Russian opera and chamber singer (high bass).
First People's Artist of the Republic (1918-1927, title returned in 1991).
The son of the peasant of the Vyatka province Ivan Yakovlevich Chaliapin (1837-1901), a representative of the ancient Vyatka family of the Shalyapins (Shelepins). Chaliapin's mother is a peasant woman from the village of Dudintsy, Kumensky volost (Kumensky district, Kirov region), Evdokia Mikhailovna (nee Prozorova).
As a child, Fedor was a singer. As a boy, he was sent to study shoemaking with shoemakers N.A. Tonkov, then V.A. Andreev. Received primary education at Vedernikova’s private school, then at the Fourth Parish School in Kazan, and later at the Sixth Primary School.
Chaliapin himself considered the beginning of his artistic career to be 1889, when he entered the drama troupe V.B. Serebryakov, initially as a statistician.
On March 29, 1890, the first solo performance took place - the part of Zaretsky in the opera “Eugene Onegin”, staged by the Kazan Society of Stage Art Lovers. Throughout May and early June 1890, he was a chorus member of V.B.’s operetta company. Serebryakova. In September 1890, he arrived from Kazan to Ufa and began working in the choir of an operetta troupe under the direction of S.Ya. Semenov-Samarsky.
Quite by accident I had to transform from a chorister into a soloist, replacing a sick artist in Moniuszko’s opera “Galka” in the role of Stolnik.
This debut brought forward a 17-year-old boy, who was occasionally assigned small opera roles, for example, Ferrando in Il Trovatore. The following year he performed as the Unknown in Verstovsky's Askold's Grave. He was offered a place in the Ufa zemstvo, but the Little Russian troupe of Derkach came to Ufa, and Chaliapin joined it. Traveling with her brought him to Tiflis, where for the first time he managed to take his voice seriously, thanks to the singer D.A. Usatov. Usatov not only approved of Chaliapin’s voice, but, due to the latter’s lack of material resources, began to give him singing lessons for free and generally took a great part in it. He also arranged for Chaliapin to perform in the Tiflis opera of Ludwig-Forcatti and Lyubimov. Chaliapin lived in Tiflis for a whole year, performing the first bass parts in the opera.
In 1893 he moved to Moscow, and in 1894 to St. Petersburg, where he sang in Arcadia in Lentovsky's opera troupe, and in the winter of 1894-1895. - in the opera partnership at the Panaevsky Theater, in the Zazulin troupe. Beautiful voice aspiring artist and especially his expressive musical recitation in connection with his truthful playing attracted the attention of critics and the public.
In 1895, he was accepted by the directorate of the St. Petersburg Imperial Theaters as a member of the opera troupe: he entered the stage of the Mariinsky Theater and successfully sang the roles of Mephistopheles (Faust) and Ruslan (Ruslan and Lyudmila). Chaliapin's diverse talent was expressed in comic opera « Secret marriage» D. Cimarosa, but still did not receive proper assessment. It is reported that in the 1895-1896 season he “appeared quite rarely and, moreover, in parties that were not very suitable for him.” Famous philanthropist S.I. Mamontov, who at that time ran an opera house in Moscow, was the first to notice Chaliapin’s extraordinary talent and persuaded him to join his private troupe. Here, in 1896-1899, Chaliapin developed into artistic sense and developed his stage talent, performing in a number of responsible roles. Thanks to his subtle understanding of Russian music in general and modern music in particular, he completely individually, but at the same time deeply truthfully created a number of significant images of Russian opera classics:
Ivan the Terrible in “Pskovianka” N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov; Varangian guest in his own “Sadko”; Salieri in his “Mozart and Salieri”; Miller in “Rusalka” by A.S. Dargomyzhsky; Ivan Susanin in “Life for the Tsar” by M.I. Glinka; Boris Godunov in the opera of the same name by M.P. Mussorgsky, Dosifey in his “Khovanshchina” and in many other operas.
At the same time, he worked hard on roles in foreign operas; for example, the role of Mephistopheles in Gounod’s Faust in his broadcast received amazingly bright, strong and original coverage. Over the years, Chaliapin has gained great fame.
Chaliapin was a soloist of the Russian Private Opera, created by S.I. Mamontov, for four seasons - from 1896 to 1899. In his autobiographical book “Mask and Soul,” Chaliapin characterizes these years creative life as the most important: “From Mamontov I received the repertoire that gave me the opportunity to develop all the main features of my artistic nature, my temperament.”
Since 1899, he again served in the Imperial Russian Opera in Moscow (Bolshoi Theater), where he enjoyed enormous success. He was highly acclaimed in Milan, where he performed at the La Scala theater for leading role Mephistopheles A. Boito (1901, 10 performances). Chaliapin's tour in St. Petersburg on Mariinsky stage constituted a kind of event in the St. Petersburg musical world.
