“Zdravitsa”, or “Hail to Stalin” is a cantata for mixed chorus and orchestra that was composed by Sergei Prokofiev for the 60th anniversary of Joseph Stalin. It was premiered in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory on Stalin’s birthday, on December 21, 1939. It was conducted by Nikolay Golovanov.

After that, “Zdravitsa” was performed on Stalin’s birthday every year until the ruler’s death. Prokofiev’s younger son Oleg recalled the time when he was walking outside and heard this music on loudspeakers, “Incredibly lonely it seemed as it resounded throughout deserted Chkalov Street, where we lived then. Winter, the wind whirling snowflakes over the dark, gloomy asphalt, and the national choir booming out these strange harmonies. <….> I ran home to tell the big news: ‘Daddy! They’re playing you outside…’ But he already knew; and, as usual, the matter was never discussed again.”

The pianist Sviatoslav Richter was very fond of this serene cantata.

Cantata “Zdravitsa” became another one of Prokofiev’s compositions dedicated to various Soviet anniversaries. These include the Cantata for the 20th Anniversary of the October Revolution (1936) and the Cantata for the 30th Anniversary of the October Revolution “Flourish, O Might Land”. The text of “Zdravitsa” was inspired by contemporary folk poems of “the peoples of the Soviet Union” — the Russians, Ukrainians, Belorussians, Kumyks, Kurds, Mari, and Mordvins. The cantata still attracts the attention of modern music experts and remains one of the most mysterious and controversial pieces by Prokofiev. It is known that Stalin himself was rather indifferent about this composition.

The manuscript from the museum’s collection is a copy made by Pavel Lamm with notes by Prokofiev. Pavel Lamm was a famous Soviet music expert, Prokofiev’s friend and reliable assistant. Prokofiev invented a faster method of writing down sheet music by noting the orchestration in the piano score without detailing all the voices. Later, such notes were deciphered by his assistants who were able to read them.