Bojidar Dimov


composer, pedagogue

31.01.1931 – 19.06.2003Lom – Bulgaria

Bojidar Dimov studied at the State Academy of Music majoring in Piano under Professor Mara Petkova and Composition under Professor VesselinВ Stoyanov. He completed his study at the Vienna Music Academy where his teachers were Karl Schiske, Friedrich Cerha and Hans Jelinek. He also attended the Darmstadt summer courses. In 1968 he moved to Cologne where he founded the ensemble Trial and Error (1970) that aimed to promote unconventional concepts of programming, collective improvisation and concert practice. He has taught at the Rheinische Musikschule (since 1970) and the Pedagogische Hochschule, Cologne, Germany (since 1972), and was appointed lecturer in composition at the Robert Schumann Hochschule, Dusseldorf, Germany (1995).

He received stipends and prizes from the Art Fund of Vienna and the Youth Cultural Week of Innsbruck, and numerous commissions from institutions including WDR, SWF, Radio Bremen, the Banque Lambert (Brussels), the Royal Festival and the Styrian Autumn Festival in Graz (Austria), as well as from international ensembles and soloists.

Both as a teacher and composer, Dimov initially focused on experimental music, drafting a number of projects for artistic competitions; these include the Bonner Raumspiel (1971), Invocation (1971) and Kieler Signallandschaft (1972). After the mid-1970s conventional genres began to figure more prominently in his works. The dance opera Die Hochzeit von Susa (1973), which explores the fusion of East and West, is one of his most important compositions.

Creativity

Stage music:
Die Hochzeit von Susa – dance opera (1973);
Baschandra (1984-87).

Symphonic Music:
Fugue for triple orchestra (1980);
Polyelei (1982);

Continuum II “Trauerminuten for Dana Kozanova” for chamber orchestra (1968-69).

Chamber Music:
Komposition III for wind quintet (1967-68);
Bonner Raumspiel for three changing groups (1971);
Invocation for two solo instruments (two groups of instruments) (1971);
Kieler Signallandschaft for changing forces and tape (1972);
Kontaktspiele for cor anglais, clarinet, trumpet, violoncello and guitar (1973-74);
Zusammenklange im Raum for chamber ensemble (1973);
Bewegliche Signallandschaft for 12 brass instruments (1975);
Hauch der Nymphe for shakuhachi/flute (1975);
Vereini-gungen II for septet (1978);
Pothos for chamber ensemble (1979-80);
Zeichen for chamber ensemble (1980);
Largo Capriccioso for clarinet/violin, bass clarinet/violoncello and piano (after Johann Sebastian Bach) (1983).

Rituals:
for clarinet, bass clarinet and piano (1983);
for string quartet (1984-89),
for two clarinets (1985);
for percussion (1986);
for piano (1986);
for wind septet (1988-89).

Passion “Camille” for flute and guitar (1995) (arranged for sextet of reader, flute, guitar, glassharmonica and percussion instruments) (1995-97).

For piano:
Salome (1997).

Vocal music:
Incantations II based on Medieval texts for soprano, chamber ensembles, three amplifiers (microphones) (1957);

Raumspiel for soprano and chamber ensemble (1969-70), to his lyrics;
Turandot for soprano and chamber orchestra (1976-77), to his lyrics;
Milarepa for bass and chamber orchestra (1976-67), to his lyrics;
Selbstbildnis mit Richard Wagner und anderen Erscheinungen des Tages und der Nacht for reader, soprano, tenor and chamber ensemble (1982-83), lyrics by the author, Wagner and Nietzsche;
Hymnen der Sirene for five voices and two clarinets (1986), lyrics by the author, James Joyce, Mussil and Jonkor;

Three Poems for voice and piano (1987-88), lyrics by Nikolay Liliev;

Anrufung for soprano and chamber ensemble, lyrics by the author after Wagner (1989);

Balkan for reader, soprano, baritone and ten instruments, lyrics by the author (1991-92);

Love Songs for soprano, violin and piano, lyrics by Reiner Maria Rielke, Hermann Hesse and Heindrich (1992-93);
Traum for four female voices and piano, to his lyrics (1994);
Kleitos for baritone and piano, to his lyrics (1997).

Choral music:
Vereinigungen I after Socrates for two mixed choirs (1975-76).