BULGARIA
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Introduction
As a country the modern history of Bulgaria,
for centuries dominated by the Turks, only dates from the
end of the 19th century, and her classical musical history
is even more recent: the country's first generation of emerging
composers, some of whom studied in Paris in the 1920s and
1930s, reached their maturity under first a pro-Nazi regime
and then communist control, in both cases isolating them from
the developments in Western music. Most drew on the heritage
of Bulgarian folk-music to forge an indigenous idiom. The
principal composers of this generation were Pancho Vladigerov
(1899-1978), the father-figure of modern Bulgarian music,
Vesselin Stoyanov (1902-1969), whose output includes early
examples of Bulgarian chamber-music as well as some colourful
and zestful orchestral suites, Lyubomir Pipkov (1904-1974),
Marin Goleminov (born 1908), and Parashkev Hadjiev
(born 1912), whose work ranges from an early String Quartet
No.1 that has strong affinities with the English pastoral
composers to Paradoxes (1982), a trilogy of gently
humorous short operas in an easy-going style based on the
short stories of the American, O.Henry. Pipkov has been held
in high esteem in Bulgaria (his String Quartet No.1,
1928, is said to be the first by a Bulgarian composer), and
is perhaps best known elsewhere for his second opera Momchil.
It is a large, formal epic historical opera in the tradition
of Russian 19th-century models in both form and content, with
grand, heroic arias touched with darker hues, stirring choruses,
many with liturgical influence (much of the last scene is
choral), passages integrating Bulgarian folk-idioms, and an
orchestration of primary colours. While none of it is particularly
remarkable, it has a ruggedness and a vitality that makes
its popularity in Bulgaria, where the historical material
would have a stronger resonance, understandable. The same
cannot be said for such socialist realist banalities as the
Oratorio on Our Time (1959) for reciter, bass, chorus,
children's chorus and orchestra, to verses by Vladimir Bashev,
summed up by a (Bulgarian) translation of an annotator: "With
its large-scale effects and the vividness of the images, one
can easily affirm, that the Bashev-Pipkov Oratorio resembles
a striking colourful placard in front of which we stand aghast!".
Stalinist Socialist Realist principles (populist,
simplistic music dominated by community historical and patriotic
subjects) maintained its hold until the break-up of the Communist
system, and its deadening effects are evident in the music
of the composers born in the 1920s and 1930s, such as Ivan
Marinov (born 1928), Jules Levy (born 1930) or the prolific
Alexander Yossifov (born 1940). Alexander Tanev (born
1928) includes large-scale patriotic historical oratorios
(such as The Bequest) among his works, as well as works
with a showpiece dazzle and humour, such as the Concerto
for Winds and Percussion (1972) or the Divertimento-Concertante
(1976) for piano and orchestra, influenced by Stravinsky.
Simeon Pironkov (born 1927) may prove to be one exception
when more of his work is disseminated, for his Concerto
Rustica for cello and orchestra is an arresting, powerful,
orchestrally assured, and decidedly unpastoral work in six
short linked movements, firmly in the European progressive
mainstream and well worth the discovery. Similarly Dmitri
Hristov (born 1933) has written an interesting, rather frenetic
Cello Concerto, an Overture with Fanfares, powerful
and strident in its massed sonorities, and an alluring set
of Concert Miniatures for orchestra, all of which suggest
familiarity with more recent Western trends. It is still difficult
to hear the works of these composers, and the major changes
in the social and political climate have been too recent to
judge the potential compositional future of the country.
Bulgaria has a tradition of famed Bulgarian
choirs, nurtured by the noble Bulgarian Orthodox musical heritage
that is mostly outside the scope of this Guide. The
folk-music is rich in colour and variety, its exotic touches
reflecting the long domination by Turkish and oriental influences.
Bulgarian opera singers have a considerable reputation in
East Europe, but their generic style (a harder, more nasal
sound) has not always been accepted in the West, though this
is a matter of stylistic taste rather than inherent quality.
But the country has had virtually no classical-music tradition
on which to build a 20th-century indigenous repertoire. If
the current classical music is chiefly of interest for the
inclusion in its idiom of folk colour and especially rhythms
(with widespread use of seven beats in the bar, and other
irregular rhythms), it is unfortunate that those features
were so watered down by rigid dogmatic requirements.
