Petko Staynov (1896-1977) lived to the age of eighty, seventy of which he spent in darkness, as he lost his eyesight as a child. They say that when you lose your vision, all other senses become much keener. This may give the key to his words: “From the moment an idea or image reverberates in a composer’s mind to the moment when, after a myriad of transformations it turns to music, parallel with his existence in the real world, the composer leads a second, spiritual existence. It is an existence of contemplation, of visions and sensations that nourish the creation of music.”

Petko Staynov developed a keen sense of the taste and needs of the Bulgarian audience and the works he has left us are emblematic of Bulgarian musical culture. His name has gone down in history as the man who composed the first work in which the folklore of Thrace is rendered symphonically. In an interview, preserved by the Bulgarian National Radio’s Golden Fund audio archives, the composer says that he ascribes his inspiration to the land of his birth:

“My childhood is connected with Kazanluk. There I got to know the scenery of Bulgaria and came to love the beauty of my country; later as an adult I learnt to understand the people, their work and their livelihood, most of all by way of our folklore. The working day would invariably end with a song. I would listen and I just couldn’t get enough. My childhood memories have remained engraved in my heart. And I decided that the impressions I have accumulated must find expression in the music I compose. I had seen the women dancing after harvesting the fields and so I decided that my first work should depict life in the village in my childhood and youth.”

Petko Staynov took this idea of his to Germany where he studied. It grew to maturity, parallel with his feeling of homesickness. His Thracian Dance symphony suite was finished in 1928. In time it was to become an integral part of the programme of any symphony concert in the country. The composer himself remembers passing people by in the street and hearing them hum parts of the suite.

Petko Staynov composed his most remarkable works in the symphony and choir genres. The years from 1930 until 1939 he dedicated to “moulding the Bulgarian national music style” – an objective musicians in this country had set themselves in those years. That was the time when he wrote his most famous symphony works, such as his Fairy Tale symphonic suite and his first choral ballads; the period culminated in the first performance of his symphonic poem Thrace in 1939.

Today the house in Kazanluk the composer grew up in is a cultural centre. The Petko Staynov Home was created by a foundation bearing his name and houses a permanent museum collection as well as a musical salon, where visitors can see and hear the composer’s piano. The salon is used for music classes and chamber concerts, literary readings and other cultural events.

Audio file contains:

- Paidushko horo from Thracian Dance, performed by the Bulgarian National Radio Symphony Orchestra, conductor Vassil Stefanov;

English version: Milena Daynova