also known as Abschied der Slawin, Farewell of Slavianka and Parting of the Slav)
