The Requiem with Yordan Dafov and the letter to the music editors

The rest after Italy was short indeed. For 1972 Morski Zvutsi had been engaged to perform with the Varna Symphony Orchestra, and on 10 October it sang in a concert conducted by Yordan Dafov. In the first half the orchestra played Haydn’s Symphony No. 82 and a viola concerto by Shaim; the second half was Cherubini’s Requiem – the very work with which the choir had stumbled on the same stage a year earlier.

This time the verdict was different. In her article “Uneven achievements” in Narodno Delo, Rozmari Statelova – the critic who had faulted the July 1971 concert – called the Requiem a success for the concert and a triumph for the choir, for its conductor, the Honoured Artist Marin Chonev, and for the Varna orchestra. She described the drive of the Dies irae, the clearly shaped drama of the Offertorium, the declamatory Sanctus, the mournful hush of the Pie Jesu and the radiant finale, and stressed that all this came from the singers themselves, from their concentration and emotional commitment. As wishes for the future she noted a certain immaturity of tone in the altos and some piercing soprano voices that stood out, and credited Dafov with uniting the two ensembles in a successful interpretation.

Like the victory in Gorizia, this concert was discussed only in the local press – the musical institutions in the capital stayed silent. The conductor and singers took it as a slight, and a letter was sent on their behalf to the music editors in Sofia. In it they recalled the long summer months of preparation for the 11th International Choral Competition in Gorizia, during which the 48 chosen singers mastered eight Bulgarian songs and one compulsory Italian piece, all new to them, and gave up many summer evenings with their families. They wrote of the pride they felt when, in Italy, audience and rivals shouted as one “Bravo, Bulgarians!” as Chonev received the two cups for first place in the polyphony and folklore groups, and pointed out that other choirs were delighted even with second, third or fourth place.