text: has anyone heard of vladimir visotskiy?   vladimir semeonovich visotskiy  ( 1938-1980 )  vladimir visotsk without doubt, the most famous russian bard was born in moscow in 1938.     visotsky graduated from the school of acting at the moscow arts theatre in 1960. from 1964 he worked at the moscow theater of drama and comedy on taganka. he wrote his first song in 1960 and would ultimately have a significant influence on an entire genre of music.     his gruff voice and starkly, sometimes slyly, poetic lyrics have inspired two generations of russians and are working their way into the young hearts of a third. the end of his life was also occupied by his second wife, marina vladi, a popular french actress of russian descent. he died in 1980 from a heart attack, the death knell of a creative life lived too fast. the soviet government, always aiming to please, erected a monument to him in moscow, apparently contrary to his wishes. whether the government did it well or clumsily, the point was made by an entire society as it mourned the death of their shakespeare-with-a-guitar.   during his study in the nemerovich-danchenko acting school-studio at mhat visotsky wrote just a few songs. his main passion were short stories featuring seryozha - employee of the central boiler house, vasyochek (visotsky's nickname) and others. however as many other students vladimir sang quite often, mainly "street songs" and thief's cant that he learned in the lev kocharyan company on big karetny.