Farewell of the Slavic Girl

Vasilij Agapkin was born in the vicinity of Ryazan. Later his parents moved to Astrakhan, but died soon after. The juvenile orphan thus was forced to lead a street urchin’s life until he was accepted into the band of the 308th Reserve Battalion in Tsarjov as an apprentice. Farewell of the Slavic Girl (Slavianka) was composed in 1912 when he was a member of the band of the 7th Reserve Cavalry Regiment in Tambov. He allegedly was inspired by film clips of the Balkan Wars during his employment as a cinema pianist. The popularity of the march increased during World War I and was eventually adopted by the Bolshevik forces as ”Free Russia”.

At that time the composer was director of the band of the 1st Red Hussars and then transferred to the Tjeka, the secret police. Years later he was the head of the Moscow school of military music and then became the leader of the band of a Special (Secret Police) Division.

According to Soviet sources, Vasilij Agapkin conducted a 250 piece band on the occasion of a parade in the Red Square on Nov. 7, 1941, and he is also mentioned as participant in the Moscow victory parade in 1945. After that date there are no further traces of Agapkin in Soviet band music.