During the revolution of 1905, he donated proceeds from his performances to workers. His performances with folk songs (“Dubinushka” and others) sometimes turned into political demonstrations.
Since 1914 he has been performing in private opera companies of S.I. Zimina (Moscow), A.R. Aksarina (Petrograd).
In 1915, he made his film debut, the main role (Tsar Ivan the Terrible) in the historical film drama “Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich the Terrible” (based on Lev Mei’s drama “The Pskov Woman”).
In 1917, in the production of G. Verdi’s opera “Don Carlos” in Moscow, he appeared not only as a soloist (the part of Philip), but also as a director. His next directorial experience was the opera “Rusalka” by A.S. Dargomyzhsky.
In 1918-1921 - artistic director of the Mariinsky Theater.
Since 1922, he has been on tour abroad, in particular in the USA, where his American impresario was Solomon Hurok. The singer went there with his second wife, Maria Valentinovna.
Chaliapin's long absence aroused suspicion and negative attitude in Soviet Russia; so, in 1926 V.V. Mayakovsky wrote in his “Letter to Gorky”:
Or live for you
how Chaliapin lives,
splashed with scented applause?
Come back
Now
such an artist
back
to Russian rubles -
I'll be the first to shout:
- Roll back,
People's Artist of the Republic!
In 1927, Chaliapin donated the proceeds from one of the concerts to the children of emigrants, which was presented on May 31, 1927 in the VSERABIS magazine by a certain VSERABIS employee S. Simon as support for the White Guards. This story is told in detail in Chaliapin’s autobiography “Mask and Soul”. On August 24, 1927, by resolution of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR, he was stripped of his title People's Artist and the right to return to the USSR; this was justified by the fact that he did not want to “return to Russia and serve the people whose title of artist was awarded to him” or, according to other sources, by the fact that he allegedly donated money to monarchist emigrants.
At the end of the summer of 1932, he played the main role in the film “Don Quixote” by the Austrian film director Georg Pabst. novel of the same name Cervantes. The film was shot in two languages at once - English and French, with two casts, the music for the film was written by Jacques Ibert. Location shooting of the film took place near the city of Nice.
In 1935-1936, the singer went on his last tour to Far East, giving 57 concerts in Manchuria, China and Japan. During the tour, his accompanist was Georges de Godzinsky. In the spring of 1937, he was diagnosed with leukemia, and on April 12, 1938, he died in Paris in the arms of his wife. He was buried in the Batignolles cemetery in Paris. In 1984, his son Fyodor Chaliapin Jr. achieved the reburial of his ashes in Moscow at Novodevichy Cemetery.
On June 10, 1991, 53 years after the death of Fyodor Chaliapin, the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR adopted Resolution No. 317: “To cancel the resolution of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR of August 24, 1927 “On depriving F. I. Chaliapin of the title “People's Artist” as unfounded.”
Chaliapin was married twice, and from both marriages he had 9 children (one died in early age from appendicitis).
Fyodor Chaliapin met his first wife in Nizhny Novgorod, and they got married in 1898 in the church in the village of Gagino. This was the young Italian ballerina Iola Tornaghi (Iola Ignatievna Le Presti (after Tornaghi’s stage), died in 1965 at the age of 92), born in the city of Monza (near Milan). In total, Chaliapin had six children in this marriage: Igor (died at the age of 4), Boris, Fedor, Tatyana, Irina, Lydia. Fyodor and Tatyana were twins. Iola Tornaghi lived in Russia for a long time and only in the late 1950s, at the invitation of her son Fedor, she moved to Rome.
Already having a family, Fyodor Ivanovich Chaliapin became close to Maria Valentinovna Petzold (née Elukhen, in her first marriage - Petzold, 1882-1964), who had two children of her own from her first marriage. They have three daughters: Marfa (1910-2003), Marina (1912-2009) and Dasia (1921-1977). Shalyapin's daughter Marina (Marina Fedorovna Shalyapina-Freddy) lived longer than all his children and died at the age of 98.
In fact, Chaliapin had a second family. The first marriage was not dissolved, and the second was not registered and was considered invalid. It turned out that Chaliapin had one family in the old capital, and another in the new one: one family did not go to St. Petersburg, and the other did not go to Moscow. Officially, Maria Valentinovna’s marriage to Chaliapin was formalized in 1927 in Paris.
prizes and awards
1902 - Bukhara Order of the Golden Star, III degree.
1907 - Golden Cross of the Prussian Eagle.
1910 - title of Soloist of His Majesty (Russia).
1912 - title of Soloist of His Majesty the Italian King.
1913 - title of Soloist of His Majesty the King of England.
1914 - English Order for special services in the field of art.
1914 - Russian Order of Stanislav, III degree.
