Pancho Vladigerov
Pancho Haralanov Vladigerov (or Wladigeroff, Wladigerow, Vladiguerov, Vladigueroff; Bulgarian: Панчо Хараланов Владигеров [ˈpant͡ʃo xɐrɐˈɫanov vɫɐdiˈɡɛrof]; 13 March 1899 – 8 September 1978) was a Bulgarian composer, pedagogue, and pianist.[1]
Vladigerov is arguably the most influential Bulgarian composer of all time. He was one of the first to successfully combine idioms of Bulgarian folk music and classical music. Part of the so-called Second Generation Bulgarian Composers, he was among the founding members of the Bulgarian Contemporary Music Society (1933), which later became the Union of Bulgarian Composers.[2] Vladigerov marked the beginning of a number of genres in Bulgarian music, including the violin sonata and the piano trio. He was also a very respected pedagogue; his students include practically all notable Bulgarian composers of the next generation, such as Alexander Raichev, Alexander Yossifov, Stefan Remenkov, and many others, as well as the pianist Alexis Weissenberg.
Biography
Vladigerov was born in Zürich, Switzerland, but lived in Shumen, Bulgaria.[1] His mother Dr. Eliza Pasternak was a Russian Jew. His father Dr. Haralan Vladigerov was a Bulgarian lawyer and a politician. Pancho Vladigerov played the piano and composed from an early age. In 1910, two years after his father's early death, Vladigerov and the rest of his family moved to Sofia, where Pancho started studying composition with Dobri Hristov, the most distinguished Bulgarian composer of his generation.
Pancho's maternal grandfather, Leon Pasternak, a Russian Jew who left Odessa and settled in Zurich a few years before Pancho's birth, was a very influential figure in Pancho's musical development and later success. The grandfather, a mathematician by profession, and an amateur chess player,[3] musician and composer, used to play the violin with Pancho and his twin brother, Lyuben. Based on a Jewish tune his grandfather taught him, Vladigerov composed in 1951 his great symphony, the "Jewish Poem", Opus 47. This symphony received in 1952 the highest honor given by the Bulgarian Government to an artist, the Dimitrov Prize,[4] and earned him the admiration of his fellow musicians: "A work like this is written only once in a hundred years", Dmitri Shostakovich exclaimed.[4]
In 1912 Vladigerov's mother managed to obtain a governmental scholarship for her children to study in Berlin, where Pancho and his twin brother, the violinist Lyuben Vladigerov, were enrolled at the Staatliche Akademische Hochschule für Musik (now part of the Berlin University of the Arts), which was under the auspices of the Academy of Arts. Pancho Vladigerov studied music theory and composition with Paul Juon[5] and piano with Karl Heinrich Barth.[5] In 1920 he graduated from the academy after having studied piano also with Leonid Kreutzer, composition with Friedrich Gernsheim and Georg Schumann. He twice won the Mendelssohn Prize of the academy (in 1918 and 1920).
After his graduation Vladigerov became music director at Deutsches Theater in Berlin and worked with the famous theatre director Max Reinhardt. In 1932, after much hesitation, he decided to return to Sofia, where he was appointed professor in Piano, Chamber Music and Composition at the State Academy of Music, which is now named after him.
Vladigerov composed in a variety of genres including an opera (Tsar Kaloyan, to a libretto by Nikolai Liliev and Fani Popova-Mutafova),[6] ballet, symphonic music, five piano concertos, two violin concertos, chamber music including string quartet, trio (violin, cello and piano), works and transcriptions for violin and piano and numerous opuses for solo piano,[7] 38 transcriptions of instrumental pieces for instrument and piano, 13 late transcriptions of his earlier works for two pianos,[8] fifty folksong concert arrangements for voice and piano/orchestra, 20 songs for voice and piano, ten choral songs with piano/orchestra, incidental music for the performances of the Deutsches Theater in Berlin, the Theater in der Josefstadt in Vienna, and the National Theatre in Sofia.
Vladigerov gained considerable fame in Europe in the 1920s when many of his pieces were published by Universal Edition in Vienna and released on LPs by the German recording company Deutsche Grammophon before being performed throughout Europe and the USA. As pianist and composer he toured most of the European countries performing mainly his own works. In 1969 he was awarded the Herder Prize by the University of Vienna. The Bulgarian recording company Balkanton released an edition of his stage and symphony music in four sets of seven LPs each; however, only a very small portion of his works is currently available on CD.
