Selected text
In August I entered a competition in the Bulgarian State Conservatory. I had found out about the competition from the ‘Vecherni Novini’ newspaper (Evening News). I decided to enter the competition without any experience with university teaching. The exam was rather complicated, there were twelve other applicants and as I was fluent with the language, came first in that competition and started work on 1st September 1955 as a teacher of Russian in the Conservatory. My work at the Conservatory made me delve into the musical terminology and I have never stopped expanding my knowledge in this sphere.
In 1961 while I was on holiday in Velingrad I met a woman from Spain. Her name was Reyes Bertal. In our conversation I used Ladino and she spoke in Spanish. We understood each other perfectly. I decided to expand my knowledge in Spanish with a language course at Allians. Until 1966 I was only teaching. We had long holidays so I decided to enrol a course for tourist guides. After completing it I decided to offer my services to the Concert Directorate [created in 1948 its name was changed several times. In 1949 its name was changed to Directorate for Musical, Creative and Performing Arts at the Committee for Science, Arts and Culture and in 1960 its name was changed to Bulgarian Concert Directorate. In 1969 it moved under the authority of Main Directorate Bulgarian Music.] as an accompanying interpreter. Because of my job I met a lot of guest-musicians and I traveled with them throughout the country. I became an assistant in most of the big international competitions and festivals like Sofia Musical Weeks, the Ballet Competition, The Competition for Young Opera Singers.
When I turned fifty-five, I was awarded the Golden Badge from the Musical Workers’ Union and when I turned seventy-five, I received the Golden Harp – an award from the same union. During my entire almost fifty-year work for the Musical Academy there were two cases that have insulted my Jewish self-awareness.
The first was in 1956 after one of the wars which started in Israel. I went to class… It was a habit of mine to talk to the students about some current event before starting the seminar because I wanted to make them say a few words in Russian about a certain piece of news and one of my students says, ‘I have always believed that the Jews are cowards.’ And I replied, ‘Are you aware that I am a Jew too?’ ‘Oh, no, I didn’t know that.’ But they managed to cope with the situation. And the second case was again because they didn’t know about my origins.
In 1961 while I was on holiday in Velingrad I met a woman from Spain. Her name was Reyes Bertal. In our conversation I used Ladino and she spoke in Spanish. We understood each other perfectly. I decided to expand my knowledge in Spanish with a language course at Allians. Until 1966 I was only teaching. We had long holidays so I decided to enrol a course for tourist guides. After completing it I decided to offer my services to the Concert Directorate [created in 1948 its name was changed several times. In 1949 its name was changed to Directorate for Musical, Creative and Performing Arts at the Committee for Science, Arts and Culture and in 1960 its name was changed to Bulgarian Concert Directorate. In 1969 it moved under the authority of Main Directorate Bulgarian Music.] as an accompanying interpreter. Because of my job I met a lot of guest-musicians and I traveled with them throughout the country. I became an assistant in most of the big international competitions and festivals like Sofia Musical Weeks, the Ballet Competition, The Competition for Young Opera Singers.
When I turned fifty-five, I was awarded the Golden Badge from the Musical Workers’ Union and when I turned seventy-five, I received the Golden Harp – an award from the same union. During my entire almost fifty-year work for the Musical Academy there were two cases that have insulted my Jewish self-awareness.
The first was in 1956 after one of the wars which started in Israel. I went to class… It was a habit of mine to talk to the students about some current event before starting the seminar because I wanted to make them say a few words in Russian about a certain piece of news and one of my students says, ‘I have always believed that the Jews are cowards.’ And I replied, ‘Are you aware that I am a Jew too?’ ‘Oh, no, I didn’t know that.’ But they managed to cope with the situation. And the second case was again because they didn’t know about my origins.
Location
Bulgaria
Interview
Reyna Lidgi