1925 - Commander of the Legion of Honor (France).
The life of the famous opera singer began in a simple family. His parents were peasants in the Vyatka province. He started singing in the church choir as a singer. It’s unlikely that anyone would have thought that he would have a career as an opera singer, which is why he was sent to study shoemaking. Then his father sent him to a vocational school in Arsk. After some time, Chaliapin got a job in a drama troupe, working as an extra. There he first sang his part in Tchaikovsky's opera "Eugene Onegin".
Later he moved to Moscow, where he took part in many at that time famous theaters. This provides some experience and creative development for Fyodor Ivanovich. From 1922 he went on tour to America, thereby arousing great suspicion among representatives of the USSR authorities. He was deprived of the People's Artist of the USSR award.
Chaliapin's creative personality was visible everywhere. He starred in the film "The Adventures of Don Quixote." Preserved large number drawings and cartoon robots. Even while doing sculpture, Chaliapin reached heights.
At the age of 65 he died in Paris from leukemia. This is the end of the life of the great Russian singer, who amazed the audiences of Italy, America, Canada, England, France, and the countries of the East with his voice. During his life, he received 11 awards, and even has his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
And years later he was reburied in his homeland. Only 57 years later the title of People's Artist was returned to him.
Biography of Fyodor Chaliapin about the main thing
Shalyapin Fedor Ivanovich (February 1, 1873 – April 12, 1938)
The most famous Russian bass Chaliapin lived for 65 years, throughout his life he never stopped being engaged in creative activities: he managed to act in films, create memoirs, write several paintings, and, of course, constantly perform roles various heroes in opera houses around the world.
Childhood of Fyodor Ivanovich
The son of poor Russian peasants, Ivan and Evdokia, loved to sing since childhood, which he did in the church choir, earning a living by singing at weddings and funerals. Father, hoping to place his son in useful work, alternately sent him to train as a carpenter, bookbinder, turner... But Fedor, who first visited theatrical production at the age of ten, he firmly decided to work as an artist.
Path to glory
Until the autumn of 1890, Chaliapin lived in Kazan, where he first worked as an extra in the theater, and already in March 1890 he made his debut role in the opera “Eugene Onegin”. Then he studied choral singing in the same theater.
Having left to live in Ufa in the fall of 1890, the seventeen-year-old youth went to work in the Semenov-Samarsky troupe, where he was occasionally assigned small roles, and then, together with a group of artists under the command of G. I. Derkach, wandered for a long time and finally ended up in Tiflis . Here I met a young talent famous Dmitry Usatov, who gave Chaliapin singing lessons free of charge and helped him achieve a beautiful bass. Until 1893, he played small and insignificant roles in the Tiflis theater.
In 1894, after almost a year of living in Moscow, Fyodor Ivanovich ended up in the capital, where he worked at the Panaevsky Theater. Here his talent was finally noticed, and already in 1896 the famous philanthropist Mamontov invited him to work in his theater, after four years of work in which Chaliapin gained incredible fame throughout the capital.
At the same time (namely in 1898) Fyodor Ivanovich married a ballerina Italian origin Ioloi Tornaghi.
Career blossoming
In 1901, the young singer successfully performed in the Milanese opera La Scala; in 1907-1908. went on tour different countries America. The rest of the time before leaving Russia (1922), he rushed between two largest theaters Russia - Mariinsky and Bolshoi.
In 1915, Fyodor successfully played a cruel ruler in the film “Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich the Terrible,” and two years later, under his leadership as a director, the productions “Don Carlos” and “Rusalka” were staged, after which the Soviet leadership awarded him the title of People’s Artist of the Republic.
Outside the USSR
In 1922, Chaliapin and Maria Petzold, with whom he had lived since 1906, left to perform abroad. The family settled in Paris. The singer himself often traveled to other countries (England, Italy, the USA), but never saw his homeland again: on August 24, 1927, Chaliapin was banned from returning to the USSR and the honorary title of People's Artist was taken away. It was returned to Fyodor Ivanovich only in 1991, when he had been dead for half a century.
Outside the USSR, Chaliapin continued his active creative work: he played a noble knight in the film “The Adventures of Don Quixote”, in 1935-1936. went on tour in the Far East, where he gave more than 50 performances.
In 1937, Chaliapin was diagnosed with leukemia. On April 12, 1938 he died. A magnificent funeral took place at the Batignolles cemetery. In the fall of 1984, after receiving consent for reburial from the son of Fyodor Fedorovich, the body was transported to Moscow.