Vladigerov's music has been admired by such diverse personalities as Richard Strauss, Dmitri Shostakovich, and Aram Khachaturian. It has been performed by artists such as Alexis Weissenberg, David Oistrakh, Emil Gilels, Ivan Drenikov and, most recently, Marc-André Hamelin; however, he still remains a largely unknown name except in his home country. His solo piano music has been performed in concert several times in the UK recently by Bulgarian-born pianist Valentina Seferinova, who continues to champion his music.
Vladigerov's most performed and emblematic work is unquestionably Vardar Rhapsody, also known as Bulgarian Rhapsody.[1] Originally written for violin and piano, it was later orchestrated and arranged for various instruments. A fiery patriotic work, it has become, in the words of an admiring critic "the Bulgarian equivalent of Chopin's Polonaise in A Major".
Pancho Vladigerov died in 1978 in Sofia. His son Alexander Vladigerov (1933–1993) and grandchildren Pancho Vladigerov Jr., Alexander Wladigeroff, and Konstantin Wladigeroff have also become respected musicians.
Legacy
Pancho Vladigerov's house at No. 10, Yakubitsa, in Sofia has been transformed into a museum.[9]
The Intellectual Legacy of Pancho Vladigerov Foundation was founded in the autumn of 2006 by Pancho Vladigerov Jr.[10] Its main aim is to preserve, protect and popularise Pancho Vladigerov's tangible and intangible heritage.
Vladigerov's name is also preserved in the following.
- An international music competition held every two years since 1986 in Shumen[11]
- The National Academy of Music "Prof. Pancho Vladigerov" in Sofia[12]
- Vladigerov Passage in Antarctica[13]
Notes
- ^ a b c Hlebarov, Ivan (2001). "Vladigerov, Pancho (Haralanov)". In Sadie, Stanley (ed.). New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Vol. 26 (2nd ed.). Macmillan Publishers Limited. p. 850-851. ISBN 9781561592395.
- ^ Union of Bulgarian Composers
- ^ Leon Pasternak – Hans Fahrni, 5th Swiss Championship, Zurich, June 1895
- ^ a b The Significance of Selected Piano Compositions by Pancho Vladigerov Archived 2010-07-18 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b Schlüren, Christoph (2004). "Publication of Preface to Score of Vladigerov's 1st Violin Concerto". Musikproduktion Juergen Hoeflich. Retrieved 2007-12-11.
- ^ "Vladigerov Biography Page". Bulgarian Operas: Course Material at University of Pittsburgh Center for International Studies. April 2005. Retrieved 2007-12-11.
- ^ [1] Archived 2006-09-23 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ [2] Archived 2006-09-23 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "The House Museum in Sofia". Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2007-08-01.
- ^ "The Intellectual Legacy of Pancho Vladigerov Foundation". Archived from the original on 2018-09-19. Retrieved 2007-08-01.
- ^ "Pancho Vladigerov international competition for pianists and violinists".
- ^ "About | NAM 'Prof. Pancho Vladigerov'". www.nma.bg. Archived from the original on 2011-04-13.
- ^ Vladigerov Passage. SCAR Composite Gazetteer of Antarctica.
References
- Pavlov — Klosterman, Evgeni. 2000. Pancho Vladigerov. Sofia: Muzika
- Fedotova Valery, Some tendencies of Bulgarian music in the context of national art in the first half of the twentieth century. // Bulgarian art and literature. History and modernity. SIAS. Moscow, 2003. = Федотова В.Н. Некоторые тенденции болгарской музыки в контексте национального искусства в первой половине ХХ столетия. // Болгарское искусство и литература. История и современность. Москва, ГИИ,2003.
- Fedotova Valery, The forms of Bulgarian symbolism and Bulgarian music. // Modern and integration processes in the European culture. M., SIAS, 2004. = Федотова В.Н. Формы болгарского символизма и болгарская музыка. // Модерн и интеграционные процессы в европейской культуре. Москва,ГИИ, 2004.
- Fedotova Valery, Opera of P. Vladigerov and L. Pipkov in the context of Bulgarian art of 1920-30-es. // Musical theatre of the twentieth century: Events, Problems, Results, Perspectives. M., SIAS, 2004. = Федотова В.Н. Оперы П.Владигерова и Л.Пипкова в контексте болгарского искусства 1920-30-х гг. // Музыкальный театр ХХ века: События, проблемы, итоги, перспективы. Москва, ГИИ, 2004.
