Zhivko M. Firfov

String Instruments’ Practice in Macedonia

               This paper is concerned with the string instruments’ practice in classical and contemporary music in Macedonia. We should always have in mind that before the Balkan Wars (1911-1912), Macedonia was part of the Otoman empire, with predominantly oriental music in the urban tradition, and folklore in the  rural areas. Nevertheless, in the 19th century the first instruments will enter local tradition, among them the violin. In his paper about the typical ensembles in the urban tradition in Macedonia “chalgia”, the ehthnomusicologist Zhivko Firfov mentions that there were more than 200 members of such ensembles, and among them Arso - the kemane player (kemane was the local name used for violin), was frequently invited to perform for the Turkish nobility in Skopje, Bitola, Thessaloniki and even Istanbul. (Firfov 1971)
              At the end of the 19 century and the beginning of the 20th, several musicians emerged who introduced thewestern tradition in Macedonia. Dimitrie Lala was a violinist, who learned to play the instrument in Muenich. The brothers  Nikola and Boris Janashlievi were students of the liturgical composer Atanas Badev in the Thessaloniki High school. Later Boris formed an orchestra (string and wind instruments) in Dojran. Among the other influential musicians who introduced western tradition was Georgi Suhorov (with Russian origin) who taught at Seres High School, where he had also formed an orchestra. (Ortakov 1982)
 

             The period between the First and the Second World War

             Introduction of the western strings instruments  is evident between the First and Second World War.  Among the instruments which became a part of the local tradition are the violin and cello, the accordion, the guitar and the mandolin.
            In 1934 the first music school “Mokranjac” was established in Skopje. It offered classes in violin, cello, piano, voice and theory of music. This is also the period of formation of the first string quartet, as part of the school activities, consisting of the following musicians:
- Adam Miljkovic (medical doctor) I violin
- Dushan Konjovic (professor of Serbian and principal of the High school) II violin
- Midrag Vasiljevic (professor in the School) viola
- Franjo Hercog (military band musician) cello.
Miodrag Vasiljevic, the professors in the School formed the first orchestra mainly from the students of the School, the professors and other amateur musicians in the city. (Firfov 1973)

           The first professional orchestras after the Second World War

           The development of string instruments’ practice in Macedonia can not be reviewed without refering to the development of the professional orchestras (again in the sense of the western tradition) in Macedonia. The need for large numbers of trained string instrument musicians interacted with the development of music education in Macedonia.
           The first professional symphony orchestra was formed Nov. 24, 1944, and this orchestra will be the core for the orchestras of the Macedonian Opera and Macedonian Philharmonic Orchestra.  There were 26 musicians participating in this ensemble with different performance and educational levels (19 of whom were strings). In 1945 this orchestra became a part of Radio Skopje, and was transformed into Radio Symphony Orchestra.
           The same year, Trieste Philharmonic Orchestra gave a performance in Skopje, and later on, when this orchestra was dismissed, most of the Italian musicians playing in it, came to Skopje and became an important core for the ensembles to follow. After the establishment of the Macedonian Opera (first performance in 1948 with Cavaleria Rusticana), the Symphony Orchestra became part of this new institution.

            Macedonian Philharmonic Orchestra

            The official year of appearance of the Macedonian Philharmonic Orchestra was in 1950. Soon, in 1953, parallel to the symphony orchestra, the Chamber Orchestra of the Macedonian Philharmonic Orchestra was formed. This Chamber Orchestra was active until 1972, and was considered as one of the most important ensembles which promoted Macedonian music culture at home and abroad.
 

           The Chamber Orchestra of Macedonian Philharmonic Orchestra

            We would like to mention some of the names of the musicians playing in the string sections of these orchestras who especially contributed to their development, as well as the development of professionalism in string performance in Macedonia. Among them were the principals of the different string sections: Hari Gjakonovski - Shpato, Girovski Gligorije, Dider Ali, Fridrich Baumann, Bogomir Gorshe, Govi Ginno, Bruno Bem, Etore Balestri, Ginno Capponi, Kostadin Kirkov, Aleksandar Shalevski, Josip Dvorak, Ivan Vlahov and Petar Jarchev.