Interesting facts and dates from life
Coming from a peasant family, Fyodor Chaliapin performed at the most prestigious theaters in the world - the Bolshoi, Mariinsky, and Metropolitan Opera. Among the admirers of his talent were composers Sergei Prokofiev and Anton Rubinstein, actor Charlie Chaplin and the future English king Edward VI. The critic Vladimir Stasov called him a “great artist”, and Maxim Gorky called him a separate “era of Russian art”
From the church choir to the Mariinsky Theater
“If everyone knew what a fire smolders inside me and goes out like a candle...”- Fyodor Chaliapin said to his friends, convincing them that he was born to be a sculptor. Already famous opera performer, Fyodor Ivanovich drew a lot, was engaged in painting, and sculpted.
The painter's talent was evident even on stage. Chaliapin was a “virtuoso of makeup” and created stage portraits, adding a bright picture to the powerful sound of the bass.
The singer seemed to be sculpting his face; contemporaries compared his manner of applying makeup to the paintings of Korovin and Vrubel. For example, the image of Boris Godunov changed from painting to painting, wrinkles and gray hair appeared. Chaliapin-Mephistopheles in Milan caused a real sensation. Fyodor Ivanovich was one of the first to apply makeup not only to his face, but also to his hands and even his body.
“When I went on stage dressed in my costume and makeup, it caused a real sensation, very flattering for me. Artists, choristers, even workers surrounded me, gasping and delighted, like children, touching with their fingers, feeling, and when they saw that my muscles were painted on, they were completely delighted.”
Fyodor Chaliapin
And yet, the talent of the sculptor, like the talent of the artist, served only as a frame amazing voice. Chaliapin sang from childhood - in a beautiful treble. Coming from a peasant family, back in his native Kazan he studied in the church choir and performed at village holidays. At the age of 10, Fedya visited the theater for the first time and dreamed of music. He mastered the art of shoemaking, turning, carpentry, and bookbinding, but only the art of opera attracted him. Although from the age of 14 Chaliapin worked in the zemstvo government of the Kazan district as a clerk, still free time he gave to the theater, appearing on stage as an extra.
A passion for music led Fyodor Chaliapin with nomadic troupes across the country: the Volga region, the Caucasus, and Central Asia. He worked part-time as a loader, a hookman, and was starving, but he waited for his finest hour. One of the baritones fell ill on the eve of the performance, and the role of Stolnik in Moniuszko’s opera “Galka” went to the chorister Chaliapin. Although the debutant sat past the chair during the performance, the entrepreneur Semyonov-Samarsky was moved by the performance itself. New parties appeared and confidence in the theatrical future grew stronger.
“I still think superstitiously: it’s a good sign for a newcomer to sit past the chair in the first performance on stage in front of an audience. Throughout my subsequent career, however, I kept a vigilant eye on the chair and was afraid not only of sitting past, but also of sitting in another’s chair.”, - Fyodor Ivanovich later said.
At the age of 22, Fyodor Chaliapin made his debut at the Mariinsky Theater, singing Mephistopheles in the opera Faust by Gounod. A year later, Savva Mamontov invited young singer to the Moscow Private Opera. “From Mamontov I received the repertoire that gave me the opportunity to develop all the main features of my artistic nature, my temperament”- said Chaliapin. The young summer bass gathered a full hall with his performance. Ivan the Terrible in "The Woman of Pskov" by Rimsky-Korsakov, Dosifey in "Khovanshchina" and Godunov in the opera "Boris Godunov" by Mussorgsky. “One more great artist”, - wrote about Chaliapin music critic Vladimir Stasov.
Fyodor Chaliapin in the title role in the production of Modest Mussorgsky's opera Boris Godunov. Photo: chtoby-pomnili.com
Fyodor Chaliapin as Ivan the Terrible in a production of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s opera “The Woman of Pskov.” 1898 Photo: chrono.ru
Fyodor Chaliapin as Prince Galitsky in the production of Alexander Borodin's opera "Prince Igor". Photo: chrono.ru
"Tsar Bass" Fyodor Chaliapin
It was as if the art world was just waiting young talent. Chaliapin communicated with the best painters of that time: Vasily Polenov and the Vasnetsov brothers, Isaac Levitan, Valentin Serov, Konstantin Korovin and Mikhail Vrubel. The artists created amazing scenery that emphasized the vivid stage images. At the same time, the singer became close to Sergei Rachmaninoff. The composer dedicated the romances “You Knew Him” to Fyodor Tyutchev’s poems and “Fate” based on a poem by Alexei Apukhtin to Fyodor Chaliapin.
Chaliapin is a whole era of Russian art and since 1899 the leading soloist of the country's two main theaters - the Bolshoi and the Mariinsky. The success was so enormous that contemporaries joked: “There are three miracles in Moscow: the Tsar Bell, the Tsar Cannon and the Tsar Bass - Fyodor Chaliapin”. Chaliapin's high bass was known and loved in Italy, France, Germany, America, and Great Britain. Opera arias, chamber works, and romances received an enthusiastic reception from the public. Wherever Fyodor Ivanovich sang, crowds of fans and listeners gathered around. Even while relaxing at the dacha.
