"...These two young men [Constint Iliev and Dobrin Petkov] arriving in Ruse, formed an orchestra of the so-called cabinet lawyers, engineers, dentists and doctors. Then, after 9 September, the first years there were people fired for some "dark things" in their background. Without having graduated from a music academy, without being professionals, they had taken a few violin, flute and cello lessons and working with them often consisted of purely pedagogical requirements. People would come to Dobrin's house with their fiddles and bellows, and he would work out every finger, every vibrato, every bow part, etc., as if to play a concert recital...".
acad. Vasil Kazandjiev
The present study is the first attempt to tell about the cabinet lawyers, engineers, doctors, etc., as they are called by Acad. Vassil Kazandjiev, who played an important role in the formation of the symphony orchestra and the establishment of an opera theatre in his hometown. What are the "dark deeds" in their origins for which they have no right to exercise their profession? And how these "closeted", communicate with others - the "not closeted" musicians, choristers, soloists, stage workers, etc. and together, with much enthusiasm, love and dedication, fulfill the long-standing dream of generations of Russians to have their own opera. The research point of view is conceptually focused on the personal fates of singers, orchestrators and employees in the administration of the newly established cultural institutions in the city, whose future was forever predetermined by the coup of 9 September 1944.
The creation of a cultural institution in a period of severe post-war economic crisis, when the country was paying heavy reparations to the victors and the political system was changing, imposed with cruel terror against the political, economic and spiritual elite of the nation, required perseverance and intransigence, skilful use of the new political realities and confident, consistent, carefully considered actions towards the desired goal. In the first months after the coup of September 9, 1944, more than 100 murders were committed in Ruse alone, more than 1,300 arrests were made, and more than 100 to 200 political opponents of the Communist Party were sent to camps for varying lengths of time each month. Every day the locals hear horrifying news of relatives, friends, colleagues, neighbours who have disappeared, of merchants and bankers who have been arrested, and there are rumours of those who have been deported and taken to camps. Young, uneducated, cynical Home Front men, brought up to hate the rich, brutally invaded the homes and businesses of wealthy citizens who had adopted European patterns of behavior built beautiful and comfortable homes and created the aristocratic atmosphere of "Little Vienna." The upheaval of 9 September 1944 changed life in the city forever - the descendants of the old Ruthenian families fell into the category of the "closeted" - their parents were arrested, their property looted, and with the stigma of "former people" they lost their social and social status, their future was doomed. Unforgettable is the memory of Peter Spasov, a violinist, one of the founders of the Philharmonic, of the behaviour of those who searched their home: 'they behaved like savages, they looted whatever they saw'. Scholarly and inquisitive, the son of a colonel convicted of "gross fascist acts", Mr. Spasov kept in his family archives the note that the OF would not allow him to continue his education.
The brutal, primitive cruelty of the illiterate outsiders failed to kill the unique Ruthenian style of tradition, intelligence, love of music, warmth and cordiality in communication. Immediately after the end of the war, as early as 1945, the orchestra and choir members from the formations established at the beginning of the twentieth century reunited and resumed their rehearsals. Necessary documents for the official registration of the "Opera Friendship" were prepared (the first attempt to establish the Opera Friendship in Ruse in December 1906) - the Statute and the Regulations for the management and the official order of the symphony orchestra under the "Opera Friendship" Musical Society were drawn up. Members of the Society were authoritative and respected citizens - lawyers, engineers, military, doctors, pharmacists, musicians: the lawyer Dimitar Sakakushev, a long-time member of the leadership of the Lira Musical Society, author of the most valuable studies of musical life in Ruse; the judicial investigator Hristo Nurev and the prosecutor Dimitar Mutafov and "both passionate admirers of music and active enthusiasts in the organization of choral work in the city" (Chendov, G. "Peacock Feather"); the Kazandjiev brothers - Eng. Ivan Kazandjiev studied in Vienna and Graz, father of the composer Acad. Vasil Kazandjiev, father of the composer; and Konstantin Kazandjiev-Falana, the first artistic secretary of the opera, studied commercial science in Germany and at the Vienna Conservatory, where he became friends with Ferenc Lehar (his descendants keep a photograph with an autograph and dedication by the composer); the Kovachev brothers - Alexander Kovachev, a law graduate in Switzerland, lawyer and mayor of the city, and Dr. Nikola Kovachev, a doctor graduate in Prague; the lawyers Strashimir Naumov, Hristo Armianov, Yordan Rashenov and his daughter, the pianist Katya Rashenova, Dr. Vladimir Goranov, the singers Stefan Georgiev-Hernani, Lyuben and Stefka Musev, Colonel Atanas Semizov, etc. It is the duty of the Society to procure the necessary instruments, to maintain a music library, to provide the sheet music, etc. Regular members are those who have passed a verifying examination of their musical abilities, have "progressive conceptions of art". and in order for the Statute to be approved, the requirement is also entered - to be "not guilty of fascist manifestations". The restrictive ideological wording is no obstacle to the appointment of persons from the circles of the so-called "former people" to the composition of the opera, the orchestra and the administration.
