Voydan Popgeorgiev – Chernodrinski (; ; January 15, 1875 – January 8, 1951) was a Bulgarian playwright from the region of

Macedonia Macedonia (, , , ), most commonly refers to: * North Macedonia, a country in southeastern Europe, known until 2019 as the Republic of Macedonia * Macedonia (ancient kingdom), a kingdom in Greek antiquity * Macedonia (Greece), a former administr ...

. His pseudonym is derived from the river

Black Drin The Black Drin, or Black Drim (; ) is a river in North Macedonia and Albania. It flows out of Lake Ohrid in Struga, North Macedonia. It is long and its drainage basin is . Its average discharge is . After flowing through North Macedonia for , the ...

Life

Chernodrinski was born in 1875 in the village of Selci, then in the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

. He studied in

Ohrid Ohrid ( ) is a city in North Macedonia and is the seat of the Ohrid Municipality. It is the largest city on Lake Ohrid and the eighth-largest city in the country, with the municipality recording a population of over 42,000 inhabitants as of ...

and at

Bulgarian Men's High School of Thessaloniki The Sts. Cyril and Methodius Bulgarian Men's High School of Thessaloniki (, ''Solunska balgarska mazhka gimnazia „Sv. sv. Kiril i Metodiy“'') was the first Bulgarian language, Bulgarian high school in Macedonia (region), Macedonia. One of th ...

, but moved with his family in 1890 in Bulgaria, where he graduated from the First Male High School in

Sofia Sofia is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the western part of the country. The city is built west of the Is ...

. There he became a member of the Young Macedonian Literary Association. Later Chernodrinski studied law in

Austro-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...

and

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

, but failed to graduate and moved back to Ottoman Macedonia, where he worked as a Bulgarian teacher. Afterwards he returned to Bulgaria and became a head of the traveling troupe "Grief and comfort" (), founded in 1901 and renamed in 1902 as "Macedonian Capital Theater" (). In Sofia, he wrote the most famous of his works, the play '' Macedonian Bloody Wedding''. Chernodrinski reworked it later to give the plot and the libretto for the famous opera "Tsveta" by maestro Georgi Atanasov. After the

Young Turk Revolution The Young Turk Revolution (July 1908; ) was a constitutionalist revolution in the Ottoman Empire. Revolutionaries belonging to the Internal Committee of Union and Progress, an organization of the Young Turks movement, forced Sultan Abdul Hamid II ...

in 1908 Chernodrinski moved with his traveling troupe back to Ottoman Macedonia. He was invited there by the

Bulgarian Constitutional Clubs Bulgarian Constitutional Clubs, also known as Union of the Bulgarian Constitutional Clubs (), was an ethnic Bulgarians, Bulgarian political party in the Ottoman Empire, created after the Young Turk Revolution, by members of the Internal Macedonia ...

with the support of

Peyo Yavorov Peyo Yavorov (; born Peyo Totev Kracholov, Пейо Тотев Крачолов; 13 January 1878 – 29 October 1914) was a Bulgarian Symbolist poet. He was considered to be one of the finest poetic talents in the ''fin de siècle'' Kingdom of ...

and assisted by the Bulgarian National Theater. During the

Balkan Wars The Balkan Wars were two conflicts that took place in the Balkans, Balkan states in 1912 and 1913. In the First Balkan War, the four Balkan states of Kingdom of Greece (Glücksburg), Greece, Kingdom of Serbia, Serbia, Kingdom of Montenegro, M ...

, he was mobilized into the Bulgarian Army. During

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, he served as a Bulgarian officer and created the "Soldier Songs" cycle. After the war, he continued with his theatrical activities in Bulgaria. Towards the end of 1922, he formed a new drama theater under the name "Ilinden". In the mid-1930s, Aleksandar Shoumenoff, the owner of the First Bulgarian Book Store in Granite City, published part of the Chernodrinski's works. The text was not translated into English but his works and plays became popular among Macedono-Bulgarian emigration. At this time Chernodrinski sympathized with

IMRO The Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO; ; ), was a secret revolutionary society founded in the Ottoman territories in Europe, that operated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Founded in 1893 in Salonica, it init ...

leader Ivan Mihaylov. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and the subsequent Bulgarian occupation of Vardar Macedonia, Chernodrinski and his troupe organized performances there. After WWII and the coming of the communists to power, he completely ceased his activities. He died in Sofia in 1951.

Legacy

After the death of Chernodrinski, in the newly found

SR Macedonia The Socialist Republic of Macedonia (), or SR Macedonia, commonly referred to as Socialist Macedonia, Yugoslav Macedonia or simply Macedonia, was one of the six constituent republics of the post-World War II Socialist Federal Republic of Y ...

, he was proclaimed as a

Macedonian Macedonian most often refers to someone or something from or related to Macedonia. Macedonian(s) may refer to: People Modern * Macedonians (ethnic group), a nation and a South Slavic ethnic group primarily associated with North Macedonia * Mac ...

writer, who had laid the foundations of the modern Macedonian theater. His play ''Macedonian Bloody Wedding'' was translated into the newly codified

Macedonian language Macedonian ( ; , , ) is an Eastern South Slavic language. It is part of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family, and is one of the Slavic languages, which are part of a larger Balto-Slavic languages, Balto-Slavic branch. Sp ...

. He is considered an ethnic Macedonian writer in

North Macedonia North Macedonia, officially the Republic of North Macedonia, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe. It shares land borders with Greece to the south, Albania to the west, Bulgaria to the east, Kosovo to the northwest and Serbia to the n ...

and a figure who laid the foundations of the Macedonian theater and the dramatic arts. A commemorative plaque was set on his home in Sofia.

Works

Besides the ''Macedonian Bloody Wedding'' written primarily in the

Debar dialect The Debar dialect (, ''Debarski dijalekt'') is a member of the subgroup of the western and north-western dialects of the western group of dialects of Macedonian. The dialect is mainly spoken in the city of Debar and the surrounding areas in Nor ...

, Chernodrinski published several other literary works, all in standard Bulgarian, including:''Иван Ивановски, 25 години театарски игри Војдан Чернодрински, Скопје 1990'' *The woodcutters (''Дърварите'') (1895) *In the barroom (''В механата'') (1895) *Macedonian emigration (''Македонска емиграция'') (1897) *Of the head we suffer (''От главата си патиме'') (1902) *The slave and the agha (''Робът и агата'') (1902) *Evil for evil (''Зло за зло'') (1903) *Skilled workers (''Майстори'') (1903) *The spirit of the freedom (''Духът на свободата'') (1909) *On the river (''На реката'') (1921) *On New Year (''На Нова година'') (1921) *Tzar Pir (''Царъ Пиръ'') (1921) *The storms near Vardar (''Бурите на Вардар'') (1925) *Tsveta the duchess (''Цвета войводката'') (1929) *Slav Dragota (''Слав Драгота'') (1930)

References

External links

Nikolay Yordanov, PHD - The case of Voydan Chernodrinski - "Macedonian Bloody Wedding" and the tales of their "History"

{{DEFAULTSORT:Popgeorgiev-Chernodrinksi, Voydan 1875 births 1951 deaths Bulgarian dramatists and playwrights Bulgarian male writers Male dramatists and playwrights Bulgarian military personnel of World War I Burials at Central Sofia Cemetery Bulgarian people of the Balkan Wars Macedonian Bulgarians Emigrants from the Ottoman Empire to Bulgaria