Венелин Кръстев и българският оперен театър
Venelin Krastev and the Bulgarian Opera Theater

Summary/Abstract: Regarding the jubilee tone of respect for the tireless researcher Venelin Krastev, the author selectively examines a series of his publications devoted particularly to the art of opera in Bulgaria. Her critical reflection was prompted by a principle disagreement with the concept of Renaissance (used by Venelin Krastev for the first decades after 1944), as well as his general conclusions about staging aesthetics at the Sofia Opera for the same period. However, Biks does not underestimate the jubilee’s knowledge for the Bulgarian opera theater and especially for the vocal art, which is the core of his research interests. Moreover, from today’s perspective her assessment of the jubilee’s personality is that rarely we have had a man with such decretive rights and knowledge, who have succeeded in a such many-sided way, accurately and forward-looking to guide the process with minimum possible missteps. The author also draws the attention to the fact that Venelin Krastev was a key factor in dozens of initiatives during the actual progress of the Bulgarian opera houses (up to 1980). Among these she lists: the building of state-opera houses outside the capital (with the principles of selection, management and organization); the opera theaters national festivals as stimulus for progress and opportunity for comparison; the Central studies for vocalists with Hristo Brambarov... the International competition for young opera singers, later renamed after Boris Christoff – the conception itself was all his, as well as his participations as a jury member on many occasions; the pillars of the repertoire policy in the Bulgarian opera houses – initially very narrow, but after 1960 freer of the 19th century inertia and his interpretation; the unchanged positions over decades of convinced and passionate defense of the Bulgarian opera art (not all, but what was meeting the adopted by the State and like-minded people aesthetics) along with specific directive measures for its popularization in certain years; the Festival of Opera and Ballet Arts in Stara Zagora, already with 40-year old tradition… With no less respect the author examines also Venelin Krastev’s writings about the opera and the opera theater. Outside the four-digit number of reviews in daily and specialized press, reports, papers and many other speeches and paragraphs in his writings, she outlines only dedicated to our (Bulgarian) national opera art trilogy (Venelin Krastev’s definition), which continues the started years ago “Profiles” of the researcher. Biks, herself a recognized researcher of the Bulgarian opera theater, with dignity identifies the complexity of the issues that Venelin Krastev have resolved in his musicological opuses and have managed to outline the most successful solutions from them.

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