NEW BOOK BY ASSOC. PROF. STEFKA VENKOVA, PHD, PUBLISHED WITH THE FINANCIAL SUPPORT OF THE MINISTRY OF CULTURE
The new book by Assoc. Prof. Stefka Venkova, PhD, ‘Building the New Musical Life in Bulgaria – The Work of Nikolay Iv. Nikolaev (1852 – 1938)’. The scientific editor is Assoc. Prof. Yavor Genov, PhD, and the reviewers are Prof. Kristina Yapova, DSc., and Prof. Rositsa Draganova, PhD. Published by the Institute of Art Studies – BAS, 284 pages, 45 illustrations, ISBN 978-619-7619-71-3, produced with the financial support of the Ministry of Culture.
The book is dedicated to the process of creating Bulgarian musical culture through the prism of the creative work of the great musician Nikolay Iv. Nikolaev (1852 – 1938). For the first time, it is the subject of independent and comprehensive musicological research in the context of the new musical life in Bulgaria from the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. The name of Nikolay Iv. Nikolaev – the musician who laid the foundations of the 'edifice' of Bulgarian music, within which we still reside today – is not known to the extent he deserves. Is it possible to fully understand the phenomena and processes in our musical culture without a thorough understanding and comprehensive appreciation of what he achieved? Rhetorical in nature, this question serves as the guiding principle throughout the book.
The monograph argues for the need for a contemporary, comprehensive study of Nikolay Iv. Nikolaev. It justifies the need to rethink the ‘grand’ musical-historical narrative created in the second half of the 20th century, which was subordinated to the ideological norms of socialist realism, and to move away from composer-centric tendencies in musicological research. This study offers an exploration of the uniquely distinctive personality and role of a Bulgarian pioneer musician.
The book examines Nikolay Iv. Nikolaev’s musical activity in the context of key trends in Bulgarian musical culture from the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century: Europeanisation and modernisation; the professionalisation of Bulgarian music and the establishment of the figure of the musician in society; the establishment of musical institutions modelled on European academic traditions; the training of music teachers for Bulgarian schools and the creation of music education programmes appropriate to the times; the development and regulation of the activities of military wind bands; the introduction and consolidation of polyphonic choral music; the creation of new Bulgarian polyphonic church compositions; and the collection of folk music and church hymns. Nikolay Iv. Nikolaev was the cornerstone of all these initiatives over a long period, from the 1880s to the mid-1930s.
