Almost 70 years of living and working together: the love story of Alexandra Pakhmutova and Nikolai Dobronravov

One of the strongest and most inspiring couples in the history of the Soviet culture is the family of a composer Alexandra Pakhmutova and a poet Nikolay Dobronravov. Just three months after they had met, the sweethearts got married and had a wedding party. This union had lasted for 67 years, until Nikolai Dobronravov passed away in 2023.

The couple met in 1956, at the All-Union Radio, in the children's broadcasting studio.  The editor invited the young people to work together — this is how their first joint song "Motor Boat" appeared.

For more than six decades, Pakhmutova and Dobronravov had written hundreds of songs, many of which have become the symbols of an entire epoch: "Goodbye, Moscow", "How young we were", "Nadezhda", "Belovezhskaya Pushcha", "Chicken does not play hockey", "Eaglets learn to fly", and others. Their love didn't need big words, it was expressed in music, lines, and silence at the backstage.

Pakhmutova and Dobronravov never parted for long.

"I went away just for 15 minutes to talk to you, but I miss her already. And if we need to part for longer during the day, then we constantly call each other," Nikolay Dobronravov said in an interview.

Being asked what was the secret of their close-knit and strong family, Nikolay Nikolaevich liked to cite a phrase from the book "The Land of Men" by the French writer Antoine de Saint-Exupery: "Loving is not just looking at each other, it's looking in the same direction".

Before the start of the 2nd All-Russian Wedding Festival "Russia. Connecting Hearts" are only 6 days left. It will be held at the National Centre RUSSIA, and will last from July 8 to July 10. Stories like those of Alexandra Pakhmutova and Nikolay Dobronravov show that true life-lasting love exists.

The festival program includes official wedding ceremonies of more than 200 couples, as well as many special events: concert programs with popular performers, creative workshops from experts in the wedding industry, fashion shows and much more.