Voydan Popgeorgiev – Chernodrinski

Voydan Popgeorgiev – Chernodrinski (Bulgarian/Macedonian: Войдан/Војдан Попгеоргиев - Чернодрински), January 15, 1875 in Selci, Ottoman Empire, (present day North Macedonia) – January 8, 1951, Sofia, Bulgaria) (born Voydan Popgeorgiev Kuzmanov[1]) was a Bulgarian[2][3][4][5][6] playwright and dramatist from the region of Macedonia. His pseudonym is derived from Black Drin (Cherni Drin, Bulgarian/Macedonian: Черни/Црн Дрин), a river flowing near his home village. Today he is considered an ethnic Macedonian writer in North Macedonia and as a figure who laid the foundations of the Macedonian theatre and the dramatic arts.[7][8]

Vojdan Popgeorgiev
BornVoydan Popgeorgiev
(1875-01-15)January 15, 1875
Selci, Ottoman Empire (today in Struga Municipality, North Macedonia)
DiedJanuary 8, 1951(1951-01-08) (aged 75)
Sofia, Bulgaria
Pen name"Chernodrinski"
Occupationplaywright and dramatist
NationalityOttoman/Bulgarian
CitizenshipOttoman/Bulgarian
Genredrama
Notable works"Macedonian Blood Wedding"
The front page of "Macedonian Bloody Wedding" (Sofia, 1900)

Biography

Popgeorgiev was born in 1875 in the village of Selci, in the present-day Struga Municipality of North Macedonia.[9] He studied initially in Ohrid, then in the Bulgarian Men's High School of Thessaloniki, but moved with his family in 1890 in Bulgaria, where Voydan graduated from the First Male High School in Sofia. Here he became a member of the Young Macedonian Literary Association. Later Chernodrinski studied law in Austria and Switzerland, but failed to graduate and moved back to Ottoman Macedonia, where he worked as Bulgarian teacher. Afterward he returned to Bulgaria and became a head of the traveling troupe "Grief and comfort" (Bulgarian: Скръб и утеха) (Skrb I Uteha), founded in 1901 and renamed in 1902 as "Macedonian Capital Theater" (Bulgarian: Столичен македонски театър). In Sofia he wrote the most famous of his works, the play Macedonian Bloody Wedding (Makedonska Kărvava Svadba). Voydan reworked it later to give the plot and the libretto for the famous opera "Tsveta" by maestro Georgi Atanasov.[10] After the Young Turk Revolution in 1908 Popgeorgiev moved with his traveling troupe back in Ottoman Macedonia. He was invited there by the Bulgarian Constitutional Clubs with the support of Peyo Yavorov and assisted by the Bulgarian National Theater.[11] During the Balkan wars he was mobilized into the Bulgarian Army. During the First World War Chernodrinski served as Bulgarian officer and created the "Soldier Songs" cycle. After the wars he continued with his theatrical activities in Bulgaria. Towards the end of 1922 he formed a new drama theater under the name "Ilinden". In the mid-30s, Aleksandar Shoumenoff, owner of the First Bulgarian Book Store in Granite City, USA, published part of the works of Chernodrinski. The text wasn't translated into English but his works and plays became popular among Macedono-Bulgarian emigration. At this time Chernodrinski sympathized with IMRO leader Ivan Mihaylov.[12] During the Second World War and the subsequent annexation of Macedonia from Bulgaria (1941-1944), Voydan's troupe organized performances there.

Popgeorgiev died in Sofia in 1951, and later a commemorative plaque was set on his home.[13]

After the death of Popgeorgiev in then SR Macedonia he was proclaimed an ethnic Macedonian writer, who had laid the foundations of the Macedonian theater. The drama "Macedonian Bloody Wedding" was transliterated in 1953 into the newly codified Macedonian language.[14] Everywhere in the text, where the word "Bulgarian" was used, it was replaced with "Christian" or "Macedonian".[15] All other texts besides conversations between the characters, which were written originally in Bulgarian, were translated into Macedonian.[15]

Works

Besides Voydan's most popular work "Macedonian Bloody Wedding" published in 1900 in Macedonian dialect,[16] he published several other literary works all in standard Bulgarian as well, including:[17]

