Един век оперетно изкуство в България (1914 – 2014)
2014 marks the centenary of operetta in Bulgaria

Summary/Abstract: The establishing of the first in this country Operatic Society with an amateur company, led by professional musicians, was a turning point in the history of Bulgarian operetta. An operetta company was founded in the autumn of 1913 in Shumen dedicated for classic operetta performances for adults. Weliko Dьgmedjieff (1877–1958), a professional musician who had graduated from Kцniglisches Konservatorium der Musik, Dresden, Germany was behind the forming of the company led by him. The first premiere given by the company on 5 January 1914 was Der literarische Verein, a comic operetta by Austrian composer Fritz Renger (1866–1937). Encouraged by the success of their first staging, the company immediately began work on a second production. On 10 May 1914 the premiere of the operetta Carmosinella by German composer Victor Hollaender (1866 – 1940) was given. That was a considerably more large-scale performance as compared with the previous one. The success of the first operetta productions for adults in this country afforded ground for achieving a higher goal: the establishing of a permanent Bulgarian operetta theatre during the same year in Shumen. On the occasion of the centenary of classic operetta for adults in Bulgaria, Shumen Municipality and Dobri Voinikov Community Centre in conjunction with the Institute of Art Studies – Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, organised centenary celebrations in 2014 and a number of institutions took part in the events. The opening of a documentary exhibition on 17 May at a reputable venue of Pancho Vladigerov Museum was the beginning of the 100th anniversary celebrations. On 27 May, a gala was given at the hall where the earliest performances of operettas in this country have been presented. Shumen State Symphony gave a big concert dedicated to the anniversary on 27 October. The centenary celebrations closed with a national roundtable on A Century of Bulgarian Operetta (1914 – 2014). It was organized by the Institute of Art Studies – Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, the Union of Bulgarian Composers, the Union of Bulgarian Musicians and Dancers, and Shumen Municipality.

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