The triumphal tours were stopped by the First World War. Singer on own funds organized the work of two hospitals for the wounded. After the revolution of 1917, Fyodor Chaliapin lived in St. Petersburg and was artistic director Mariinsky Theater. A year later, Tsar Bas was the first artist to receive the title of People's Artist of the Republic, which he lost when he went into exile.
In 1922, the artist did not return from a tour of the United States, although he believed that he was leaving Russia only for a while. Having traveled all over the world with concerts, the singer performed a lot at the Russian Opera and created a whole “theater of romance”. Chaliapin's repertoire included about 400 works.
“I love gramophone records. I am excited and creatively excited by the idea that the microphone symbolizes not a specific audience, but millions of listeners.”, - said the singer and recorded about 300 arias, songs and romances. Having left a rich heritage, Fyodor Chaliapin did not return to his homeland. But until the end of his life he never accepted foreign citizenship. In 1938, Fyodor Ivanovich died in Paris, and half a century later, his son Fyodor obtained permission to rebury his father’s ashes at the Novodevichy cemetery. At the end of the twentieth century, the great Russian opera singer returned the title of People's Artist.
"Chaliapin's innovation in the field of dramatic truth opera art had a strong impact on the Italian theater... The dramatic art of the great Russian artist left a deep and lasting mark not only in the field of performing Russian operas Italian singers, but also in general on the entire style of their vocal and stage interpretation, including the works of Verdi..."
Gianandrea Gavazzeni, conductor and composer
Fyodor Ivanovich Chaliapin was born on February 13, 1873 in Kazan, into the poor family of Ivan Yakovlevich Chaliapin, a peasant from the village of Syrtsovo, Vyatka province. Mother, Evdokia (Avdotya) Mikhailovna (nee Prozorova), comes from the village of Dudinskaya in the same province. Already in childhood Fyodor had a beautiful voice (treble) and often sang along with his mother, “adjusting his voices.” From the age of nine he sang in church choirs, tried to learn to play the violin, read a lot, but was forced to work as an apprentice to a shoemaker, turner, carpenter, bookbinder, copyist. At the age of twelve he participated in the performances of a troupe touring in Kazan as an extra. An insatiable craving for theater led him to various acting troupes, with whom he wandered around the cities of the Volga region, the Caucasus, Central Asia, working either as a loader or as a hookman on the pier, often going hungry and spending the night on benches.
"... Apparently, even in the modest role of a chorister, I managed to show my natural musicality and good vocal abilities. When one day one of the baritones of the troupe suddenly, on the eve of the performance, for some reason refused the role of Stolnik in Moniuszko’s opera “Pebble”, and replaced him There was no one in the troupe, then the entrepreneur Semyonov-Samarsky asked me if I would agree to sing this part. Despite my extreme shyness, I agreed: it was too tempting: I quickly learned the part in my life and performed.
Despite the sad incident in this performance (I sat past a chair on stage), Semenov-Samarsky was still moved by both my singing and my conscientious desire to portray something similar to the Polish tycoon. He added five rubles to my salary and also began assigning me other roles. I still think superstitiously: it’s a good sign for a newcomer to sit past the chair in the first performance on stage in front of an audience. Throughout my subsequent career, however, I kept a vigilant eye on the chair and was afraid not only of sitting past, but also of sitting in another’s chair...
In this first season of mine, I also sang Fernando in Troubadour and Neizvestny in Askold’s Grave. Success finally strengthened my decision to devote myself to the theater."
Then the young singer moved to Tiflis, where he took free singing lessons from famous singer D. Usatov, performed in amateur and student concerts. In 1894, he sang in performances held in the St. Petersburg country garden "Arcadia", then at the Panaevsky Theater. On April 5, 1895, he made his debut as Mephistopheles in the opera Faust by Charles Gounod at the Mariinsky Theater.
In 1896, Chaliapin was invited by S. Mamontov to the Moscow Private Opera, where he took a leading position and fully revealed his talent, creating over the years of work in this theater a whole gallery of unforgettable images in Russian operas: Ivan the Terrible in “The Woman of Pskov” by N. Rimsky -Korsakov (1896); Dosifey in “Khovanshchina” by M. Mussorgsky (1897); Boris Godunov in the opera of the same name by M. Mussorgsky (1898) and others. “One more great artist has become,” V. Stasov wrote about the twenty-five-year-old Chaliapin.
