Kazmin, Petr Mikhailovich

Born Oct. 5 (17), 1892, in the present-day village of Tret’iaki, in Borisoglebsk Raion, Voronezh Oblast; died June 30, 1964, in Moscow. Soviet Russian folklorist; People’s Artist of the USSR (1961).

Kaz’min graduated in 1915 from the literature division of the Nezhin Institute of History and Philology. That same year he defended his candidate’s dissertation on Russian folklore in song. He taught in music schools in Simferopol’ and Moscow (after 1921). In 1925 he became deputy director and in 1927, art director (co-director with V. G. Zakharov from 1932) of the M. E. Piatnitskii Russian State Folk Chorus. His direction made the chorus one of the outstanding musical groups of the USSR.

Kaz’min helped promote Russian choral art. He wrote the lyrics of “By White Snow” and “Russian Beauty” and the texts for the musical-literary compositions The Russian Wedding, Beyond the Village, and Young People’s Gathering; he also staged round dances and scenes from village life. Kaz’min wrote essays on folk art and compiled the collection Remembrances of V. G. Zakharov (1967; with V. V. Khvatov). He received the State Prize of the USSR (1952), the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, and medals.