Modern Bulgarian music is extremely difficult
to encounter at the best of times. There are initial suggestions
that some composers are aware of modern trends, and the mixture
of these into the populist idiom is fascinating in itself.
For example, Dimiter Sagayev (born 1915, also spelt Sagaev)
is a composer of large-scale patriotic works in a populist
style that nevertheless show at moments an expressive awareness
of modern trends. His works include vocal symphonies (No.3
Khan Asparouh, No.6 September) that are essentially
neo-Romantic Socialist Realism cantatas, with rudimentary
symphonic development. The rare modernist moments, exemplified
by the Symphony No.6 (September, 1982) (strong
orchestral dissonances, cluster effects, atonal sections,
percussive effects influenced by late Shostakovich)
are used primarily for colour, and sit in a rather uneasy
mosaic with his quite imposing style, exotic folk and oriental
influences, simple and fetching tunes, and general unchallenging
neo-Romantic feel and harmonic language. On the available
evidence one can only regret that his talent wasn't put to
better use. It may be that more inventive and profound music
is being written, but it has not yet travelled. The composers
included below, chosen out of a large number considered, are
mostly those whom the Bulgarians have consider the most significant,
and therefore the most likely to be currently heard.
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GOLEMINOV
VLADIGEROV
YOSSIFOV
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GOLEMINOV Marin
born September 28th 1908 at Kjunstendil
died February 2nd 2000 in Portugal
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Although there is an increase of complexity
between the earlier and later works of Marin Goleminov, one
of the leading Bulgarian composers of his generation, his
idiom is conservative, rooted in Romanticism. The ballet Nestinarka
(The Fire Dance, 1940) was a major landmark in Bulgarian
ballet, with the strong influence of folk idioms and colour,
but its unadventurous cast is only of interest on those occasions
when the broad swathes of orchestration take on the piquancy
of the colours of Bulgarian folk-music. The chief interest
of such works as the String Quartet No.3 (Old Bulgarian,
1944) is also in the folk influence in the rhythms and melodic
material.
More effective than any of these works is the
opera Zografat Zahariy (1972), a work considered important
in the modern history of Bulgarian music. Its story is dramatically
and visually promising, loosely based on the life of the 19th-century
Bulgarian icon painter of the title, and his love for his
brother's wife, and concerned with the place of the artist
and the clash of new artistic ideas and received tradition.
The idiom is less obviously conservative, with the occasional
passage or theme of more acerbic harmonies, used for colour
or psychological effect. With its free-flowing vocal lines
following speech patterns, contrasted with sparingly used
church chant, the psychological drama is musically effective,
concentrating on the personal rather than any historical pageant.
What prevents it from being a better opera is the orchestration,
so often the bane of cultures under former Soviet cultural
sway: the reliance on bare string textures, so predictably
giving way to woodwind or brass, adds little to the overall
cast, and it is not difficult to imagine how much more effective
this opera would be with more imaginative orchestral colours.
Nonetheless, those exploring lesser-known 20th-century operas
might consider adding this to their list.
The gradual interweaving of more contemporary
effects, notably more acerbic harmonies, angular melodic lines,
and more adventurous non-folk rhythmic effects, as well as
the integration of older musical inspiration, are evident
in such works as the appealing if unremarkable Concerto
for String Orchestra (1980), whose opening and close use
a Gregorian chant, or the Symphony No.1 (1963), based
on Bulgarian children's songs.
Goleminov studied with d'Indy in Paris,
and himself taught at the Sofia Conservatory. His music will
be chiefly of interest to those studying East European idioms
and the historical context of communist aesthetics.
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works include:
- 4 symphonies (No.3 For Peace in the World,
No.4 Shopophonia)
- cello concerto; concerto for string quartet
and string orchestra; concerto for string orchestra; violin
concerto; Prelude, Aria and Toccata for piano and orch.
- Symphonic Variations on a Theme of Dobrai
Hristov for orch.; Five Sketches for string orch.
- 7 string quartets (No.3 Old Bulgaria)
- songs; oratorio The Titan
- ballets Kaloyan's Daughter and Nestinaka
(The Fire Dancer)
- operas Ivailo and Zografat Zahariy
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recommended works:
opera Zografat Zahariy (1972)
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VLADIGEROV
Pancho
born March 13th 1899 at Zurich
died September 8th 1978 at Sofia
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It is a measure of the esteem in which Pancho
Vladigerov is held in Bulgaria that his complete works have
been recorded in a special Bulgarian issue, yet his name is
now completely unknown outside Bulgaria. He is considered
the father of modern Bulgarian music, helping to forge an
indigenous compositional tradition, and integrating specifically
Bulgarian folk idioms to create a national classical music
identity.
The youthful and energetic Piano Concerto
No.1 op.6 (1918) is an assured work for a 19 year-old,
in the style of Rachmaninov, with touches of Liszt,
the occasional clumsy transition passage not detracting from
an appealing if derivative work that was the first Bulgarian
instrumental concerto, and includes moments inspired by folk-music.
But of much more interest is the Violin Concerto No.1
op.11 (1921), premiered by Gustav Havemann, Fritz Reiner and
the Berlin Philharmonic. It also is the first Bulgarian work
of its kind, and if the shadow of Strauss lingers behind
the work, much more prominent is that of Szymanowski,
with a similar palette of sensuous, heady orchestration and
long, lyrical, ecstatically singing solo lines. Lovers of
violin concertos, or those interested in the period where
Impressionistic techniques merged with the heritage of late-Romanticism,
might well investigate this often beautiful and beguiling
work. Vardar op.16 (1922) for violin and piano (versions
for orchestra, 1928, and violin and orchestra, 1951) is a
Bulgarian rhapsody that established itself as a quintessential
Bulgarian nationalist piece, equivalent to (if not as brilliant
as) Enescu's Rumanian Rhapsodies. There is a
zest, a raw enthusiasm, to these early works that, in spite
of their derivative origins, gives them an individuality and
an appeal, equally applicable to the early Impressionistic
works, the orchestral triptych Three Impressions op.9
(1920, drawn from a piano set) and Six Exotic Preludes
op.17 for piano (1924, orchestrated 1955).
The works that followed failed to fulfil the
promise of these youthful works, lapsing into a Romanticism
in which gesture has more sway than content. The Piano
Concerto No.2 op.22 (1930) is better constructed than
its predecessor, but lacks its zest; the Piano Concerto
No.3, a brilliant virtuoso work, is heavily influenced
by Rachmaninov's third concerto, and suffers in the
comparison. The Symphony No.1 is large, tuneful, and
bombastic. There are, however, a number of works of specifically
Bulgarian content, drawing on folk-music, such as the colourful
Seven Bulgarian Symphonic Dances op.23, with obvious
significance in Bulgaria, as well as two entertaining and
exotic sets of Rumanian dances inspired in part by his friend
Enescu. The chief work of this period is the opera
Tsar Kaloyan op.30 (1936), a large-scale epic historical
work, whose story concerns the repulse of the forces of the
Emperor Baldwin (and his capture) by the Bulgarian Tsar of
the title in the early 13th century, together with an invented
love-plot reminiscent of Verdi's Aida. With its Romantic
inflation, weak touches of Strauss, as well as considerable
additions of local folk origin, its concentration on surface
colour rather than the psychological possibilities makes it
of little interest to anyone for whom the historical context
has no relevance (the history itself is highly romanticised,
as the historical Tsar Kalojan Asen, the first Bulgarian crowned
by the Pope, was noted for his extreme cruelty). More interesting,
with their touches of Impressionism and folk dance, are the
two suites drawn from the ballet The Legend of the Lake
op.40 (ballet 1946, unperformed until 1962, suites 1947 and
1953), which tells the archetypal story of the deliberate
flooding by the soldier Vlad of the town containing his lover
and the enemy who had just captured it, and the subsequent
appearance of his lover from the resulting lake as a water-nymph.
The works following communist control continue a similar idiom,
with more rhythmic spice in the Piano Concerto No.4
op.48 (1953), and a Violin Concerto No.2 op.61 (1968)
that is jauntier but less effective than its predecessor in
spite of the seamless song-like flow of the solo writing.
From 1920-1932 Vladigerov worked as the orchestra
director of Max Reinhardt's famous Deutsches Theater in Berlin,
and produced incidental music for ten productions, ranging
from Ibsen to Shaw. Judging from the suites he made of some
of the music (including some songs), they are not of intrinsic
interest, but are historically, showing that the Deutsches
Theater used music that was a precursor of the Hollywood Romantic
film music idiom. Vladigerov's mother was Russian (and related
to the Russian poet Boris Pasternak), studied medicine in
Paris, and went to practice in Bulgaria; his twin brother
was the violinist Lyuben Vladigerov, and his son, Alexander,
is a noted Bulgarian conductor. Vladigerov taught at the Bulgarian
State Conservatory, and many of the next generation of Bulgarian
composers were among his pupils.
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works include:
- 2 symphonies (No.2 May for string
orch.)
- 5 piano concertos; 2 violin concertos; Concert
Fantasy and Elegiac Romance for cello and orch.
(also for cello and piano)
- Concert Overture, Dramatic Poem,
Four Rumanian Symphonic Dances, Jewish Poem,
Lyulin Impressions, Ninth of September, Nocturne
of the Desert, Seven Bulgarian Symphonic Dances,
Three Impressions, Traumspiel, Two Rumanian
Symphonic Sketches, Vardar and other works for
orch.
- violin sonata; Four Pieces, Classical
and Romantic and other works for violin and piano; piano
trio; string quartet; Prelude, Nostalgia and Dance
for string quartet
- Sonatina Concertante for piano; Aquarelles,
Bulgarian Suite, Episodes, Four Frescoes,
Four Pieces, Five Pieces, Five Poetic Pictures,
Five Silhouettes, Novelettes, Prelude Autumn
Elegy and Humoresque, Pictures, Shoumen Miniatures,
Six Exotic Preludes, Ten Impressions, Three
Bagatelles, Three Short Pieces, Variations on
a Bulgarian Theme and other works for piano
- 20 solo songs with piano; songs for chorus
- ballet Legend of the Lake
- opera Tsar Kaloyan
- incidental music
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recommended works:
Violin Concerto No.1 op.11 (1921)
Four Rumanian Symphonic Dances op.38
(1942) orchestra
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YOSSIFOV Alexander
born 12 August 1940 at Sofia
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Yossifov has been highly regarded in Bulgaria,
and has written in most genres in a conservative Romantic
style that incorporates a watered-down folk idiom. His cantatas,
however well-crafted, exemplify a grandiose Socialist Realism
of banal tunes, bright orchestral colours, and a harmonic
language rooted in Romanticism, as does the appalling To
the Heroes of Stalingrad for orchestra. Bulgarian folk-styles
emerge in the overblown and rigid Symphony No.5 (Proto-Bulgarians),
especially in the rhythms and colour, which are strongly reminiscent
in melodic line and general feel of Khatchaturian at
his worst. In spite of the imaginative percussion opening,
and the occasional interest of the Bulgarian folk music (especially
in the last movement), the paucity of musical imagination
hardly earns it the name of a symphony - it is more akin to
a film score with local colour. His works for children have
included piano teaching pieces, the trite Youth Overture,
and the attractive children's suite The Bells are Singing
(1979) for bells, triangle, gong, small drum, cymbals, and
glockenspiel, in which the balance between unusual sounds
and simplicity of playing is nicely judged. The banality of
the opera Khan Kroum Youvigi (Khan Kroum the Supreme,
1980), an historical drama set in A.D. 811 but whose musical
language is a cross between that of 1880 and a 1940s film
score for a romantic B-movie, is beyond description. He has
written many songs in a popular style. From 1969 Yossifov
was director of the state recording company Balkanton. He
is therefore one of the Bulgarian composers that readers may
come across.
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works include:
- 5 symphonies; sinfonietta
- 2 piano concertos; concerto for two pianos;
2 concertos for orch.; violin concerto
- To the Heroes of Stalingrad for orch.;
3 children's suites including The Bells are Singing
for percussion and Flutter, Red Pioneer Ties
- piano music, including piano music for children
- song cycles and songs; 7 cantatas including
The Eternal October, The Ninth of May and Sing,
Balkan Mountains; 4 oratorios including The Long White
Road; Requiem 1923
- three ballets
- children's opera The Miraculous Adventures
of the Little Monkey Toshko of Africa; operas Back
to the Beginning, Khan Kroum Youovigi (Khan Kroum the Supreme),
The Golden Spear and Holidaying in Arco Iris; musical
Sailor's Glory
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