Communication at the Mamontov Theater with the best artists Russia (V. Polenov, V. and A. Vasnetsov, I. Levitan, V. Serov, M. Vrubel, K. Korovin and others) gave the singer powerful incentives for creativity: their scenery and costumes helped in creating a convincing stage image. The singer prepared a number of opera roles in the theater with the then novice conductor and composer Sergei Rachmaninov. Creative friendship united the two great artists until the end of their lives. Rachmaninov dedicated several romances to the singer, including “Fate” (poems by A. Apukhtin), “You Knew Him” (poems by F. Tyutchev).
The singer's deeply national art delighted his contemporaries. “In Russian art, Chaliapin is an era like Pushkin,” wrote M. Gorky. Based on the best traditions of the national vocal school, Chaliapin opened new era in domestic musical theater. He managed to amazingly organically combine the two most important principles of operatic art - dramatic and musical - to subordinate his tragic gift, unique stage plasticity and deep musicality to a single artistic concept.
Since September 24, 1899, Chaliapin, the leading soloist of the Bolshoi and at the same time the Mariinsky theaters, has been touring abroad with triumphant success. In 1901, at La Scala in Milan, he sang the role of Mephistopheles in the opera of the same name by A. Boito with E. Caruso, conducted by A. Toscanini, with great success. The world fame of the Russian singer was confirmed by tours in Rome (1904), Monte Carlo (1905), Orange (France, 1905), Berlin (1907), New York (1908), Paris (1908), London (1913/14). Divine beauty Chaliapin's voice captivated listeners from all countries. His high bass, delivered naturally, with a velvety, soft timbre, sounded full-blooded, powerful and possessed a rich palette of vocal intonations. The effect of artistic transformation amazed the listeners - it was not only the appearance, but also the deep inner content that was conveyed by the singer’s vocal speech. In creating capacious and scenically expressive images, the singer is helped by his extraordinary versatility: he is both a sculptor and an artist, writes poetry and prose. Such versatile talent of the great artist is reminiscent of the masters of the Renaissance - it is no coincidence that his contemporaries compared his opera heroes with Michelangelo's titans. Chaliapin's art crossed national boundaries and influenced the development of the world opera theater. Many Western conductors, artists and singers could repeat the words of the Italian conductor and composer D. Gavadzeni: “Chaliapin’s innovation in the field of dramatic truth of operatic art had a strong impact on the Italian theater... The dramatic art of the great Russian artist left a deep and lasting mark not only in the field of performance Russian operas by Italian singers, but in general, on the entire style of their vocal and stage interpretation, including the works of Verdi..."
"Chaliapin was attracted to characters strong people, captured by an idea and passion, experiencing deep emotional drama, as well as bright, sharply comedic images, notes D.N. Lebedev. - With stunning truthfulness and power, Chaliapin reveals the tragedy of the unfortunate father, distraught with grief, in “The Mermaid” or the painful mental discord and remorse experienced by Boris Godunov.
Sympathy for human suffering reveals high humanism - an integral property of progressive Russian art, based on nationality, on purity and depth of feelings. In this nationality, which filled Chaliapin’s entire being and work, the power of his talent, the secret of his persuasiveness and understandability to everyone, even an inexperienced person, is rooted.”
Chaliapin is categorically against feigned, artificial emotionality: “All music always expresses feelings in one way or another, and where there are feelings, mechanical transmission leaves the impression of terrible monotony. A spectacular aria sounds cold and protocol if the intonation of the phrase is not developed in it, if the sound is not colored with the necessary shades of experience. Western music also needs this intonation... which I recognized as mandatory for the transmission of Russian music, although it has less psychological vibration than Russian.”
Chaliapin is characterized by bright, intense concert activity. Listeners were invariably delighted with his performances of the romances “The Miller”, “The Old Corporal”, “The Titular Councilor” by Dargomyzhsky, “The Seminarist”, “Trepak” by Mussorgsky, “Doubt” by Glinka, “The Prophet” by Rimsky-Korsakov, “The Nightingale” by Tchaikovsky, “The Double” Schubert, “I am not angry”, “In a dream I cried bitterly” by Schumann.
Here's what I wrote about this side creative activity singer, a wonderful Russian musicologist, academician B. Asafiev:
“Chaliapin sang truly chamber music, sometimes with such concentration, so deeply that it seemed that he had nothing in common with the theater and never resorted to the emphasis on accessories and the appearance of expression required by the stage. Perfect calm and restraint took possession of him. For example, I remember Schumann’s “In a Dream I Cried Bitterly” - one sound, a voice in silence, a modest, hidden emotion - but it’s as if there is no performer, and this large, cheerful, clear person, generous with humor, affection, is not there. A lonely voice sounds - and everything is in the voice: all the depth and fullness of the human heart... The face is motionless, the eyes are extremely expressive, but in a special way, not like, say, Mephistopheles in the famous scene with the students or in the sarcastic serenade: there they burned angrily, mockingly, and here are the eyes of a man who felt the elements of grief, but understood that only in the severe discipline of the mind and heart - in the rhythm of all his manifestations - does a person gain power over both passions and suffering.”
