Alexander Gorodnitsky Explained

Alexander Moiseevich Gorodnitsky
Native Name Lang:ru
Native Name:Александр Моисеевич Городницкий
Birth Date:1933 3, df=yes
Birth Place:Leningrad
Nationality:Soviet, Russian
Occupation:geologist, oceanographer, and poet, bard

Alexander Moiseevich Gorodnitsky (born March 20, 1933) is a Soviet and Russian bard and poet.

He is the author of over 60 books, poems, songs, and other literary works.[1] His song "Atlantes Hold the Heavens" is the official anthem of the Hermitage Museum and considered as unofficial anthem of Saint Petersburg.[2] [3]

Professionally, he is a geologist and oceanographer. Gorodnitsky is an author of over 250 scientific publications on geophysics and tectonics of ocean bottom.[1]

Asteroid No. 5988[4] and a pass in the Sayan Mountains were named after Alexander Gorodnitsky.[1]

Early life

Gorodnitsky was born on 20 March 1933 in Leningrad to a Russian Jewish family originated from Mogilev.[5] His father — Moisey Afroimovich Gorodnitsky (1908–1986)[6] — was an engineer who worked in the printing industry.[7] His mother — Rakhil Moiseevna Gorodnitskaya (1908–1981),[6] — in her youth, was a school maths teacher, then worked as corrector and editor of sailing directions.[7]

Gorodnitsky survived the Siege of Leningrad during Second World War. In 1951, he graduated from high school №254[5] and entered the Faculty of Geophysics of the Leningrad Mining Institute, which he graduated in 1957 with specialist degree.[8] [9]

Academic career

From 1957 until 1972 Gorodnitsky worked in the Research institute for Geology of Arctic (its current name is All-Russian Research Institute for Geology and Mineral Resources of the World Ocean named after academician I.S. Gramberg). He has participated in many geological expeditions. Gorodnitsky is one of the discoverers of the Igarskoye copper deposit (1962).

Since 1962, he has participated in maritime geophysical expeditions. Gorodnitsky is one of the authors of new ocean's electric field measurement method (1967). In collaboration with V.D. Fedorov and A.N. Paramonov he discovered the bioelectric effect of phytoplankton (1967). In 1968, he became a Candidate of Sciences (thesis on "The application of magnetometry and electrometry for the ocean bottom exploration").

From 1969 until 1972 Gorodnitsky headed the Laboratory of Marine Geophysics of the Research institute for Geology of Arctic. In 1972, Gorodnitsky moved from Leningrad to Moscow and started working for the Research Institute of Oceanology named after P.P. Shirshov as a principal researcher. In 1982, he became a Doctor of Sciences in geological and mineralogical sciences (thesis on "The structure of oceanic lithosphere and underwater mountain building"). In 1991, Gorodnitsky was given the highest academic rank of the professor. He authored original model of petromagnetic structure of the Mid-ocean ridge zones (1997).[10]

He teaches in the State University of the naukograd Dubna as visiting professor.[11] He was awarded the honorary title of "Merited figure of sciences of Russian Federation" (2005).[12]

Gorodnitsky was at the drifting station at the North Pole (1964) and in Antarctica (1973). In 1982 and 1984, he took part in expeditions devoted to the search for the legendary Atlantis at the Ampère Seamount in the North Atlantic.[13]

Gorodnitsky's research included numerous dives on bathyscaphes, starting from Hermit Atoll in Papua New Guinea in 1978. In 1988, during an expedition on the research ship Akademik Mstislav Keldysh in the North Atlantic on the deep-sea apparatus Mir (submersible), he dived to a depth of 4.5 kilometers.[10]

Poet and singer-songwriter

Gorodnitsky's first songs appeared during his expedition in 1953. For a long time his songs were distributed via samizdat tape recordings, and often performed by other singers. Like Alexander Galich, and unlike other bards, Gorodnitsky composed and sang his songs a cappella for several decades; later, he started playing the guitar. Most of his songs are based on his personal experiences. In concert, he usually performs with a professional guitarist accompanying him.

In 1972, Alexander Gorodnitsky was admitted to the Union of Soviet Writers on the recommendations of famous poets Boris Slutsky, David Samoilov, and Vadim Shefner.

