LUBOMIR PIPKOV

LUBOMIR PIPKOV

He was born on 6 September 1904 in Lovech, in the family of Panayot Pipkov. He made his first musical experiments in 1918. From 1919 he studied at the Music School in Sofia in the piano class with Prof. Henry Wiesner and Ivan Thorchanov.

Lubomir Pipkov wrote the first anthem of PFC Levski in 1921 when he was only 16 years old. In 1923 he wrote “22 variations for piano”. He left for Paris in 1926, where he studied at École normale de musique: composition with Paul Dukas, piano at Yvonne Lefébure. He listened to the music lessons of Nadia Boulanger. During these years, he wrote “Piano Trio”, “Sonata for Violin and Piano”, “Vodenichar”, “Liubovta na Hamalina”, ballad “Konnitsi” (1929) and “First Quartet” (1928). He graduated with honors and prize (1932).

In 1932 he returned to Bulgaria. He has been a member of the Contemporary Music Society and has been his secretary since 1941. He has worked as an accompanist, choirmaster and director of the Sofia Opera. In the period 1932-1937 he wrote the opera “The Yana’s Nine Brothers” – the first Bulgarian folk musical drama, built on an old legend from the Ottoman rule, in which with great dramatic power reveals the fate of the Bulgarian people.

In 1934 Lyubomir Pipkov wrote the vocal-symphonic poem “Wedding” on the poem by Nikola Furnadzhiev, which recreated the events of the September Uprising. In 1940, his “First Symphony – Heroic” appeared, dedicated to the Civil War heroes in Spain. Then came the opera “Momchil”, in which the idea of freedom and struggle found a bright incarnation.

After the coup on September 9th 1944, he worked as director of the opera, chairman of the Union of Composers and Professor of Vocal Ensembles at the Conservatory. He then created the popular hymns “Shumete Debri i Balkani”, “Hymn on 9 September” and “Hymn of the Bulgarian Rebels.” He also wrote compositions as: Heroic Overture, Symphonic Concerto for Cello and Orchestra (1957), The Oratorio of Our Time (written in 1959 on Six Letters by the poet Vladimir Bashev), opera “Antigone 43”, Third Symphony, Concert for Clarinet and Orchestra and Fourth Symphony, Second and Third String Quartets, instrumental concerts and many others.

He was the chairman of the organizing committee of “March Music Days” (Ruse), “Lyulyak Music Festival” (Lovech) and the Bulgarian Section of the International Association of Musical Education. He had concerts in the Czech Republic, Poland, Yugoslavia and other countries. Founder of “Music” magazine.

Three times the winner of the Dimitrov Prize (1950, 1951, 1952), an award-winning artist (1950) and a popular artist (1952). He is honored with the title Hero of Socialist Work.
Bearer of the Order of the People’s Republic of Bulgaria (1960) and Georgi Dimitrov (1967). Honorary citizen of Lovech (posthumously) of 3 May 2001 “for contribution to the culture of Lovech and Bulgaria”.