How it all began: the decision of 1 March 1956

The book opens with a short dedication – the cheers “Bravo, Bulgaria! Bravo, Varna!”, recorded on 1 May 1976 in Cork, Ireland – and with thanks to the staff of Varna Municipality, who found ways to help the choir at its most difficult moments. It covers the choir’s work from 1956 to 2006.

The introduction, signed by Prof. Marin Chonev, tells how the choir was born. On 1 March 1956 the executive committee of Varna’s City People’s Council decided to create a representative city choir. The proposal came from Lyuba Lipova, head of the Culture department. The choir was to sing at official celebrations, city assemblies and concerts, and its artistic director was to be Marin Chonev, who had just graduated in choral conducting from the Music Academy in Sofia, in the first class of Prof. Georgi Dimitrov.

The first rehearsal took place on 26 April 1956 at the Cultural Workers’ Club, 1 Koloni Street, with a small group of young people who had no singing experience but a great wish to sing. They were gradually joined by singers from the disbanded Stefan Yovchev youth choir, former members of the Morski Zvutsi music society and singers from other Varna ensembles. At the first general meeting, on 25 December 1956, the choir adopted its rules and elected a board. Its first public appearance came on 30 April 1957, in a concert for May Day.

The name was chosen later, once the choir had found its feet. The candidates were “Varna” (at the time the city was called Stalin), “Stefan Yovchev”, “Gusla” – after the oldest city choir, long since gone – and “Morski Zvutsi”, after the society that in 1947 had given its best singers to Varna’s new opera house. “Morski Zvutsi” (Sea Sounds) won, as a symbol of continuity with all of Varna’s earlier choirs.

Chonev recalls that on 26 April 2006 the choir celebrated its half-century: fifty years of rehearsals, concerts, festivals and competitions, performances across Europe, two tours of the United States and many first prizes. He introduces the author, Stoyan Boychev, as one of the original choristers of 1956 and a long-serving board member who, after he stopped singing, went on keeping an eye on the choir’s finances. The book draws on his personal experience as a direct participant, and in Chonev’s view it is the only account that follows all fifty years in detail and in order. The introduction ends with thanks to Boychev for his contribution to “our beloved choir”.