I, too, shall die, for Death can show no mercy.

Wild grasses round my silent grave shall crowd.

Someone may pity me, another curse me.

But still my verses shall be read aloud.

The quote is from Ivan Vazov's famous poem My songs. By songs, the patriarch of Bulgarian literature means his poetic works. And in truth, even in our day his poems are still “read aloud”. A great many of them were set to music right after they were written though the names of some of the people who composed the melodies have not come down to us. These songs are different - depending on what the texts are like there are marches, traditional urban life songs or school songs. The most popular among them is An uproar rising by the Bosphorus or Song to Tsar Simeon dedicated to the ruler of the First Bulgarian Kingdom, author of the melody - unknown. The text is, as Vazov himself puts it, intended for the youngest children - so they may know and remember the history of their own people.

Poet, writer, playwright and prominent public figure, Ivan Vazov lived and worked in two different periods in history - the National Revival and Bulgaria in the post-liberation age. He was called “poet of the people” in his own lifetime. His works imbued with a sense of patriotism, sing praise to the beauty of Bulgaria and relate facts from history, but also the national liberation struggle prior to the liberation of the country from Ottoman domination in 1878. One poem - Radetzky - tells the story of revolutionary poet Hristo Botev. In 1876, together with his detachment, Botev boarded the Radetzky ship in Romania and forced the captain to disembark on the Bulgarian side of the Danube near Kozloduy. Their mission to organize an uprising failed and almost all of them were killed by the Ottomans. As soon as Vazov heard the news that these courageous men had crossed the Danube, he wrote the poem, filled with admiration of their heroism. The title of the song is Still white Danube - as the first line of the first verse goes, author of the music - unknown.

Ivan Vazov is the only prominent Bulgarian writer to have witnessed all wars from the time of the liberation to the end of World War 1 and he has dedicated much of his work to them. He even took part in the Russo-Turkish war of liberation (1877-1878) himself as a special consignments clerk in the Russian army. After the liberation, the song Maritsa Rushes was chosen as national anthem, the lyrics are by Nicola Zhivkov. In 1912, Vazov edited them and his version became official.

Vazov's poetic works continue to inspire Bulgarian composers. Strange as it may sound, quite a few of them have been used by pop and rock musicians. Some years ago, composer and conductor Stoyan Babekov wrote cantatas for mixed choir and piano based on the poems from Vazov's Epic of the Forgotten cycle. One of them is dedicated to the hero of the April uprising (1876) Panayot Volov killed at the age of 26.

“I am Bulgarian, I love our mountains green, to call myself Bulgarian is the greatest joy to me.” These verses by Ivan Vazov are probably the best known poem for children in the Bulgarian language. Composers of different generations have written music for this poem.

“I have sung of Bulgaria because I have loved it; I have praised its divine beauty because I have been enamoured of it; I have delved deep down into its history, because I have been captivated by the glory of its past life, in times long gone when it gave the Slavic world the light of words. Comparatively small, it had to wage a gargantuan fight for centuries to attain its independence and its ideals; I have sung of its ideals, because they were sacred,” says Ivan Vazov near the end of his life. The song Where is Bulgaria? is a poetic embodiment of these words, the music is by Panayot Pipkov.

The audio features the following songs:

- An uproar rising by the Bosphorus, performed by the Mixed Choir of the Bulgarian National Radio;

- Still white Danube;

- Maritsa Rushes;

- Volov, performed by the Mixed Choir of the Bulgarian National Radio, conductor Rumen Raychev, Bogdana Popova, piano;

- I am Bulgarian, performed by the Sreburni Zvuncheta (Silver Bells) children's group, music Emanuil Emanuilov;

- Where is Bulgaria?, performed by Haidushka Pesen (Rebel song).

English version: Milena Daynova