             A significant event for the development of string instruments’ practice in Macedonia is the formation of he Chamber Orchestra of RTS (Radio and TV Skopje, later changed into MRT Macedonian Radio and TV) in 1965. Until 1972, the orchestra did not have a conductor, and its artistic director and leader was the violinist Zoran Dimitrovski. After 1972, the conductor Oldrih Pipek started working with the orchestra which substantially increased the number of recordings and concerts at home and abroad. This ensemble existed until 1996 (including periods when the ensemble stopped working, or was less active), but in general all important string instruments’ performers in Macedonia participated either as members of the ensemble, or as soloists.
 

             Educational institutions

            String instruments’ practice in Macedonia is deeply interconnected with the educational institutions. The  first “Music Academia” formed by the decision of the Presidium of ASNOM  on December 1st, 1944,  included  three professors of string instruments: Trajko Prokopiev - violin, Dider Ali - violin and Aleksandar Shalevski -cello.
            This “academia” will be the basis of the Music High School. The following years, after the formation of the first orchestras, due to the lack of musicians, the students from the School became members of the Opera Orchestra already in their senior year.

            An important contribution to the improvement of the level of the string instruments’ practice was given by the conductor Lovro Matacic, who started working at the Skopje Opera in 1954.

           The second music school which was opened in Skopje in 1948, (at that time as an elementary music school), also had an important role in the development of string instruments’ practice. The first principal was Stojan Krstevski, a violin teacher, who taught and helped in the formation of a number of outstanding students, among them Zoran Dimitrovski and Blagoja Dimchevski.

            Stevan Dragomanski was another important professors (also a principal in the School from 1950 to 1955) who contributed to  the development of string instruments’ practice. He established the “Children’s Philharmonic Orchestra” which won the first award at the competition of music schools in former Yugoslavia in 1957. The following statement is an excerpt from the review published in the magazine “NIN”: “Who could have expected that an orchestra from a city without longer music tradition would be awarded the first award at the competitions for orchestra. Nevertheless, it happened, the little students from Skopje Elementary Music School played graciously, with a lot of sound and almost impecable intonation “Eine kleine Nachtmusik”.

             In the early 1950s the Italian musicians living in Skopje specifically contributed to the development of training string musicians. Among them were: Ginno Capponi, Alberto Moscateli, Ginno Govi, Sergio Bariola and others. Etore Balestri played an especially important role, managing the special program for talented students. This program launched a group of young musicians such as Ratka Dimitrova, Anka Skerleva, Mishko Dimitriev and Biljana Gavrilska, later on well known both as soloists, and principals of the violin sections. Among the memorable events of this period was the performance of the 11 year old violinist Ratka Dimitrova, as a soloist with the Macedonian Philharmonic Orchestra in 1952. This event was accepted with enormous enthusiasm by the audience at the Army Hall in Skopje.
 
 
 

Etore Balestri and Ratka Dimitrova	Gino Capponi and Marija Mandicheva	Etore Balestri and Biljana Gavrilska

 

            Etore Balestri’s program was first adopted by Bogomil Gorshe (1956-1963) and later on, by Zoran Dimitrovski, who is the most distinguished violin pedagogue in Macedonian string instruments education.

            At the end of the 1950s and the beginning of the 1960s, several young cellists appeared at the concert podium: Dushka Tasevska, Gjorgi Paskalov and Dimche Stojanovski. Among the talented violin students we would like to mention: Aleksandar Prilepchanski and Kostadin Kirkov.

           1966 is an especially important year for the development of string instruments’ education in Macedonia - a year when the University “Ss. Kiril i Metodij” Faculty of Music  was established (first under the name Visoka Muzichka Shkola, and later changed into Fakultet za Muzicka Umetnost). The graduates from the string department improved not only the quality of performance of the string sections of the orchestras in Macedonia, but also raised the level of instructions in the Music High Schools (Skopje, Bitola and Shtip) and the elementary music schools in Macedonia.

              We have already mentioned the violinist and professor Zoran Dimitrovski who has contributed to the education of numerous violinists who are how among the leading string musicians. Four of them: Mihajlo Kufojanakis, Ganka Cvetanova, Ljubisa Kirovski and Oleg Kondratenko, are already professors at UKIM FM. The permanent improvement of the level of instruction at the school was a result of Macedonian  professors such as Duska Taseska (cello), Velko Todevski (double bass), Ratka Dimitrova (violin), but also professors from other countries such as  the famous cellist Andre Navara (visiting professor from 1972 to 1975), Argiris Nikos  (taught violin from 1968-1971) and Ljubomir Gospodinov  (taught viola from 1974 until 2000).

