"The Bremen Town Musicians" - a fairy tale story of the writers of the Brothers Grimm. The Soviet musical cartoon of 1969, created in the technique of drawing, also has the same name, the composer of which was Gennady Gladkov. The main characters of the fairy tale "The Bremen Town Musicians" - Donkey, Cat, Dog, Rooster - are domestic animals that left their farms because of their uselessness and cruel treatment by their owners, who are heading towards the city of Bremen to earn money there with musical performances, but so they don't get there.

In the Soviet animated film "The Bremen Town Musicians" there are a few more main characters. Together with the four described above, the Troubadour travels - an elegant and slender blond, the soloist of this wandering ensemble, who, during an unsuccessful performance near the royal castle, falls in love with the Princess. In the list of heroes of the "Bremen Town Musicians" there are also robbers led by Atamansha. These characters are the antagonists of the main characters. The cartoon "The Bremen Town Musicians" today can be called one of the most popular animated films in the countries of the post-Soviet space.

The plot of the fairy tale

The heroes of The Bremen Town Musicians one day come across a house where the robbers are resting after another robbery campaign. The friends decide to scare the bandits with noise. The idea works - the robbers, having heard strange and frightening sounds that are heard outside the window, leave their home in fear. A little later, the bandits decide to send their scout there. The messenger enters the house at night. Moments after that, an arrow flies out of there - scratched, bitten and scared to the point of madness.

Here is what the unfortunate hero of The Bremen Town Musicians told his comrades - a poor fellow who did not fully understand what really happened to him that night in the house:

1. First, the Witch scratched his face (in fact, as the reader knows, this was done by the Cat, who first attacked the newcomer).
2. Then the Troll grabbed his leg (the scout of the bandits was bitten by the Dog).
3. Shortly thereafter, the giant dealt him a terrible blow (the donkey kicked the robber).
4. Later, some mysterious creature, making terrible sounds, drove him out of the dwelling (as we understand, the Rooster was wailing and waving its wings).

After hearing this terrible story, the frightened bandits decided to leave their haven and never return there. Thus, the heroes of the Bremen Town Musicians - Donkey, Rooster, Cat and Dog - took possession of all the wealth stolen and hidden in this dwelling by robbers.

One day, wandering artists perform in front of the royal castle. The performance is attended by the Princess. The protagonist of the cartoon "The Bremen Town Musicians" falls in love with her at first sight, and the young lady of royal blood reciprocates. However, the king kicks the musicians out after they perform one of their numbers unsuccessfully, so that the minstrel is temporarily deprived of the opportunity to see his beloved.

In the next key scene, the heroes discover the bandits' house. Having overheard the conversation of the robbers, the friends learn that the Atamansha and her three assistants want to rob the royal cortege. A little later, friends drive the bandits out of the hut, and change into their clothes themselves and then kidnap the King, who is tied to a tree and left in the forest near the bandits' hut.

Soon, the kidnapped King hears someone nearby singing a song about unrequited love. The king begins to call for help, and soon, to his delight, the Troubadour appears. The minstrel rushes to the hut, where he and his friends create a noise of struggle and mayhem, after which he emerges from there as a winner and frees the King, who, in gratitude for his salvation, takes him to his daughter. After that, a festival begins in the castle, at which there was no place for Troubadour's friends. The donkey, rooster, dog and cat leave the palace grounds at dawn in a sad mood. However, the Troubadour was not going to leave his comrades and, together with his chosen one, soon joins them. The company of musicians goes to new adventures already in an expanded composition.

Who are the characters of the cartoon "The Bremen Town Musicians" drawn from?

The troubadour was initially conceived as a buffoon and had to wear a cap on his head, but the creator of the cartoon, Inessa Kovalevskaya, rejected this version of the hero’s appearance, proposed by production designer Max Zherebchevsky. Once, in one of the foreign fashion magazines, she saw a boy dressed in tight jeans and cut his hair like members of The Beatles, and decided that her character would look like him. The prototype of the Princess is the wife of one of the scriptwriters of this animated project, Yuri Entin, Marina. The heroine was rewarded with a funny hairstyle with tails sticking out in different directions, the assistant to the production designer Svetlana Skrebneva.

Bandits and the King

Forest bandits were copied from the heroes of Gaidai's comedy films - Coward, Experienced and Dunce, who were embodied on the screen by artists Georgy Vitsin, Evgeny Morgunov and Yuri Nikulin. The king was invented to look like the heroes of the actor Erast Garin, who at that time often played similar characters in various fairy tales, such as Cinderella, Half an hour for miracles. The prototype of the Atamansha is the wife of director Vyacheslav Kotenochkin, Tamara Vishneva, who at that time worked as a ballerina at the Operetta Theater. Oleg Anofriev, who voiced this heroine, tried to make his Atamansha speak in the manner of actress Faina Ranevskaya.

Who sang in "The Bremen Town Musicians"

Initially, it was thought that different artists would perform the songs of the heroes of the Bremen Town Musicians, whose photos are posted here. The song of the Atamansha was offered to Zinovy ​​Gerdt, the parts of the Donkey and the Dog were to be performed by Oleg Yankovsky and Yuri Nikulin, the Cat was to speak in the voice of Andrei Mironov, and the King was to speak in the voice of Georgy Vitsin. However, only Oleg Anofriev arrived at the Melodiya studio on the night of the recording, who appeared there only to say that due to illness he would not be able to sing his part. As a result, almost all the songs from the cartoon were performed by Oleg Anofriev, who could not only sing the part of the Princess, and she went to vocalist Elmira Zherzdeva, classmate of Gennady Gladkov. The donkey in this cartoon spoke in the voice of the poet Anatoly Gorokhov.

