Capital city of Bulgaria. Founded by the Thracian tribe of the Serds and situated on the main route from Constantinople to central Europe, Sofia played an important part in the development of Bulgarian culture. Folk music, the only secular music found in medieval Sofia (Sredets), was directly influenced by the folklore of central western Bulgaria: dances in characteristic metres, songs from the Graovo region and examples of ancient two-part singing have all survived, as has evidence of many ancient folk customs (see Bulgaria, §II). Sofia was also an important centre of traditional church singing in the Middle Ages, being near the Rila monastery and the churches and monasteries of Boyana, Zemen, Berende, Poganovo and Kurilo. Despite the unfavourable conditions of foreign rule the ecclesiastical traditions in Sofia flourished during the 16th century.
As in Bulgaria as a whole, the Russian liberation of the country in 1878 heralded new developments in Sofia’s musical life which at that time centred on the Vissheto Uchilishte (Higher School) and the Slavyanska Beseda, a cultural and educational society. The first Bulgarian brass bands were formed in the Guards Regiment and, supplemented by strings, began to perform symphonic works in 1885. The Stolichnata Dramatichna Operna Trupa (Sofia Dramatic Opera Company), which staged excerpts from Classical operas, was opened in 1891, paving the way for the Bulgarska Operna Druzhba (Bulgarian Opera Society), founded in 1908 largely on the initiative of Konstantin Mikhaylov-Stoyan (1851–1914); in 1921 this became the Sofiyska Narodna Opera (Sofia National Opera). In 1991 it was renamed Sofiyska Opera.
In 1926 a department of folk music was established at the Ethnographic Museum, and under the guidance of Vasil Stoin (1880–1938) many thousands of folksongs were collected. The Balgarska Darzhavna Muzikalna Akademiya (Bulgarian State Music Academy) was founded in 1921, and the Sayuz na Narodnite Khorove (Union of National Choirs) in 1927; this brought together many choirs, among which were the famous Gusla, Kaval and Rodina Choirs, the Zheleznicharskiya Khor (Railwaymen’s Choir) and the Khor na Sofiyskite Uchitelki (Choir of Sofia Schoolmistresses). The first society of Bulgarian composers was founded in Sofia in 1933; known initially as Savremenna Muzika (Contemporary Music), it was reorganized in 1946 as the Sayuz na Balgarskite Kompozitori (Union of Bulgarian Composers).
After the socialist revolution in 1944 several new musical institutions were created: the Khor ‘Bodra Smyana’ pri Dvorets na Pionerite (Pioneer ‘Bodra Smyana’ Choir; 1946), the Darzhaven Muzikalen Teatar Stefan Makedonski (Stefan Makedonski State Musical Theatre; 1947), the Bulgarian Radio and Television SO (1949), the Pioneer Philharmonia (1953) and the Sofiyski Solisti (Sofia Soloists) chamber orchestra (1962). A music department was organized at the Nauka i Izkustvo publishing house (1949), and an institute of music at the Balgarska Akademiya na Naukite (Bulgarian Academy of Sciences; 1948). The Sayuz na Muzikalnite Deytsi (Union of Musical Activities) was founded in 1965.
In the late 1970s and the 1980s musical life in Sofia flourished. The annual festival Nova Balgarska Muzika (New Bulgarian Music) was organized by the Union of Bulgarian Composers, along with the festival Mladata Balgarska Muzika (Young Bulgarian Music), the New Year Music Festival, the international festival Sofiyski Muzikalni Sedmitsi (Sofia Weeks of Music), the Mezhdunaroden Konkurs za Mladi Operni Pevtsi (International Competition for Young Opera Singers) and other international symposia. By the end of the 1970s Zala Balgariya (Bulgaria Hall) had acquired an organ, replacing one destroyed during the war. A children's choir, a choral ensemble, a symphony orchestra and folk ensembles were founded by Bulgarian National Radio and Television and many chamber groups emerged, notably the Trio za Savremenna Muzika (Contemporary Music Trio). In the 1990s a Bulgarian section of the association for new music, ISCM, was founded, and in 1993 the first annual international contemporary music festival, Muzika Nova (New Music), took place.
The choirs of Sofia's two major churches, St Sofiya and St Aleksandar Nevski, not only did duty at services, but also performed ecclesiastical repertory which was banned outside church until the fall of the totalitarian regime in 1989. With the new political situation after 1989, state institutions no longer had the means to support Sofia's many musical organizations, most of which tried to find ways to support themselves; the sponsorship of foundations ensured the survival of a number of festivals. Bulgarian National Radio and Television reduced their staff, and the only state recording company, Balkanton, collapsed. By the mid-1990s, however, several new private recording companies had been set up, and the city's musical life was showing signs of revival.
For bibliography see Bulgaria and Russian and Slavonic church music.
STOYAN PETROV/MAGDALENA MANOLOVA