BASA-250K-1-289-1-Dobri Chintulov (cropped)

Dobri Petrov Chintulov ( bg, Добри Петров Чинтулов) (1822 – 27 March 1886) was a

Bulgarian Bulgarian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Bulgaria * Bulgarians, a South Slavic ethnic group * Bulgarian language, a Slavic language * Bulgarian alphabet * A citizen of Bulgaria, see Demographics of Bulgaria * Bul ...

poet, teacher and composer of the

Bulgarian National Revival The Bulgarian National Revival ( bg, Българско национално възраждане, ''Balgarsko natsionalno vazrazhdane'' or simply: Възраждане, ''Vazrazhdane'', and tr, Bulgar ulus canlanması) sometimes called the Bu ...

period. Born in the town of

Sliven Sliven ( bg, Сливен ) is the eighth-largest city in Bulgaria and the administrative and industrial centre of Sliven Province and municipality in Northern Thrace. Sliven is famous for its heroic Haiduts who fought against the Ottoman Turk ...

(then in Ottoman

Thrace Thrace (; el, Θράκη, Thráki; bg, Тракия, Trakiya; tr, Trakya) or Thrake is a geographical and historical region in Southeast Europe, now split among Bulgaria, Greece, and Turkey, which is bounded by the Balkan Mountains to t ...

, today in

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

) in September 1822 to the family of a craftsman, Chintulov studied at the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

school in his hometown. Due to a lack of funds, however, he was forced to drop out and move to

Tarnovo Veliko Tarnovo ( bg, Велико Търново, Veliko Tărnovo, ; "Great Tarnovo") is a town in north central Bulgaria and the administrative centre of Veliko Tarnovo Province. Often referred as the "''City of the Tsars''", Veliko Tarnovo ...

, where he worked and visited the local class school in 1838 for around six months. From there he set off to

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

Wallachia Wallachia or Walachia (; ro, Țara Românească, lit=The Romanian Land' or 'The Romanian Country, ; archaic: ', Romanian Cyrillic alphabet: ) is a historical and geographical region of Romania. It is situated north of the Lower Danube and so ...

, where he studied for a year and a half. Receiving a

scholarship A scholarship is a form of financial aid awarded to students for further education. Generally, scholarships are awarded based on a set of criteria such as academic merit, diversity and inclusion, athletic skill, and financial need. Scholarsh ...

from the

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

n government, Chintulov moved to

Odessa Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The city is also the administrativ ...

in the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

in 1840, assisted by his fellow townsman Dimitar Diamandiev, living in

Brăila Brăila (, also , ) is a city in Muntenia, eastern Romania, a port on the Danube and the capital of Brăila County. The ''Sud-Est'' Regional Development Agency is located in Brăila. According to the 2011 Romanian census there were 180,302 pe ...

. After a stay of several months in Brăila, Chintulov returned to Sliven in 1850 and worked as a teacher for seven years; he established a cultural centre (''

chitalishte A ''chitalishte'' (, . Derives from the verb "чета" - "to read" or "читател" - "reader") is a typical Bulgarian public institution and building that fulfills several functions at once, such as a community centre, library, and a theat ...

''), joined the Bulgarian Church struggle and endorsed the idea of Bulgarian independence. In that period, he wrote a number of patriotic and revolutionary songs and poems, some of which became very popular and renowned as anthems of the revolution. Provoking the animosity of the Turkophile and

Grecoman Grecoman or Graecoman (Greek: Γραικομάνοι, ''Grekománoi'', Bulgarian: Гъркомани, ''Garkomani'', Macedonian: Гркомани, ''Grkomani'', Romanian: ''Grecomani'', Albanian: ''Grekomanë'', Aromanian: ''Gricumanji'') is a pe ...

circles in Sliven who even attempted to assassinate him, Chintulov moved to

Yambol Yambol ( bg, Ямбол ) is a town in Southeastern Bulgaria and administrative centre of Yambol Province. It lies on both banks of the Tundzha river in the historical region of Thrace. It is occasionally spelled ''Jambol''. Yambol is the admi ...

in 1858 and worked there as a head teacher until 1861. From 1861 to 1871, he was back to Sliven as a head teacher. In 1871, he moved to

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

(

Tsarigrad ''Tsargrad'' is a Slavic name for the city or land of Constantinople (present-day Istanbul in Turkey), the capital of the Byzantine Empire. It is rendered in several ways depending on the language, for instance Old Church Slavonic Цѣсарь ...

) as Sliven's representative for the creation of the Bulgarian Exarchate's statute. Upon returning to Sliven, he worked as a teacher once again for three years, but had to quit due to problems with his

sight Visual perception is the ability to interpret the surrounding Biophysical environment, environment through photopic vision (daytime vision), color vision, scotopic vision (night vision), and mesopic vision (twilight vision), using light in the ...

. Although ill and half- blind, Chintulov was among those who welcomed the liberating Russian forces in Sliven during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878 on 17 November and held a speech. Receiving a

pension A pension (, from Latin ''pensiō'', "payment") is a fund into which a sum of money is added during an employee's employment years and from which payments are drawn to support the person's retirement from work in the form of periodic payments ...

until the end of his life, Chintulov died in Sliven on 27 March 1886, disappointed with the post-Liberation reality. Chintulov's poetic legacy is not large in numbers, as only around 20 of his poems have survived: he had to burn his manuscripts twice. Only three of his songs have been published, but his works had a tremendous influence on the Bulgarian youth of the time and are still well known as classic Bulgarian revolutionary music. Three of his best known works are ''Rise Up, Rise Up, Balkan Hero'', ''The Wind is Resounding, the Mountain is Moaning'', and ''Where are you, Faithful Love of the People?''.

Honours

Chintulov Ridge Chintulov Ridge ( bg, Чинтулов хребет, ‘Chintulov Hrebet’ \'chin-tu-lov 'hre-bet\) is the rocky ridge extending 6.9 km in north-northwest to south-southeast direction and 2.6 km wide, rising to 1145 m

Oscar II Coast Oscar II Coast is that portion of the east coast of the Antarctic Peninsula between Cape Fairweather to the north, and Cape Alexander to the south. Discovered in 1893 by Captain C.A. Larsen, who named it for King Oscar II of Norway and Sweden. ...

Graham Land Graham Land is the portion of the Antarctic Peninsula that lies north of a line joining Cape Jeremy and Cape Agassiz. This description of Graham Land is consistent with the 1964 agreement between the British Antarctic Place-names Committee and ...

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest contine ...

is named after Dobri Chintulov.

References

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External links

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Various works by Dobri Chintulov
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chintulov, Dobri Bulgarian male poets Bulgarian composers Bulgarian blind people Bulgarian schoolteachers 1822 births 1886 deaths 19th-century Bulgarian educators Writers from Sliven 19th-century Bulgarian poets 19th-century composers 19th-century male writers