Strock Oskar Davidovich (1892-1975)

Strock Oskar (Osher) Davidovich (24 December 1892 [6 January 1893], Dinaburg — 22 June 1975, Riga) — composer, pianist, and publisher.

From 1906 to 1914 (with interruptions), Oskar Strock studied at the Saint Petersburg (Petrograd) Conservatory (piano class of N. Dubasov), but did not complete his studies. Alongside his studies and afterwards, he worked as an improvising pianist and conductor of cinema orchestras in Saint Petersburg (Petrograd).

Beginning in 1915, he published his compositions — romances and piano pieces — in Petrograd publishing houses such as Wentzel and “Soley.”

In 1922, he moved to Riga. From 1922 to 1941 (with interruptions), he performed in various ensembles and orchestras in Riga restaurants (“Otto Schwarz,” “Alhambra,” “Mascotte,” “Rococo,” “Foxtrottdiele,” “Kārlis Baumanis,” etc.) and in the Riga seaside resorts (“Casino,” “Lido,” etc.).

He toured in Poland (with Stanisława Plewińska, 1927) and Lithuania (with Jakov Levenson, September 1930). In January–June 1935, at the initiative of his brother, impresario Avsey Strok, he undertook a major concert tour across cities in China, Japan, and Singapore together with Viktor Henkin. These concerts featured Strock’s compositions as well as songs of various nations from Henkin’s repertoire.

In Riga, he published both his own works and a vast amount of popular music by composers from different countries, vocal and instrumental, often in his own arrangements. He owned the publishing houses “O. D. Strock” (from 1924) and “Kazanova” (from 1934). In 1925, he published the bilingual (Russian and Latvian) magazine “Blue Journal,” and in 1926–1927 the weekly literary magazine “Novaya Niva” (in Russian).

By the late 1920s, he gained wide recognition in Latvia and internationally as a composer of popular dance music — foxtrots, polkas, waltzes, and especially tangos. During his lifetime, critics already called him the “King of Russian Tango.”

His works were recorded by studios such as Bellaccord (performed by Pyotr Leshchenko, A. Cherkassky, Konstantin Sokolsky in Russian; Arvīds Jankovskis and Mārtiņš Vētra in Latvian), as well as “Adler-Electro,” HMV (performed by the orchestra of Marek Weber), “Columbia,” “Odeon,” and others.

In the 1930s, his songs were performed in concerts in Riga by M. Vētra, P. Saks, K. Sokolsky, A. Jankovskis, V. Neplyuev, and others. In Europe, his music became widely known thanks to famous émigré singers Pyotr Leshchenko and Yuri Morfessi — especially the tango “Black Eyes.”

In the 1930s in the Soviet Union, Strock’s works were performed by orchestras led by Yakov Skomorovsky, the jazz orchestra of Alexander Tsfasman, as well as by Leonid Utyosov. He also accompanied such prominent performers as Nadezhda Plevitskaya, Nina Tamara, and Antonina Nezhdanova, among others.

In September 1931, he opened the cabaret-dancing venue “Barberina” in Riga, which went bankrupt already in November of the same year. Another of his establishments, the café “Rendezvous” (in Majori), operated only for two months in the summer of 1933. Fleeing from creditors and the tax authorities, Strock escaped with his family to Germany, where, despite his popularity, he was imprisoned for debt. There he composed one of his famous tangos, “Musenka Rodnaya.”

After his release, he again found himself in danger, as the Nazis had come to power in Germany and began persecuting Jews. He returned with his family to Latvia, where Soviet power had already been established.

After Latvia’s incorporation into the USSR, Strock continued working as a pianist in restaurant orchestras. During the Second World War, when Latvia was occupied by Nazi Germany, he was again forced to flee — this time to Moscow. On the journey, he gathered musicians among fellow evacuees in the train and formed a “chapel on wheels.” There, he composed the song “We Will Win!”, which later opened and closed his concerts.

He was evacuated to Alma-Ata, where he worked as a pianist at the United Film Studio and in the orchestra conducted by Semyonov, who collaborated with Klavdiya Shulzhenko. For her, Strock composed the tango “Byloye uvlechenie” (“Past Infatuation”).

From 1943, he was a member of the Union of Soviet Composers. In 1944, he returned to Moscow. In 1944–45, he worked as a pianist in the jazz orchestra led by Klavdiya Shulzhenko and Vladimir Koralli, composing songs such as “Frontline Driver,” “Two Friends,” “8th Guards Division,” “Stalingrad Waltz” (for Leonid Utyosov), and “Past Infatuation” (for Klavdiya Shulzhenko), among others.

He also participated in the competition to create the national anthem of the USSR. At the end of 1944, he returned to Riga, and from May 1945 became a member of the Union of Composers of the Latvian SSR.

On 15 December 1948 — when the well-known decree of the Central Committee of the CPSU against “formalist composers” such as Nikolai Myaskovsky, Dmitri Shostakovich, and Sergei Prokofiev was issued — Strock was expelled from the Union of Composers with the wording:

“The activity of O. Strock does not correspond to the aims and tasks of the Union of Composers of Latvia.”

This was followed by a series of directives from the USSR repertoire commission declaring his works — mainly vocal — undesirable for performance. Strock made repeated but unsuccessful attempts to be reinstated. He was forbidden to receive royalties and to record gramophone discs.

However, in the early 1960s, a double album “Famous Tangos of the World” was released, which included his tango “Black Eyes”, though without naming the composer.

Renewed interest in his work began after performances by foreign singers such as Eiichi Sugawara (Japan) and Jerzy Połomski (Poland).

In the 1960s–1970s, his songs — including “Star Tango,” “In the Old Garden,” “Marianna,” and others — were performed by Vladimir Troshin, Klavdiya Shulzhenko, Leonid Utyosov, Yuri Gulyaev, Iosif Kobzon, N. Nikitsky, I. Yuryeva, R. Sikora, K. Lazorenko, and others, as well as by the instrumental ensemble “Melodiya” conducted by Georgy Garanyan.

In 1972, Strock recorded for the Melodiya label. Another record was released in 1977. In 1995, the former Riga branch of “Melodia” issued, in a limited edition, two collector’s cassette tapes featuring archival recordings by members of his family.

Strock authored more than 300 works — vocal pieces and compositions for popular orchestras. Among the most famous are “Black Eyes,” “Blue Eyes,” “Moonlight Rhapsody,” “Yellow Leaves,” “Sleep, My Poor Heart,” “Polly,” “My Natalia,” “Yasha the Traveling Salesman,” and many others.

The melody of the tango “Blue Eyes” became during the Second World War a kind of unofficial hymn of Holocaust victims.

Literature:

A. Gimmervent, Oskar Strock — King and Subject (Оскар Строк ― король и подданный) (Nizhny Novgorod: “Dekom”, 2006); V. Grunte, Oskars Stroks. Tango Latvijas Arhīvi, 2007, No. 1, pp. 73–94; Hronos (Provincial Almanac), No. 9 (issue entirely devoted to Strock); Segodnya vecherom, 1931, No. 266.