ON SOME LESSER-KNOWN MULTI-PART VOCAL WORKS BY PETAR STUPEL

Abstract

The attitude of the composer Petar Stupel (1923 – 1997) to the speech is special – not only because of the genre specificity of the predominant part of his voluminous work, but as a conscious need for a connection with literature. It is especially important to emphasize the leading role of texts in the creation of his vocal music.

In addition to the well-known and repeatedly performed oratorio “Darzhava Pioneriya” (“The State Pioneriya”), Petar Stupel is the author of several more multi-part vocal works for children, named by their author as oratorios and cantatas. Some of them have been printed and / or issued on gramophone records, and others, although specially commissioned by children's choir formations, have remained only as traces in time from their first performance or other performances in the years surrounding their creation. At the moment, two such works have been discovered: “Sartse kato slantse” (“Heart Like a Sun”) – an oratorio for two choirs – children’s and mixed and string chamber orchestra based on a text by Georgi Strumski, whose manuscript is preserved in the archive of the “Milka Stoeva” Choir School – Burgas, and the three-part cantata “Usmihnati zvezdi” (“Smiling Stars”) for chamber string orchestra and children’s choir based on a text by Krastyo Stanishev, preserved in a copy of the manuscript in the archive of the “Prof. Georgi Dimitrov” Choir School – Yambol. Copies of these two works are not found in the composer's personal archive.

The text is an attempt to shed light on the little-known or completely forgotten children’s oratorios and cantatas of the composer Petar Stupel, beloved by generations of Bulgarian children