The press loved to calculate the artist's fees, supporting the myth of Chaliapin's fabulous wealth and greed. So what if this myth is refuted by posters and programs of many charity concerts, and by the singer’s famous performances in Kyiv, Kharkov and Petrograd in front of huge working audiences? Idle rumors, newspaper rumors and gossip more than once forced the artist to take up his pen, refute sensations and speculation, and clarify the facts of his own biography. No use!
During the First World War, Chaliapin's tours stopped. The singer opened two hospitals for wounded soldiers at his own expense, but did not advertise his “good deeds.” Lawyer M.F. Wolkenstein, who managed the singer’s financial affairs for many years, recalled: “If only they knew how much Chaliapin’s money passed through my hands to help those who needed it!”
After October Revolution In 1917, Fyodor Ivanovich was engaged in the creative reconstruction of the former imperial theaters, was an elected member of the directors of the Bolshoi and Mariinsky theaters, and in 1918 directed the artistic part of the latter. In the same year, he was the first artist to be awarded the title of People's Artist of the Republic. The singer sought to get away from politics; in the book of his memoirs he wrote: “If I was anything in life, it was only an actor and singer; I was completely devoted to my calling. But least of all I was a politician.”
Outwardly, it might seem that Chaliapin’s life was prosperous and creatively rich. He is invited to perform at official concerts, he performs a lot for the general public, he is awarded honorary titles, asked to lead the work of various kinds of artistic juries and theater councils. But then there are sharp calls to “socialize Chaliapin”, “put his talent at the service of the people”, and doubts are often expressed about the singer’s “class loyalty”. Someone demands the mandatory involvement of his family in performing labor duties, someone makes direct threats to the former artist of the imperial theaters... “I saw more and more clearly that no one needed what I could do, that there was no point in my work.” , - the artist admitted.
Of course, Chaliapin could protect himself from the arbitrariness of zealous functionaries by making a personal request to Lunacharsky, Peters, Dzerzhinsky, and Zinoviev. But being in constant dependence on the orders of even such high-ranking officials in the administrative-party hierarchy is humiliating for an artist. Moreover, they often did not guarantee complete social security and certainly did not instill confidence in the future.
In the spring of 1922, Chaliapin did not return from his foreign tour, although for some time he continued to consider his non-return temporary. The home environment played a significant role in what happened. Caring for children and the fear of leaving them without a livelihood forced Fyodor Ivanovich to agree to endless tours. The eldest daughter Irina remained to live in Moscow with her husband and mother, Pola Ignatievna Tornagi-Chalyapina. Other children from the first marriage - Lydia, Boris, Fedor, Tatiana - and children from the second marriage - Marina, Marfa, Dassia and the children of Maria Valentinovna (second wife), Edward and Stella, lived with them in Paris. Chaliapin was especially proud of his son Boris, who, according to N. Benois, achieved “great success as a landscape and portrait painter.” Fyodor Ivanovich willingly posed for his son; The portraits and sketches of his father made by Boris “are priceless monuments to the great artist...”.
In foreign lands, the singer enjoyed constant success, touring almost all countries of the world - England, America, Canada, China, Japan, and the Hawaiian Islands. Since 1930, Chaliapin performed in the Russian Opera troupe, whose performances were famous high level staged culture. Special success in Paris they had the operas “Rusalka”, “Boris Godunov”, “Prince Igor”. In 1935, Chaliapin was elected a member of the Royal Academy of Music (together with A. Toscanini) and was awarded an academician's diploma. Chaliapin's repertoire included about 70 roles. In the operas of Russian composers, he created unsurpassed in strength and life-truth images of the Miller (“Rusalka”), Ivan Susanin (“Ivan Susanin”), Boris Godunov and Varlaam (“Boris Godunov”), Ivan the Terrible (“The Woman of Pskov”) and many others . Among the best roles in Western European opera are Mephistopheles (“Faust” and “Mephistopheles”), Don Basilio (“ Barber of Seville"), Leporello ("Don Giovanni"), Don Quixote ("Don Quixote"). Chaliapin was equally great in chamber vocal performance. Here he introduced an element of theatricality and created a kind of “theater of romance.” His repertoire included up to four hundred songs, romances and works of chamber and vocal music of other genres. The masterpieces of performing arts included “The Flea”, “The Forgotten”, “Trepak” by Mussorgsky, “Night View” by Glinka, “The Prophet” by Rimsky-Korsakov, “Two Grenadiers” by R. Schumann, “The Double” by F. Schubert, as well as Russian folk songs“Farewell, joy”, “They don’t tell Masha to go beyond the river”, “Because of the island to the river”.