In the opinion of literary critics:"The art of Alexander Gorodnitsky is definitely a most remarkable phenomenon of both guitar poetry and the wider Russian literary culture of the 20th century. Having undergone a nearly 50-year-long evolution, it now presents an organic synthesis of the poetic word with profound philosophical, historical, and scientific intuition to embody in its multi-genre creative system the essential qualities of the modern worldview".

Poems and songs by Alexander Gorodnitsky have been translated into English, Bulgarian, Hebrew, Spanish, German, Polish, French, Czech and other languages. They have also been included in school curricula.

Gorodnitsky is acknowledged to be one of the founders of the bard songs genre in Soviet Union. His most popular songs are following: "Atlantes Hold the Heavens", "Near the Pillars of Hercules", "To the mainland", "Blue sky above Canada", "French ambassador's wife", "Snow", "Riffles", "The song of polar pilots".[9]

Many of Alexander Gorodnitsky poems and songs published in post-Soviet period are dedicated to Germany: "Stuttgart" (1998), "Neva-Elbe" (2000), "German castles" (2003), "Johann Sebastian Bach" (2018), "Lüneburg" (2019) and others.[14]

Gorodnitsky is a member of the Union of Writers of Russia and PEN International. Also he is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Fazil Iskander International Literary Award.[15] He was awarded the honorary title of "Merited figure of arts of Russian Federation" (2013).[16]

Family

Gorodnitsky has a son from first wife, a Vladimir (born 1955), who has been living in Israel since 1984.[17]

His second wife was Anna Nal (28 September 1942 - 11 September 2017), professional interpreter/translator. The marriage was childless.[17]

Political views and social activity

Gorodnitsky opposed the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation and had signed the open letter against war, political self-isolation of Russia, restoration of totalitarianism.[18]

Albums

Books

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Биография Александра Городницкого. 20 March 2013 . ru. RIA Novosti.
  2. News: Alisultanova. Asiya. У Эрмитажа появился официальный гимн. Его автор — бард Александр Городницкий. ru. 25 October 2018. Sobaka.ru.
  3. Web site: Вечер Корпоративных Друзей Эрмитажа. ru. 9 December 2019. Клуб Друзей Эрмитажа.
  4. Web site: Small-Body Database Lookup.
  5. Web site: Khimich. Oksana. Детские годы поэта Александра Городницкого. ru. 15 April 2001. Jewish.ru.
  6. Web site: Городницкий, Александр Моисеевич. ru. TASS.
  7. Александр Городницкий. Лиро-эпическая гипотеза о поэзии эпохи атлантов. ru. 1 October 2009. 28. 45parallel.net.
  8. Web site: ГОРОДНИЦКИЙ Александр Моисеевич. ru. Biograph.ru.
  9. Web site: Биография Городницкого Александра Моисеевича. ru. Gorodnitsky Official Website.
  10. Web site: Городницкий Александр Моисеевич. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology.
  11. Web site: История кафедры общей и прикладной физики. ru. Dubna State University.
  12. Decree. 292. 15 March 2005. President of Russia. О награждении государственными наградами Российской Федерации. ru.
  13. Web site: Александр Городницкий - о тайнах Атлантиды, ленинградской блокаде и 60-х . 5 July 2017 .
  14. Городницкий А.М. Избранное: Стихи, песни, поэмы. М.: Яуза, 2021.
  15. Web site: Положение о Международной литературной премии имени Фазиля Искандера. ru. Regulation on Fazil Iskander International Literary Award. 5 April 2022. penrus.ru. 5 April 2022.
  16. Decree. 639. 25 July 2013. President of Russia. О награждении государственными наградами Российской Федерации. ru.
  17. Web site: Александр Городницкий: Вечная молодость шестидесятых. ru. Peoples.ru.
  18. . 13 March 2014. Обращение инициативной группы по проведению Конгресса интеллигенции "Против войны, против самоизоляции России, против реставрации тоталитаризма". ru. Novaya Gazeta.
  19. Web site: Александр Моисеевич Городницкий. 'Если мною назовут пароход…'. ru. Beiunsinhamburg.de.

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