Among the first appointments to the orchestra and opera staff were the sons of two deputies in the XXV UNS - Dimitar Ikonomov and Dimitar Makhmudiev, who were expelled from Sofia, and who, led by the Vice-Chairman of the National Assembly Dimitar Peshev, on 17 March 1943 signed a petition to the Prime Minister prof. On October 1, 1948, Hristo Dimitrov Ikonomov, born on January 11, 1924 in Stanke Dimitrov, took the exam. His father, Dimitar Ikonomov, was accused of Germanophilia by the so-called People's Court, and despite the appearance of Jews in his defense, was shot, along with the regents, deputies and ministers, on the 1st versus the 2nd of February 1945. The father's death sentence also predetermined the fate of his son - a lawyer by education, who worked in the Sofia Court, he was immediately deprived of the right to exercise his profession. Hristo Ikonomov performed for nine months at the Musical Theatre, but was expelled from Sofia and his life's journey passed in Ruse. In front of a committee consisting of Emil Karamanov - conductor of the municipal symphony orchestra, Hristo Dyulgerov - concertmaster, Mikhail Nikolov - leader of the cellists in the orchestra, Ikonomov performed on the violin schtick from "Chardash" by Monit, "Egmont" - overture by Beethoven and "Fairy Tale" by Petko Stainov. His colleagues remembered him for his unique sense of humour and quoted him with a smile: "Conductors are our class enemies!" Similar was the fate of the opera's treasurer, Dimitar Makhmudiev, whose name appears on the opera's first payroll (1950). His father Philip Makhmudiev, an independent deputy from Gorna Oryahonitsa, was sentenced to five years in prison, sent to the camps in Dobrevo, Nozharevo and Belene, and the family's Sofia home was taken away. Arriving in Ruse, the father worked as a plumber, the son married the mezzo-soprano Bogdana Hadjitodorova, music lovers remember her participation in the opera Rigoletto. In the same, earliest register of the opera, the name of the singer Elisaveta Jovovich, whose husband, lawyer Bozhko Kovatchevsky, was also a deputy in the XXV UNS with an executed death sentence, is listed. One of the greatest performers of lyric soprano arias in the repertoire of our national opera theatre between 1923 and 1944, she was interned in Vratsa, Stara Zagora and Ruse. She sang Violetta's aria in the first pre-premiere performance of the newly established Ruse Opera, held on 8 November 1949. The wife of an "enemy of the people", who had specialised in opera singing in Paris, she was not allowed on stage at the premiere of La Traviata. An excellent music teacher, "Elisaveta Jovovich was a very useful person for the opera - writes Chandov. She also worked hard with her students on breathing... She also paid attention to the precise control of the use of the air supply by developing special exercises for this." Among the internees from Sofia was Assen Tsankov, the nephew of Prof. Chovankov. Born in 1912, he was a four-time champion of Bulgaria in tennis, participated in the Winter Olympics (1936), studied at the conservatory, graduated in law. After the political coup he was deprived of the right to practice law. The violinist Mikhail Chakarov has remembered a curious episode of how Tsankov's journey of introduction to the Dobrudja region ended in Ruse. Someone suggested to Konstantin Iliev that the talented musician was on the train, and the orchestra urgently needed to replenish the brass band. The conductor quickly made a decision - Tsankov was dropped off at the Ruse station and appointed flute player in the newly formed orchestra. His colleague Venelin Popov also tells of a rehearsal of the overture to The Barber of Seville by J. Rossini. Conductor Dobrin Petkov "didn't like something about the risers and turned them back 15 times. Assen couldn't stand it, and being a lawyer prone to speeches, he jumped up and said, 'Comrade Petkov, you are a young man and you give us complexes. You will drive us mad. Everything you are doing is a genocide against us..." and he sat down. Silence for ten seconds, and Dobrin said, "Please, please, same place. Assen stood up and said, "That's why we love you." Contemporaries also remember their other colleagues who were displaced from Sofia - Svetoslav Petkov Dichev, a lawyer with a rich general culture, and the assistant concertmaster, the violinist Ivan Yankov. And another lawyer with disbarment stands behind the console - Nikola Danev from Silistra. The fate of Feodor Selinsky, a pupil of the composer Alexander Glazunov, is an extraordinary one. He came to Ruse from Serbia. He was chief conductor of the Belgrade Symphony Orchestra and a lecturer at the Music Academy founded in 1937. Exiled for political reasons, the 70-year-old professor found refuge in Ruse as a violist in the newly founded orchestra. Contemporaries say that he was a valuable advisor to the young conductors Konstantin Iliev and Dobrin Petkov. The then still inexperienced violist Valentin Popov remembers him with gratitude, to whom the elderly musician bequeathed his personal instrument - an expensive Italian viola.
