A masterly violinist and later renowned soloists and chamber musician, Sasha Popov remains in the Bulgarian music history as one of the most remarkable conductors of all times. He is also known as “The father of Bulgarian symphonic music”. The country marks in July, 2014 Sasha Popov’s 115^th birth anniversary.

Sahsa Popov was born in the Danube city of Ruse in 1899. He started playing the violin when he was only four under the mentorship of his father. Later, when his family settled in Sofia, the young musician studied in the classes of Petko Naumov-a violinist, conductor and composer. He progressed quickly and his parents decided that he should continue his education in Vienna. Sasha departed to the capital of Austro-Hungary together with his mother and his sister. He was only nine at that time. There, he studied in the classes of renowned Professor Carl Spihl and later in the classes of pedagogue Otokar Sevcik who gave him lessons free of charge. Sasha again dazzled the world with his music skills and the quick progress he was making. He joined the Vienna Conservatory where he studied until his 19^th birthday. Later he returned to Bulgaria to cover his mandatory military service. Then he started to lecture at the Sofia Music Academy where he established a symphonic orchestra. Later the Academic Orchestra was in the root of the Royal Military Symphony Orchestra which was later re-formed to the State Symphony Orchestra.

People tell many stories about Sasha Popov. His contemporaries described him as an exceptionally magnetic personality, a great professional and a very compassionate man. When Sasha started to form the Royal Military Symphony Orchestra he had to bring good musicians from all parts of Bulgaria. The renowned conductor was taking good care of the orchestra members and helped them solve various problems. However, he was very demanding in his job. He even signed an order to punish himself due to involuntary mistake during a concert performance. He quickly made a wonderful band which held many concerts across Bulgaria. In 1938 during his historical music tour in Italy, the Royal Military Symphony Orchestra performed Symphony No 6 by P. Tchaikovsky. In 1949, as a conductor of the Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra, Sasha Popov formed a philharmonic choir of 140 members and several chamber bands. The orchestra held premiers of pieces by Pancho Wladigeroff, Lubomir Pipkov, Marin Goleminov and many other renowned Bulgarian composers. Sasha Popov invited representatives of the world music elite such as Bruno Walter, Carlo Cecchi, etc to be guest conductors.

His remarkable career continued until 1956 when he was retired unreasonably. Later some of the most eminent Bulgarian musicians described this act as one of the most shameful pages of the Bulgarian music history. When he became jobless, Sasha established the Collegium Musicum chamber orchestra. The rehearsals were held in the evening hours, because his musicians used to work at different places and ….played for free at the Collegium Musicum. Meanwhile, Sasha Popov conducted concerts of the BNR Symphonic Orchestra.  His voice can be heard in the only recording saved in the golden archives of the Bulgarian National Radio. Sasha Popov talks about the Pini di Roma symphonic poem by Ottorino Respighi and shares impression from the radio orchestra.

“I performed Respighi’s pieces between 1936 and 1939 when they sounded in Bulgaria for the first time. The radio band was attracted by the Pini di Roma piece. Its composer wrote this piece under the strong influenced of Rimski Korsakov, as he studied in his music classes in 1901. I worked with the Bulgarian National Radio Symphonic Orchestra in the past, too. I am happy to note the huge progress marked by this band. Meeting with the BNR symphonic band has always been a great pleasure. ”

The great Bulgarian musician worked in Israel, the USA and Egypt, as his country failed to provide him normal working conditions. In 1975 his colleagues organized a celebration of his 75^th birthday. They sent an invitation to Sasha Popov, who lived in Los Angeles at that time, to attend the event. However, Sasha’s excitement was so strong, that he suffered a heart attack. Thus, one of the greatest personalities in the Bulgarian music history left this world without being able to see his motherland again, his daughter-the opera diva Valeria Popova and his granddaughter-renowned opera singer Alexandrina Pendachanska.

English version: Kostadin Atanasov