Yuri Slonov

Yuri Slonov was a Soviet songwriter and composer. He was born on July 14, 1906, in Moscow. In 1936 he graduated from the Moscow Conservatory, where he studied composition with Anatoly Alexandrov.

At the beginning of his career, Slonov worked as a film illustrator at the Profintern Club in Moscow from 1925 to 1930. From 1930 to 1940 he served as head of the musical department of the Moscow Theatre for Young Spectators. His earliest musical works were written mainly in the genre of light dance music, including foxtrots, tangos, and waltzes, which were published in 1926–1930 under the pseudonym Yuri Green. In 1937 he composed the music for the animated film

Kotofey Kotofeyevich

Slonov took part in the Great Patriotic War. At the very beginning of the war, he volunteered for the Navy together with other Moscow composers and served throughout the war in the Black Sea Fleet. In 1943 he held the rank of first-rank technician-intendant. His wartime service, including a 1941 assignment to the Black Sea Fleet with his friend Boris Mokrousov, where they participated in the defense of Sevastopol, strongly influenced a number of his songs on maritime themes.

Among his songs connected with the sea were

By the Sea

The Wave Roars, the String Rings

Nurse Anyuta

Starlight

I Am Waiting for You

Spring Evening

Slonov was the author of about 500 songs and musical works. His songs were performed by well-known singers of the Soviet Union, including Lyudmila Zykina, Vladimir Bunchikov, Ruzhena Sikora, and Georg Ots. In 1977 he was named Honored Artist of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. For his selfless work in the fleet during the war years, he was awarded the Order of the Red Star in 1943.

Yuri Slonov died on November 19, 1981, in Moscow and was buried at Vagankovo Cemetery.