And in the administration of the orchestra are also appointed specialists who have been deprived of the right to exercise their profession - the head of the office is the lawyer Lyuben Musev, the organizer is the aviator Vladimir Penev, son of Gen. Alexander Penev, commander of the Fifth Danube Infantry Regiment (1923-1924), the German translator Bojan Todorov Vitanov was an informant, the general worker was the merchant with confiscated property Veliko Yordanov Karachorov. Among the founders of the orchestra are the cousins - Dimitar Bozduganov, a violinist, expelled from the conservatory and Nikola Bozduganov, who has just returned from the front, descendants of a nationalised in 1947 Ltd. Bozduganov, spirits trade".
Among the newly admitted choristers is also Banko Stefanov Bankov, the son of a Tsarist officer expelled from the Conservatory. Col. Stefan Popov was posted to Varna when his military unit was ordered to go on a raid against partisans. Col. Popov refused to carry it out, explaining that he would not take up arms against Bulgarians and warned the partisans that an action was being prepared against them. For his disobedience he was transferred to service in Ruse, dismissal followed, the family was left without income. And in the most difficult period, the son of the Tsar's officer was appointed to the chorus and even sold his furniture to the opera, Empire style with carved wood, which was used as props in La Traviata and other performances. And two more politically unreliable artist-choir members - Atanas Chamurov, son of Lambrin Chamurov, a group leader of the State Security Service, who was convicted by the so-called People's Court with an executed death sentence, and Gergana Hristova Dushkova, daughter of Dr. Hristo Dushkov, who was unjustly affected by the People's Power between March 30, 1945 and May 2, 1947 and subsequently rehabilitated.
The first accompanists, young pianists who graduated from a conservatory with a piano specialty, were also appointed - Viktoria Nikolova, Anna Vatsova, Linka Sokerova, daughter of the most colorful local lawyer - the Italian graduate Gancho Sokerov, Anastasia Dyulgerova, daughter of a hardware store owner, the merchant Dimitar Dyulgerov, one of those who disappeared immediately after 9 September 1944. A chance meeting of two old friends, Konstantin Kazandjiev-Falana, the artistic secretary of the opera, and Ivan Popkonstantinov, a lawyer, a deputy of the XXV UNS, tried by the so-called People's Court, just released from prison with his civil rights revoked and his property confiscated, predetermines the fate of the daughter, Liliana Popkonstantinova. "Those were really hungry years," Liliana writes in her memoirs. I went to look for a job, but as soon as they found out that I was a Brannik (youth organization before September 9, 1944), my father was tried by the people's court, there was no work for me... [Falana] told my father to go to him at the opera... And so, despite my biography, I found myself on June 1, 1950 working at the opera as a typist. At first I was a do-it-all girl - transcribe the program, pin it up, let the managers know there was going to be an artistic or director's board, etc." Lilyana Petkova and Anastasia Dyulgerova, from the category of so-called "former people", are the closest friends of the pianist Katya Reshenova, daughter of the communist lawyer Yordan Rashenov.
Once the orchestra was formed, the Opera Society proceeded to found the long-dreamed of opera theatre and ceased its activities after the orchestra and opera became state institutions in 1950. Crucial to the formation of the opera company was the role of director Georgi Chendov, who appointed artists and technical staff without regard for the Communist Party's personnel policy. "...Interesting was the "heretical" behaviour of the communist Georgi Chendov - writes Nikola Bozduganov. For fourteen years he defended his ideological and aesthetic leanings before the district party committee. Sometimes with cunning moves, sometimes with blatant disagreement. He paid fines out of his own pocket, searched for and appointed personnel at his own discretion... During his time, the Ruthenian public filled the hall without fail, the popularity of Ruthenian opera stars reached the highest peaks... no one has forgotten those passionate performances of creative dedication."
The love of music is passed from generation to generation, it is "a passion that passes through the years without growing old - a passion that has been passed down from father to son, from son to grandson. A passion that has not been interested in political changes, but has used them, has adapted to them" - will write in "Peacock Feather" the first director of the opera Georgi Chendov.
[1] The entire study is published in the proceedings of a scientific conference with international participation "Idea - Ideal - Ideology. The Musical Culture of Bulgaria in the Second Half of the Twentieth Century." Pancho Vladigerov.
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