Song of the Forests and the dispute over the anniversary (1986–1987)

The tour with the boys in West Germany lasted until 25 September 1986, and the next day Morski Zvutsi began learning Shostakovich’s oratorio “Song of the Forests” for a concert in Sofia on 10 December marking an anniversary of the composer. Chonev wanted the Varna Boys’ Choir to sing in it, but for reasons of cost it was replaced in Sofia by the Bodra Smyana choir; the Varna boys would sing the work at Varna Summer. As the men’s sections were down to chamber size, Chonev also brought in some of the young men. The choir had only 54 singers and took on new ones, who were obliged to attend extra rehearsals. The board persuaded the Municipal Council to re-roof the hall, whose ceiling leaked at the slightest rain, and got the questions of an extension and central heating moving. At the end of October 1986 the preparations for the anniversary were unexpectedly halted.

On 10 December 1986, in a full Bulgaria Hall, the oratorio was performed with the Bulgarian Radio and Television Orchestra, the Bodra Smyana choir and the conductor Georgi Notev; the soloists were Rumen Doykov (tenor) and Petar Petrov (bass). Notev wanted some things done his way, was satisfied at the next rehearsal, and the reviews of the choir were “as flattering as could be”. On 29 December, at a New Year’s party, the choir said goodbye to two long-serving singers who had left that season, Kosta Levkov and Nikolay Gyurov. In January 1987 the choir recorded a song in sound and on video for a Bulgarian Television programme about Varna and its district.

An offer came for an exchange with a choir from Olomouc, Czechoslovakia: they would come to the 19th May Choral Competition, and Morski Zvutsi would appear at their festival of church music on 1–7 September 1987 with Stabat Mater and an a cappella concert. Later the hosts asked for the visit to be moved to October and to feature the cantata “Alexander Nevsky”, and the choir withdrew. For a music festival near Frankfurt am Main, Chonev – worried about the anniversary – would not travel, and two representatives were chosen: former chairman Iliya Torbarov and Stoyan Boychev, a board member since the choir’s founding. But the Committee for Culture refused to send them.

At the end of February Chonev was summoned to the District Party Committee, where the secretary, Pandova, told him the committee’s position, which had also been sent to the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences: the choir had been founded in 1956 and had already been permitted to celebrate its 25th anniversary in 1981. “With that the matter is closed” – the 30th anniversary was not held. On 5 March the composer Milko Kolarov came to a rehearsal of his “Little Song for Bulgaria”. On 22 March 1987 the choir sang at the municipal round of the 7th National Festival in the House of Amateur Arts, and Chonev rated its performance as excellent.

Straight afterwards the choir revived “Song of the Forests”, having been invited by Honoured Artist Georgi Notev to the festival of cantata and oratorio music in Vidin, to which amateur ensembles were rarely admitted. The choir met the Pleven Philharmonic Orchestra only in Vidin, rehearsed in the House of Culture of the Vida chemical plant and, despite poor living conditions, on 23 April 1987 closed the festival in the Sports Hall, part of the Danube Spring ’87 culture days (19–23 April).