- Fedotova Valery, The Bulgarian music of the twentieth century in the context of the national culture. Moscow, SIAS, 2012. ISBN 978-5-904082-11-6 = Федотова В.Н. Болгарская музыка ХХ века в контексте национальной художественной культуры. Москва, ГИИ, 2012. ISBN 978-5-904082-11-6
External links
- The Intellectual Legacy of Pancho Vladigerov Foundation
- A biography of Pancho Vladigerov (including work list and selected bibliography) at the Union of Bulgarian Composers website
- Pantcho, Pantscho or Pancho – spelling suggestions invoked out of his archives
- Concert Pianist Valentina Seferinova
- Concerto N°4 Op.40 with Ivan Drenikov
- v
- t
- e
- 1964: Oto Bihalji-Merin
- Jan Kott
- Stanisław Lorentz
- Lucijan Marija Škerjanc
- 1965: Tudor Arghezi
- Manolis Hatzidakis
- Emanuel Hruška
- Zoltán Kodály
- László Németh
- Hugo Rokyta
- Hristo Vakarelski
- 1966: Ján Cikker
- Dezső Dercsényi
- Zlatko Gorjan
- Aleksander Kobzdej
- Anton Kriesis
- Niko Kuret
- Dimiter Statkov
- 1967: Iván Fenyő
- Vladimír Kompánek
- Witold Lutosławski
- Spyridon Marinatos
- Alexandru A. Philippide
- Mihai Pop
- Svetozar Radojčić
- 1968: Constantin Daicoviciu
- Roman Ingarden
- Miroslav Krleža
- Ludvík Kunz
- Anastasios Orlandos
- Lajos Vayer
- Pancho Vladigerov
- 1969: Jolán Balogh
- Albín Brunovský
- Bohuslav Fuchs
- Mihail Jora
- Marijan Matković
- Ksawery Piwocki
- France Stele
- 1970: Jan Białostocki
- Jan Filip
- Zoltán Franyó
- Milovan Gavazzi
- Gyula Illyés
- Yiannis Papaioannou
- Zeko Torbov
- 1971: Jiří Kolář
- Blaže Koneski
- Georgios Megas
- Kazimierz Michałowski
- Mihail Sokolovski
- Zaharia Stancu
- Bence Szabolcsi
- 1972: Dragotin Cvetko
- Atanas Dalchev
- Branko Maksimović
- Gyula Ortutay
- Jaroslav Pešina
- Henryk Stażewski
- Virgil Vătășianu
- 1973: Veselin Beshevliev
- Stylianos Harkianakis
- János Harmatta
- Zbigniew Herbert
- Eugen Jebeleanu
- Petar Lubarda
- Jan Racek
- 1974: Władysław Czerny
- Ivan Duichev
- Ivo Frangeš
- László Gerő
- Stylianos Pelekanidis
- Ján Podolák
- Zeno Vancea
- 1975: Józef Burszta
- Hristo M. Danov
- Stanislav Libenský
- Maria Ana Musicescu
- Gábor Preisich
- Pandelis Prevelakis
- Stanojlo Rajičić
- 1976: Jagoda Buić
- Marin Goleminov
- Ioannis Kakridis
- Dezső Keresztury
- Nichita Stănescu
- Rudolf Turek
- Kazimierz Wejchert
- 1977: Nikolaos Andriotis
- Riko Debenjak
- Emmanuel Kriaras
- Albert Kutal
- Máté Major
- Krzysztof Penderecki
- Anastas Petrov
- Ion Vladutiu
- 1978: Eugen Barbu
- Đurđe Bošković
- Kazimierz Dejmek
- Stoyan Dzudzev
- Béla Gunda
- Jiří Hrůza
- Yiannis Spyropoulos
- 1979: Magdalena Abakanowicz
- Ferenc Farkas
- Zdenko Kolacio
- Atanas Natev
- András Sütő
- Pavel Trost
- Apostolos E. Vacalopoulos
- 1980: Gordana Babić-Đorđević
- Iván Balassa
- Kamil Lhoták
- Manousos Manousakas
- Vera Mutafchieva
- Alexandru Rosetti
- Wiktor Zin
- 1981: Emil Condurachi
- Sándor Csoóri
- Stefka Georgieva
- Dimitrios Loukatos
- Vjenceslav Richter
- Eugen Suchoň
- Elida Maria Szarota
- 1982: Athanasios Aravantinos
- Ana Blandiana
- Vojislav J. Đurić
- Sona Kovacevicová
- Aleksandar Nichev
- Jan Józef Szczepański
- Imre Varga
- 1983: Władysław Bartoszewski
