Fanny Gordon

Fanny Gordon (also known as Faiga Jofé, Fayge Yoffe or Fayge Yofe; 1914 in Yalta – 1991 in Leningrad) was the only female laykhte-muzik ("light" ) composer in pre-war Poland. One of Gordon's most famous songs, written in 1929, was Przy samowarze ("By the Samovar"), performed by Zula Pogorzelska and Tadeusz Olsza at the Morskie Oko revue theatre. Andrzej Włast wrote the lyrics and the song became an international hit, recorded by German, Lithuanian and American dance bands. Later a record company asked her to write Russian words to the melody, and the result was «У самовара». Before World War II Gordon lived alternately in Warsaw and the USA. She was trapped in Warsaw at the outbreak of the war but escaped to Vilnius and eventually to Leningrad, where she continued to compose under the names Fania Markovna Kviatkovskaya and Fania Kwiatkowski (Polish: Fania Kwiatkowska). She died in Leningrad in 1991.