Zvukovye Pis'ma - Musical Mail

The Institute acquired a small collection of extraordinary Russian sound documents: zvukovye pis'ma, or musical letters.

They were issued around 1950 in the Soviet Union. The musical letter is a bifold picture postcard with a supplementary sheet and a small flexible disc glued onto it. A topical song, either from the Soviet classical repertoire such as the 'Song of World Youth' and the 'Song of World Peace', or a love song can be heard.

Its text is printed on the postcard together with a picture of the composer or performer of the song. There is also space for a short message to the recipient.

The musical mail was edited by the composer Vano Muradeli and published by Vserossiiskoe Teatral'noe Obshchestvo in a run of 40,000 copies.

Some information is taken from: http://patefon.tol.ru/history.htm

Click on image for larger image, for song text and sheet music or listen to the songs

	Poliubil ia neudachno I fell in love in vain
	realaudio 219 Kb	mpeg 1460 Kb	mp3 366 Kb

	Rastsvela siren' nezhdanno Unexpectedly the lilac-tree blossomed
	realaudio 246 Kb	mpeg 1626 Kb	mp3 407 Kb

	Govoriashchee pis'mo The spoken letter
	realaudio 282 Kb	mpeg 1875 Kb	mp3 469 Kb

	Pionery v Kremle Pioneers in the Kreml
	realaudio 246 Kb	mpeg 1649 Kb	mp3 413 Kb

	Edem my, druz'ia! : pesnia novoselov Let's go, friends! Song of the settlers
	realaudio 196 Kb	mpeg 1492 Kb	mp3 374 Kb

	Vasil'ki Cornflowers
	realaudio 255 Kb	mpeg 1689 Kb	mp3 3423 Kb

	My za mir! We are for peace
	realaudio 273 Kb	mpeg 1854 Kb	mp3 464 Kb

	Veselyi veter The cheerful wind
	realaudio 264 Kb	mpeg 1789 Kb	mp3 448 Kb

	Gimn demokraticheskoi molodezhi mira Hymn of the democratic youth of the world
	realaudio 291 Kb	mpeg 1971 Kb	mp3 493 Kb

	Moskva-Pekin Moscow-Peking
	realaudio 246 Kb	mpeg 1664 Kb	mp3 417 Kb