- Géza Entz
- Jozef Jankovič
- Gunther Schuller
- Zdenko Škreb
- Stefana Stoykova
- C. A. Trypanis
- 1984: Emilijan Cevc
- Konstantinos Dimaras
- Karel Horálek
- György Konrád
- Constantin Lucaci
- Krasimir Manchev
- Krzysztof Meyer
- 1985: Branko Fučić
- Růžena Grebeníčková
- Adrian Marino
- Demetrios Pallas
- Károly Perczel
- Simeon Pironkov
- Andrzej Wajda
- 1986: Georgi Baev
- Tekla Dömötör
- Boris Gaberščik
- Konrad Górski
- Johannes Karayannopoulos
- Jiří Kotalík
- Anatol Vieru
- 1987: Roman Brandstaetter
- Doula Mouriki
- József Ujfalussy
- Vladimir Veličković
- Velizar Velkov
- Gheorghe Vrabie
- 1988: Roman Berger
- Christos Kapralos
- Zoe Dumitrescu-Bușulenga
- György Györffy
- Donka Petkanova
- Mieczysław Porębski
- Edvard Ravnikar
- 1989: Maria Banuș
- Ákos Birkás
- Jerzy Buszkiewicz
- Václav Frolec
- Nikolai Genchev
- Petar Miljković-Pepek
- Nikos Gabriel Pentzikis
- 1990: Liviu Calin
- Bronisław Geremek
- Aris Konstantinidis
- Dejan Medaković
- Virginia Paskaleva
- Adriena Šimotová
- András Vizkelety
- 1991: Maja Bošković-Stulli
- Gerard Labuda
- Andor Pigler
- Yorgos Sicilianos
- Emil Skála
- Marin Sorescu
- Stoimen Stoilov
- 1992: Manolis Andronikos
- Jenő Barabás
- Blaga Dimitrova
- Stefan Kaszynski
- Jiří Kořalka
- Zmaga Kumer
- Jon Nicodim
- 1993: Vasilka Gerasimova-Tomova
- Petro Kononenko
- György Kurtág
- Jerzy Tchórzewski
- Răzvan Theodorescu
- Elena Várossová
- Māra Zālīte
- Dionysis Zivas
- Viktor Žmegač
- 1994: István Borzsák
- Dževad Juzbašić
- Ștefan Niculescu
- Andrzej Szczypiorski
- Jitka and Květa Válová
- Takis Varvitsiotis
- Zigmas Zinkevičius
- 1995: Sándor Kányádi
- Mirko Kovač
- Milcho Lalkov
- Michael G. Meraklis
- Mindaugas Navakas
- Wisława Szymborska
- Jaan Undusk
- 1996: Tamás Hofer
- Karel Hubáček
- Konstantin Iliev
- Marin Mincu
- Jože Pogačnik
- Pēteris Vasks
- Marian Zgórniak
- 1997: Tasos Athanasiadis
- Bogdan Bogdanović
- Oskár Elschek
- Ferenc Glatz
- Lech Kalinowski
- Jaan Kross
- Dunja Rihtman-Auguštin
- 1998: Imre Bak
- Andrei Corbea-Hoișie
- Eliška Fučíková
- Ismail Kadare
- Justinas Marcinkevičius
- Dorota Simonides
- Elena Toncheva
- 1999: Svetlana Alexievich
- Vera Bitrakova-Grozdanova
- Mircea Dinescu
- István Fried
- Henryk Górecki
- Dževad Karahasan
- Ferdinand Milučký
- 2000: Ján Bakoš
- Ivan Čolović
- Nikola Georgiev
- Imre Kertész
- Milan Kundera
- Karolos Mitsakis
- Arvo Pärt
- 2001: Yurii Andrukhovych
- Janez Bernik
- János Böhönyey
- Maria Kłańska
- Marek Kopelent
- Andrej Mitrović
- Evanghelos Moutsopoulos
- 2002: George Demetrius Bambiniotis
- Māris Čaklais
- Péter Esterházy
- Radost Ivanova
- Nedjeljko Fabrio
- Aurel Stroe
- Lech Trzeciakowski
- 2003: Vasil Gyuzelev
- Drago Jančar
- Károly Manherz
- Stanisław Mossakowski
- Ales Rasanau
- Ludvík Václavek
- Ana Maria Zahariade
- 2004: Theodore Antoniou
- Michał Głowiński
- Dušan Kováč
- Fatos Lubonja
- Éva Pócs
- Kazimir Popkonstantinov
- Romualdas Požerskis
- 2005: Károly Klimó
- Hanna Krall
- Primož Kuret
- Jiří Kuthan
- Andrei Marga
- Eimuntas Nekrošius
- Krešimir Nemec
- 2006: Włodzimierz Borodziej
- Nicos Hadjinicolaou
- Gabriela Kiliánová
- Ene Mihkelson
- Vojteh Ravnikar