Faina Kvytakovskaya

Faina (Feofaniya) Markovna Kwiatkowska was a Polish and Soviet composer, author of the foxtrot "At the Samovar, My Masha and I" (1931). She was born in Yalta, Taurida Governorate, Russian Empire. As a girl, she moved to Poland with her parents (her mother and Polish stepfather). Young Faina began seriously studying music and composing. Even before she was 20, she had already become a renowned Polish composer. Her stepfather's surname was Gordon, and it was under this surname-as Fanny Gordon-that the young composer composed her first works, captivating all of Warsaw with her talent. In 1931, she wrote the foxtrot "At the Samovar, My Masha and I" and the tango "Argentina." In 1933, she wrote the operetta "The Yacht of Love." In 1939, with the onset of the German occupation, she left Warsaw. She was held captive by the Nazis. After her captivity, the Soviet government invited everyone born in Russia to return to the Soviet Union, and in 1945, she and her mother decided to go to the USSR, their homeland. But their homeland was unwelcoming. They were forced to wander from city to city, barely able to afford food. For a time, Faina Markovna directed the jazz ensemble of the Kalinin Regional Philharmonic, but it was soon disbanded, and the musicians were repressed. In 1947, she settled in Leningrad with her mother. In 1950, together with A.M. Manevich, she composed "The Girl from Shanghai." Her other works include the czardas "In the Wilderness of the Night the Melody Sounds," "Under the Alabama Sky," "War and Love," and the children's musical performance "The Cat and the Penguin." She died in the city of Leningrad.