In the 20-30s he made about three hundred recordings. “I love gramophone recordings...” admitted Fyodor Ivanovich. “I am excited and creatively excited by the idea that the microphone symbolizes not a specific audience, but millions of listeners.” The singer was very picky about recordings, among his favorites were the recording of Massenet’s “Elegy”, Russian folk songs, which he included in his concert programs throughout his creative life. According to Asafiev’s recollection, “the wide, powerful, inescapable breath of the great singer saturated the melody, and it was heard that there was no limit to the fields and steppes of our Motherland.”
24 August 1927 Council people's commissars adopts a resolution to deprive Chaliapin of the title of People's Artist. Gorky did not believe in the possibility of removing the title of People’s Artist from Chaliapin, about which rumors began to spread already in the spring of 1927: “The title of People’s Artist given to you by the Council of People’s Commissars can only be annulled by the Council of People’s Commissars, which he did not do, and, of course, he did not will do." However, in reality everything happened differently, not at all as Gorky expected...
Born into the family of peasant Ivan Yakovlevich from the village of Syrtsovo, who served in the zemstvo government, and Evdokia Mikhailovna from the village of Dudinskaya, Vyatka province.
At first little Fedor, trying to get them “to work”, they apprenticed to the shoemaker N.A. Tonkov, then V.A. Andreev, then to a turner, later to a carpenter.
IN early childhood he showed beautiful voice treble and he often sang with his mother. At the age of 9, he began singing in a church choir, where he was brought by the regent Shcherbitsky, their neighbor, and began to earn money from weddings and funerals. The father bought a violin for his son at a flea market and Fyodor tried to play it.
Later Fedor entered the 6th city four-year school, where there was a wonderful teacher N.V. Bashmakov, who graduated with a diploma of commendation.
In 1883, Fyodor Chaliapin went to the theater for the first time and continued to strive to watch all the performances.
At the age of 12, he began participating in the performances of the touring troupe as an extra.
In 1889 he joined the drama troupe of V.B. Serebryakov as a statistician.
On March 29, 1890, Fyodor Chaliapin made his debut as Zaretsky in the opera by P.I. Tchaikovsky's "Eugene Onegin", staged by the Kazan Society of Performing Art Lovers. Soon he moves from Kazan to Ufa, where he performs in the choir of the troupe S.Ya. Semenov-Samarsky.
In 1893, Fyodor Chaliapin moved to Moscow, and in 1894 to St. Petersburg, where he began singing in the Arcadia country garden, at the V.A. Panaev and in the troupe of V.I. Zazulina.
In 1895, the directorate of St. Petersburg opera houses accepted him into the troupe of the Mariinsky Theater, where he sang the roles of Mephistopheles in “Faust” by C. Gounod and Ruslan in “Ruslan and Lyudmila” by M.I. Glinka.
In 1896, S.I. Mamontov invited Fyodor Chaliapin to sing in his Moscow private opera and move to Moscow.
In 1899, Fyodor Chaliapin became the leading soloist of the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow and, while touring, performed with great success at the Mariinsky Theater.
In 1901, Fyodor Chaliapin gave 10 triumphant performances at La Scala in Milan, Italy, and went on a concert tour throughout Europe.
Since 1914, he began performing in private opera companies of S.I. Zimin in Moscow and A.R. Aksarina in Petrograd.
In 1915, Fyodor Chaliapin played the role of Ivan the Terrible in the film drama “Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich the Terrible” based on the drama “The Pskov Woman” by L. Mey.
In 1917, Fyodor Chaliapin acted as a director, directing Bolshoi Theater opera by D. Verdi “Don Carlos”.
After 1917, he was appointed artistic director of the Mariinsky Theater.
In 1918, Fyodor Chaliapin was awarded the title of People's Artist of the Republic, but in 1922 he went on tour to Europe and remained there, continuing to perform successfully in America and Europe.
In 1927, Fyodor Chaliapin donated money to a priest in Paris for the children of Russian emigrants, which was presented as help “to the White Guards in the fight against Soviet power” on May 31, 1927 in the magazine “Vserabis” by S. Simon. And on August 24, 1927, the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR, by decree, deprived him of the title of People's Artist and forbade him to return to the USSR. This resolution was canceled by the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR on June 10, 1991 “as unfounded.”
In 1932, he starred in the film “The Adventures of Don Quixote” by G. Pabst based on the novel by Cervantes.
In 1932 -1936 Fyodor Chaliapin went on tour to the Far East. He gave 57 concerts in China, Japan, and Manchuria.
In 1937 he was diagnosed with leukemia.
On April 12, 1938, Fedor died and was buried in the Batignolles cemetery in Pargis in France. In 1984, his ashes were transferred to Russia and on October 29, 1984, they were reburied at the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow.