Hristov was born in Varna, Bulgaria. He graduated from the Prague Conservatory in 1903 (under the directorship of the famous Czech composer Antonín Dvořák). He returned to Bulgaria and helped with the development of Bulgarian music culture, using lots of Bulgarian folklore elements in his compositions. He was conductor of "The Seven Saints" ensemble and choir in the church of the same name in Sofia, Bulgaria between 1911 and 1928.
Category:1875 births Category:1941 deaths Category:20th-century classical composers Category:Bulgarian composers Category:People from Varna
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Filip Kutev (1903 – 1982) was a Bulgarian composer and founder of the Bulgarian State Television Female Vocal Choir. He is widely considered "the father of Bulgarian choir and folk music". Kutev also created and conducted the Bulgarian National Ensemble & Choir in 1951.
He was born in Aitos, Burgas Province.
Category:1903 births Category:1982 deaths Category:Bulgarian composers Category:Bulgarian people Category:People from Burgas Province
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At the age of 6 he injured one of his eyes; as a result, the other eye was also infected. At 11 he lost his sight completely. Staynov graduated from the Institute for the Blind in Sofia (1915), where his talent for music showed for the first time. Later he studied music with Andrei Stoyanov and made his initial attempts at composing. In 1920 he left for Germany for a year of studies at the Private Musical Lyceum in Braunschweig. In 1923 he graduated from the Dresden Musical Conservatory, majoring in composition under Alexander Wolf and in piano under Ernst Munch. Having returned to Kazanluk in 1925, he created his first major work: the Thracian Dances symphonic suite in three movements. He later added an additional movement to the suite, Mechkarsko (The Bear Warder's Dance, 1926).
In 1927 he moved to Sofia and began teaching piano at the Institute for the Blind. Petko Staynov worked mainly in the genres of symphonic and choral music. Being equally talented in both, he generalised some trends in Bulgarian musical creativity and opened new vistas to its development. He adapted the European musical tradition to the Bulgarian way of thinking, to the abilities of both performers and listeners, to the natural process of advancement of the national music. From European music Staynov adopted some expressive devices and forms, the resources of the symphony orchestra, the construction of a well-engineered structure. What characterises him as a markedly Bulgarian musical creative artist is the introduction of a Bulgarian musical style of his own. This style was expressed to its fullest in the completely independent melody (without direct quoting of folk music) and in the harmonic language of his work. The idea of his compositions is clarified through the lyrics of his choral songs and ballads and through the programmatic titles of most of his symphonic works.
Staynov's symphonic works breathe powerful philosophic suggestions, while some of them, like, for example, Thracian Dances and Thrace, have become symbolic for Bulgarian music. Petko Staynov's choral songs reveal features of the Bulgarian people's character (A Fir Tree Is Bending; A Bright Sun Has Risen; Hey, Ivan; Play a Tune, Dimo; Oh, That Man Dimo; Hey, Dimo). Till the early 1930s, he followed the traditions of choral art laid by the first composers in the genre, introducing at the same time elements of his own style.
With his choral ballads Staynov laid the foundation of a whole new field in Bulgarian music. In them he recreated mainly dramatic events from Bulgaria's older and new history and thus achieved a national ballad sound (e.g. The Secret of Struma River, 1931; Urvich for mixed choir on lyrics by N. Rakitin, 1933; Horsemen, 1932; One Hundred and Twenty Men for male choir on lyrics by P.P. Slaveykov, 1935; A Maiden's Lament for mixed choir on lyrics by T. Kunev. 1936; Comrade Anton for mixed choir on lyrics by I. Radoev, 1954; Godfather German for mixed choir on lyrics by D. Panteleev, 1955). For his ballads, the composer employed elements from the national intonation fund, but the strictly folk sounding would have impeded his creative fervour in achieving effective dramatic narration. Staynov's ballads pose technical difficulties to their performers and have remained to the present day a touchstone for the performing mastery of Bulgarian choirs.
His overall work in both the symphonic and the choral genres contributed to some neglected stages in the development of Bulgarian music and thus further established his status as an outstanding figure in Bulgarian musical culture.
Petko Staynov's ideas about the social functions of music, about the significance of folk music for the creativity of Bulgarian composers, about the creation of a Bulgarian musical style, choral singing, choirs, school musical education, composers and their works, performers and events in the country's musical life were laid down in numerous articles, most of which were published in the collection Petko Staynov: On Bulgarian Musical Culture, 1967.
Petko Staynov held numerous high state awards. He died on June 26, 1977.
Category:1896 births Category:1977 deaths Category:Bulgarian composers Category:People from Kazanlak Category:Blind musicians Category:Hochschule für Musik "Carl Maria von Weber" alumni
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