Hello, friends! Do you think the Bremen Town Musicians come from Bremen? And here it is not. Now I will explain everything.

* In general, this article should have been written a long time ago, yet it talks about one of the symbols of the famous German city, and I, as always, while I am swinging, let me mature =) Lots of photos at the end.

Do you remember the fairy tale? So I forgot it, so today, before I sat down to write the article, I re-read it. No, I will not retell all of it in detail, I will only remind you of the essence. And this must be done in order to understand who the Bremen Town Musicians (German: Die Bremer Stadtmusikanten) are, in general, why they are Bremen, and why they are depicted everywhere in this way: a pyramid (a donkey, a dog is on it, a cat is on it, and a rooster is on top ).

The main characters of this fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm are wandering musicians (who were not even musicians, in principle). All of them had to leave their homes due to conflicts with their owners. The donkey became too old and could no longer help at the mill, so the owner decided to get rid of him (so as not to feed for nothing). The same fate threatened the dog - they were going to shoot him. The hostess planned to drown the old cat, but they wanted to roast the rooster (or bake ... maybe cook) for the holiday.

Of course, the animals and the rooster were fundamentally disagree with such a fate and ran away from home. On the way they met. The idea to go to Bremen and become street musicians there was given to everyone by a donkey, the rest only supported. This was the beginning of the legendary quartet.

Since the path to Bremen was not close, our friends did not get there in one day. We needed a place to stay overnight. And in the forest they stumbled upon a hut of robbers. Perfect place to spend the night there. But, there was one “but” - in fact, the owners were in the hut.

Our savvy musicians figured out this problem once or twice - they just scared the robbers with their, um ... "music". The show was something else! The dog climbed on the back of the donkey, the cat climbed on top of the dog, well, and the rooster has already crowned this whole pyramid. And then they, with the whole quartet, boomed: the donkey roared, the dog barked, the cat yelled like a cat, well, and the rooster crowed.

The poor robbers did not understand what had happened. In the twilight they didn’t really see anything, and judging by the sounds, they were, in general, some kind of demon was going to attack. In short, they ran ahead of their own cry from this hut.

Well, our "musicians" occupied the reclaimed dwelling. And, moreover, they loved it there so much that they did not want to leave this place. And they did not go to Bremen, but remained to live in the forest, in a robber's hut.

But, despite the fact that these guys were not in the city, they nevertheless became one of its symbols.

The most famous monument to the Bremen Town Musicians stands in Bremen (surprisingly, right? =)) on the Market Square, near the eastern wall of the town hall. And there are a lot of tourists there. In general, probably, everyone who has visited Bremen considers it his duty to bring a photo from there against the background of this sculpture. Therefore, people line up to be imprinted there.

The bronze monument was erected in 1951. Its author is the Berlin sculptor Gerhard Marx. Based on this sculpture, two more were created. One was staged in Riga in 1990, the second in Zülpiche (Germany). And they are completely different. The only thing they have in common is that they represent a composition in which the characters of the fairy tale are canonically arranged (on top of each other).

Legends and myths

Any popular sculpture is covered with some legends of its own. So here too. It is believed that the Bremen Town Musicians can grant wishes. To do this, you just need to rub the nose of the donkey or take hold of its front paws, and also rub it lightly (the photo shows how the tourists carefully polished these places =)).

* Just remember - you need to hold on to both legs, not just one! Otherwise, the wish will not come true. And yet, they can say about you: “Look, one donkey greets another.” Such is it, local humor, do not be offended by it =)

And yet, the sewer manholes on the Market Square of the city “sing” with the voices of the Bremen Town Musicians. All you have to do is toss a coin. And if earlier there were few coins in the sewers, now there are more than enough people who want to hear the “singing” of the quartet, so city services have to “withdraw the proceeds” several times a day.

Bremen town musicians as a symbol of Bremen

Friends, the heroes of this famous German quartet are found everywhere in Bremen. Well, really, everywhere! On magnets, postcards, books, badges, billboards, shop windows, clothes, houses and even dishes. In short, you can meet this symbol in the most unexpected places. At home, for example, books with the Bremen Town Musicians are multiplying =)

They are portrayed in different ways: somewhere more canonically, somewhere less, somewhere ironically, and somewhere completely ... abstract (but, nevertheless, recognizable). I have put together such a rather big gallery for you, where everything is shown. I will bring it out at the end of the article so that it does not interfere here.

And yet, I noticed a slight relationship between the Bremen Town Musicians and the Tula mother-in-law. What one, what the other can sometimes be seen in an unexpected way, for example, in a New Year's cap or raincoat. Sweetheart, and only =)

Well, on this positive note, I'll say goodbye to you. All the best! Read fairy tales, travel more and smile! See you.

countries and peoples. Questions and answers Yu. V. Kukanova

What country did the Bremen town musicians live in?

Germany as a country appeared on the world map only from the middle of the 19th century. Until that time, several small principalities existed on its territory, among which were “free cities”. Since then, Bavaria, Dresden, Hamburg and Bremen, whose name is associated with the tale of the Bremen Town Musicians, have remained on the map of the country.

Now Germany is a highly developed country, with rich traditions not only of culture and art, but also world-famous automobile factories, metallurgy and pharmaceuticals.

Rothenburg ob der Tauber is the best preserved medieval city in Germany

Which country uses steel the most? In this regard, Japan is the leader. According to statistical data, at the end of the 20th century, on average, it is consumed per year in the form of various products (including rebar for reinforced concrete used for the construction of various