             As far as contributions from foreign professors are concerned, we should mention the master’s classes of Andre Navara, Eleftero Papastavro and Leonid Kogan at the international “Ohrid Summer Festival”.
 

            Soloists

            The length of this paper will only allow us to briefly present some of the leading soloists who contributed to the development of string instruments’ practice in Macedonia.

           The violinist Zoran Dimitrovski (1936), a teacher in the elementary/high music schools, and later at UKIM FM, and a principal violinist of the Chamber orchestra of RTS (later MRT), has also been active as a soloist performing in former Yugoslavia, Spain and Bulgaria. The critic in the newspaper “Nova Makedonija” describes him as a violinist “ who searches for new and unusual performance concepts”.
 
 

             Ratka Dimitrova (1940) having been mentioned in regard to the spectacular concert as an 11 year old child, continued her career in former Yugoslavia, USSR, China. The reviews from her concerts in Tbilisi define her performance as “with very high professional level, subtle artistic taste, virtuosity and stylistic accuracy”. She was also one of the first professors of violin at UKIM FM.
             The cellist Duska Taseska (1938) was the first cello professor at UKIM FM, and an assistant of Andre Navara during his visiting professor period at UKIM FM. In comparison with the other string instruments’ performers, who also  played in different orchestras, she has concentrated on a soloist career performing an impressive number of concerts in France, Romania, Italy, former USSR, Tunis, Mexico, Costarica, USA. In 1995, the newspaper “Nova Makedonija” marked the appearance of her new CD with these words:” For the role and the meaning of the art of Duska Taseska speaks the transformed power of her instrument, and everything else which is related to the rich concert and  educational activities gets new values”...
             Velko Todeski (1945) a professor of double bass at UKIM FM, has contributed greatly for the quality of double bass performance in Macedonia, but has also performed as a soloist in Macedonia and abroad. In addition, he has been principal of the double bass section at  the Macedonian Opera and Macedonian Philharmonic Orchestra.
            The high quality of string performance in Macedonia enabled several musicians to leave Macedonia and continue their career abroad. Among  the outstanding  violinists who left Macedonia and at the moment are working and living in France are Blagoja Dimchevski  and Biljana Gavrilska.
 
 

            The violist Ljupco Sokolov (1946), is one of the performers who was particularly concerned with the performance of works by Macedonian composers, giving recitals, or performing as a soloist with different orchestras at numerous concerts  in former Yugoslavia.

           Among the younger generations of musicians who earned their diplomas at UKIM FM, is Mihajlo Kufojanakis (1968) now professor at UKIM FM, also very active at the concert podium in Macedonia, Bulgaria, Chech Republic, former USSR, Austria etc. The review about Kufojanakis performance at the .... festival says: “The summit of the festival was marked the performance of Mihajlo Kufojanakis presenting his glamorous technique”.
 

            Young Macedonian string instruments’ performers

            The Macedonian performing environment was substantially enriched by a group of young musicians who are a result of the long pedagogical experience and mature period of teaching of the first group of string instruments professors at the UKIM FM (particularly Zoran Dimitrovski, Ljubomir Gospodinov and Duska Taseska). They share two mutual features: they have all gained already important international experience, and are already appointed as professors at UKIM. This group consists of the  violinists Ljubisha Kirovski and Oleg Kontradenko, violists Frosina Balova and Grubi Blerim and the cellist Zhivko M. Firfov (the author of this paper).

            Conclusion

           Macedonian string instruments’ performance has passed  through an impressive  development in the last half century. From an environment where there was barely any kind of professional string instruments’ practice, at the moment, there are two professional active orchestras (Macedonian Philharmonic Orchestra and the orchestra of MNT Opera), soloists of all string instruments (violin, viola, cello, double bass) receiving international recognition for the outstanding level of their performance, and a very strong string instruments’ department at the UKIM FM, capable of coping with the most intricate repertoire and problems.
 

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