Assen Najdenow

Memorial plaque in Sofia (2018)

Assen Najdenow ( Bulgarian Асен Найденов ; born September 12, 1899 in Varna , † September 10, 1995 in Sofia ) was a Bulgarian conductor .

Life

Najdenow was born in Varna on the Black Sea in 1899 . In his childhood he learned violin and piano. In 1905 his uncle brought a grand piano from Russia. As a schoolboy he played violin in the city orchestra from 1912 to 1914. In 1920 he studied composition with Joseph Marx and piano with Paul de Conne in Vienna . In 1921 he went to Leipzig, where u. a. Fritz Reuter was one of his teachers. Max Hochkofler taught him conducting.

Back in Bulgaria, he made his debut in 1925 with Mignon by Ambroise Thomas at the National Opera and Ballet Theater in Sofia . In 1930 he attended courses with Bruno Walter and Clemens Krauss in Salzburg. In 1944 he became chief conductor in Sofia. Guest conductors have taken him to the Berlin State Opera ( Mussorgski's Chowanschtschina 1958), the Leningrad Maly Theater (Molchanows Romeo, Juliet a tma 1962/63) and the Moscow Bolshoi Theater ( Verdi's Don Carlos 1963/64).

Najdenow was particularly specialized in the operas of Mozart , Mussorgsky and Verdi.

Awards

Dimitroff Prize in Gold (1st class) (1950, 1952, 1959)
People's Artist of the People's Republic of Bulgaria (1952)
Hero of Socialist Labor (Bulgaria)
Order of Georgi Dimitrov
Order of the "People's Republic of Bulgaria" 1st level

literature

Lada Brashovanova: Naidenov, Assen. In: Grove Music Online (English; subscription required).

Web links

Commons : Assen Naidenov - collection of images, videos and audio files

Literature by and about Assen Najdenow in the catalog of the German National Library
Assen Najdenow at Discogs (English)
Assen Najdenow at the National Opera and Ballet Theater Sofia (Bulgarian)

Individual evidence

↑ Horst Seeger: Musiklexikon. In two volumes . Volume 2: L-Z . Deutscher Verlag für Musik VEB, Leipzig 1966, p. 337.

personal data
SURNAME	Najdenow, Assen
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Naidenov, Assen; Найденов, Асен (Bulgarian spelling)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Bulgarian conductor
DATE OF BIRTH	September 12, 1899
PLACE OF BIRTH	Varna
DATE OF DEATH	September 10, 1995
Place of death	Sofia

[1] Horst Seeger: Musiklexikon. In two volumes . Volume 2: L-Z . Deutscher Verlag für Musik VEB, Leipzig 1966, p. 337.