Initially he studied mathematics at the University of Odessa. He studied later music in Moscow and St. Petersburg and was taught by, to mention a few, the great Russian composers Balakirev and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. In 1888 and 1889 for the education of Badev funds were granted from the Bulgarian government as a special grant for a young talent.[10] Apart from his choral adaptations of folk and children's songs, Badev is also the composer of Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom (first published in Leipzig in 1898), one of the most significant works of this genre from the end of the 19th century.[11] He taught at different Bulgarian schools.[12] From 1890 to 1891, then, in 1896, he worked as a music teacher in Thessaloniki, in 1892 in Bitola, in 1897–1898 in Ruse, in 1899 in Samokov, and from 1901 to his death in Kyustendil. In 1904 Atanas Badev presented to the Second Congress of Music Teachers in Sofia a report on the rhythms and metrics of Bulgarian folk songs.[13] He died in 1908 in Kyustendil, Bulgaria.
^Македонцитѣ въ културно-политическия животъ на България: Анкета отъ Изпълнителния комитетъ на Македонскитѣ братства. София, Книгоиздателство Ал. Паскалевъ и С-ие, Държавна печатница, 1918. с. 50.
^Танчев, Иван. Българската държава и обучението на българи в чужбина (1879 – 1892), София 1994, с. 148.
^Танчев, Иван. Македонският компонент при формирането на българската интелигенция с европейско образование (1878 – 1912). Македонски преглед XXIV (3). 2001. с. 48.
^Dimitar Bechev, Historical Dictionary of the Republic of Macedonia, Volume 68 of Historical Dictionaries of Europe, Scarecrow Press, 2009, ISBN0810862956, p. 22.
^Научни трудове на Русенския Университет – 2008, том 47, серия 5.2. Народната песен в българския музикален фолклор. Пелагия Векилова, Светла Минкова, стр. 191.