“It was Epiphany, 1942,” Penka Kassabova remembers. “Boris came in very high spirits. He had a pine twig in his hand and was twirling it around and when he gave it to me he said: “His Majesty says hello.” I took it to be a joke and replied in the same vein. But when I heard what had happened at the Epiphany thanksgiving service I was rendered speechless. By a tradition, every year on this day a small gazebo would be made out of pine twigs in front of the palace; there the bishop would perform the service. Tsar Boris III would invariably attend and would then invite everyone present – the bishop, all clerics, cabinet ministers, the people from the Alexander Nevski cathedral. This year, after the refreshments, the choir sang several songs. That was when Boris III said he wished one of the soloists to sing something. Angel Popkonstantinov, conductor of the choir said: “Come on, Bore, it’s your turn to sing to a king!” Boris was bashful and shy and it took a lot of persuading to have him sing alone, in front of the choir. But his intuition was very powerful and he would never shoot his bolt. So it was probably this intuition that induced him to come up front and sing. Afterwards the Tsar went up to him and said: “Don’t you think you’ve missed your calling? With that voice of yours you could be a happy man and make Bulgaria happy to have such a singer,” – those were his Majesty’s words. I had been trying to convince Boris to drop law and devote himself to music. So, I took this chance to try and talk him into doing that once more but he would only smile bashfully – but he seemed for the first time to be considering a change of profession.”

“From that moment on things moved very fast, like a fairytale,” Mrs. Kassabova goes on to say. “The Tsar intervened and recommended that the Ministry of Education grant Boris a scholarship to study in Italy. Some ten days later he told me everything was ready, though he was not sure he would accept. He said it was too late for him – he would soon turn 28. I reminded him that he had sung in several choirs and that that gave him a sound musical background. Besides, his grandfather had been a famous singer at the church in Bitola, his father had sung Macedonian folk songs over the radio. In other words – a third generation singer. I said to him: “How can you hesitate! With that velvet, natural voice of yours, you will certainly be a success.” Some time later he admitted he had started to study Italian. Boris was like that – he would think things over very carefully but when he had made up his mind, he would never look back and would give it his best. He left on his birthday – May 18, 1942. That was how Tsar Boris III played a role in the career of Boris Christoff. Once he had become a famed singer and was given a standing ovation on all music stages of the world, Bulgaria, his own country, did not invite him. He was dubbed “a tsarist protégé”. But how can giving him a green light in music make him the tsar’s protégé?”

That was how Boris Christoff’s journey to the opera stages of the world began. His magnificent voice, his inimitable stage presence and his unparalleled professionalism have made him a figure of gigantic proportions in music. But 1942 was the year that turned his entire life around and this ultimately separating him from his loved ones. After the new political regime was installed in 1944, the pro-Soviet government did not allow his parents to visit him in Italy. Boris Christoff himself was not allowed back to Bulgaria until 1967. Later things changed. And the world-famous artist was able to do much for Bulgaria and for budding opera talents. That in turn meant making one of his dreams come true – that of giving other Bulgarians the green light he himself was given in the memorable year of 1942.

English version: Milena Daynova

The audio file features the following pieces:

-  Standard bearer Velko, (folk song), accompaniment Alexander Labinsky, the recording is from Boris Christoff’s  first record, released in Vienna in 1943;

-  Wounded soul, arrangement Iliya Bolgar, lyrics Hristo Yassenov, accompaniment Alexander Labinsky, from the same record;

-  The sky is sleeping, arrangement Iliya Bolgar, lyrics Hristo Yassenov, accompaniment Alexander Labinsky, from the same record.