Saying Goodbye to Slavic Women Poem by Paul Hartal

I like to listen to the music
of Farewell of Slavianka.
This piece was composed in 1912
by Vasily Agapkin
in honor of the Slavic women
who accopmpanied their husbands
to the front in the First Balkan War,
fought against the Ottoman Empire
by Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece
and Macedonia.

I find that Farewell of Slavianka
is a very powerful musical composition,
a beautiful, energizing and poignant
military march.

It also has a fascinatingly checkered history.
The march was used by the anti-Bolshevik
White Army forces and embraced
by the Soviets, too.
It was played in the Red Square
in Moscow during the 1941 October Parade
and the Red Army marched in
the Battle of Moscow defending the Soviet capital
against the invading German forces
to the uplifting tunes of the march.
By April 1945, the music led the Soviet soldiers
to the bunkers of Hitler in Berlin.

According to a modern Russian myth
the Red Army soldiers
who died in the blood fields of the war became
white cranes flying through the skies.
The 1957 Soviet film, The Cranes are Flying,
won the 1958 Palmes d'Or
at the Cannes Film Festival.
In the film, the march Farewell of Slavianka
plays a prominent role.

The protagonist. Veronika's
boyfriend, Boris, enlists in the army and goes
to the front to the tune of the march. At the end
of the movie the orchestra again plays Farewell
to Slavianka as Veronika rushes through the crowds
at the railway station, celebrating victory
with the soldiers who are returning from the war.
However, Veronika--filled with rosy hopes,
yearnings and love--ends up with shattered dreams
and griefing. With a large bouquet of flowers in hand,
she learns that Boris died in the war.