  • The woodcutters (Дърварите) (1895)
  • In the barroom (В механата) (1895)
  • Macedonian emigration (Македонска емиграция) (1897)
  • Of the head we suffer (От главата си патиме) (1902)
  • The slave and the agha (Робът и агата) (1902)
  • Evil for evil (Зло за зло) (1903)
  • Skilled workers (Майстори) (1903)
  • The spirit of the freedom (Духът на свободата) (1909)
  • On the river (На реката) (1921)
  • On New Year (На Нова година) (1921)
  • Tzar Pir (Царъ Пиръ) (1921)
  • The storms near Vardar (Бурите на Вардар) (1925)
  • Tsveta the duchess (Цвета войводката) (1929)
  • Slav Dragota (Слав Драгота) (1930)

References
  1. Спомени на В. Чернодрински, в. “Македонски вести”, София, 1936 г., бр. 70-75 Chernodrinski's memories
  2. According to the birth certificate of Voydan Chernodrinski's daughter - Spaska, his child, its mother and the father were Orthodox Bulgarians and both parents were Bulgarian subjects. This official statement was made and signed by Chernodrinski himself in the presence of the witnesses Pantaley Kardalev and Alexander Zlatarev on August 19, 1903 in Sofia, Bulgaria. For more see: "Акт за раждане на Спаска Войд. Чернодринска", София, 1903 година. Библиотека и Издателство "Струмски".
  3. Георги Саев, История на българския театър: От освобождението до 1904 г. Том 2 от История на българския театър, редактор Васил Стефанов; Акад. изд. проф. Марин Дринов, 1997, стр. 111-112; 179, ISBN 954430441X.
  4. Леков Дочо, История на литературата и на възприемателя през Българското възраждане, Втори том, Унив. изд. Св. Климент Охридски, 2004; стр. 375, ISBN 954071978X.
  5. Иван Богданов - "Тринадесет века българска литература", 1983, Наука и изкуство, page. 177
  6. Кристина Тошева - "Енциклопедия на българския театър: Актьори. Режисьори. Драматурзи", Труд, 2005, ISBN 978-954-528-502-8
  7. Литература на македонскиот јазик, Георги Сталев, Просветно Дело, Скопје 1995.
  8. The life of Chernodrinski
  9. Vojislav Ilić (1971). Živan Milisavac (ed.). Jugoslovenski književni leksikon [Yugoslav Literary Lexicon] (in Serbo-Croatian). Novi Sad (SAP Vojvodina, SR Serbia): Matica srpska. p. 70.
  10. "Любомир Сагаев — Книга за операта (8); Book on opera, Lyubomir Sagaev, 1983" (in Bulgarian). bg3.chitanka.info. Retrieved 2009-07-26.
  11. Юра Константинова, Обществени празници и забавления на българите в Солун (края на XIX и началото на ХХ век). В История, кулутра, медии. Юбилеен сборник в чест на Горан Благоев, София: Книгопис, 2017. стр. 135.
  12. Сп. България - Македония, бр. 3, 2007 г.Писмо на български общественици от юли 1936 г. до турския министър-председател Исмет Иньоню.
  13. Електронен регистър на паметниците и художествените елементи на територията на Столична Община, Войдан Чернодрински, паметна плоча.
  14. Камелия Николова, Познатата/непозната българска драма, Сдружение Антракт, 2001, стр. 13.
  15. Jordanov, Nikolai (25 February 2005). "Случаят Войдан Чернодрински – "Македонска кървава сватба" и историите на тяхната "История"" [The case of Vojdan Chernodrinski- Macedonian Blood Wedding and the stories of the secret history]. Homo Ludens (in Bulgarian). Archived from the original on 25 February 2005. Retrieved 27 January 2021.
  16. Chernodrinski's works were usually written in standard Bulgarian except for this drama, on the cover of which the author pointed himself that it was written in Macedonian dialect (Македонски говор). For more see: Литературна мисъл, том 14, Институт за литература, Българска академия на науките, София, 1970, стр. 140. (Literaraturna Misal, Volume 14, Institute of Literature, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, 1970, p. 140.)
  17. Иван Ивановски, 25 години театарски игри Војдан Чернодрински, Скопје 1990
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