Fyodor Ivanovich Chaliapin (b. 1873 - d. 1938) - great Russian opera singer (bass).
Fyodor Chaliapin was born on February 1 (13), 1873 in Kazan. 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). As a child, Chaliapin was a singer. Received an elementary education.
Chaliapin himself considered the beginning of his artistic career to be 1889, when he joined the drama troupe of V. B. Serebryakov. Initially, as a statistician.
On March 29, 1890, the first solo performance Chaliapin - the role of Zaretsky in the opera "Eugene Onegin", staged by the Kazan Amateur Society performing arts. Throughout May and early June 1890, Chaliapin was a chorus member of V. B. Serebryakov’s operetta company.
In September 1890, Chaliapin 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 “Pebble.” This debut brought out the 17-year-old Chaliapin, who was occasionally assigned small opera roles, for example Fernando in Il Trovatore. The following year, Chaliapin 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 Dergach came to Ufa, and Chaliapin joined it. Traveling with her led him to Tiflis, where for the first time he managed to seriously practice his voice, thanks to the singer D. A. Usatov. Usatov not only approved of Chaliapin’s voice, but, due to the latter’s lack of financial resources, began giving him singing lessons for free and generally took a great part in it. He also arranged for Chaliapin to join the Tiflis opera of 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 1894/5 - in an opera company at the Panaevsky Theater, in Zazulin's troupe. The beautiful voice of the aspiring artist and especially his expressive musical recitation in connection with his truthful acting attracted the attention of critics and the public to him. In 1895, Chaliapin was accepted by the directorate of the St. Petersburg Imperial Theaters into the opera troupe: he entered the stage of the Mariinsky Theater and sang with success the roles of Mephistopheles (Faust) and Ruslan (Ruslan and Lyudmila). Chaliapin’s varied talent was also expressed in the comic opera “The Secret Marriage” by D. Cimaroz, but still did not receive due appreciation. It is reported that during the 1895-1896 season. he “appeared quite rarely and, moreover, in parties that were not very suitable for him.” The famous philanthropist S.I. Mamontov, who at that time held opera house in Moscow, the first to notice Chaliapin's extraordinary talent, he persuaded him to join his private troupe. Here in 1896-1899. Chaliapin developed artistically and developed his stage talent, performing in a number of 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 whole series of types in Russian 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 gained great fame.
Since 1899, he again served in the Imperial Russian Opera in Moscow (Bolshoi Theater), where he enjoyed enormous success. He was highly appreciated in Milan, where he performed at the La Scala theater in the title role of Mephistopheles A. Boito (1901, 10 performances). Chaliapin's tours in St. Petersburg on the Mariinsky stage constituted a kind of event in the St. Petersburg musical world.
During the revolution of 1905, he joined progressive circles and donated proceeds from his speeches to revolutionaries. His performances with folk songs (“Dubinushka” and others) sometimes turned into political demonstrations.
Since 1914 he has performed in the private opera companies of S. I. Zimin (Moscow) and A. R. Aksarin (Petrograd).
Since 1918 - artistic director of the Mariinsky Theater. Received the title of People's Artist of the Republic.
Chaliapin's long absence aroused suspicion and negative attitude in Soviet Russia; Thus, in 1926, Mayakovsky wrote in his “Letter to Gorky”: “Or should you live, / as Chaliapin lives, / with scented applause / daubed? / Come back / now / such an artist / back / to Russian rubles - / I will be the first to shout: / - Roll back, / People’s Artist of the Republic!” In 1927, Chaliapin donated the proceeds from one of his concerts to the children of emigrants, which was interpreted and presented as support for the White Guards. In 1928, by a resolution of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR, he was deprived of the title of 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.
In the spring of 1937, he was diagnosed with leukemia, and on April 12, 1938, he died in the arms of his wife. He was buried in the Batignolles cemetery in Paris.
October 29, 1984 in Moscow at Novodevichy Cemetery The ceremony of reburial of the ashes of F.I. Chaliapin took place.
The opening took place on October 31, 1986 tombstone the great Russian singer F. I. Chaliapin (sculptor A. Eletsky, architect Yu. Voskresensky).
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 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: the first serious role in my life, I quickly learned the part 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).
Deep national art the singer was admired by his contemporaries. “In Russian art, Chaliapin is an era like Pushkin,” wrote M. Gorky. Based on the best traditions Chaliapin opened the national vocal school 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). The divine beauty of 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 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..."
"Chaliapin was attracted by the characters of strong people, seized 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 entire work, the power of his talent, the secret of his persuasiveness, 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, it happened, so concentratedly, so deeply that it seemed that he had nothing in common with the theater and never resorted to the emphasis required by the stage on accessories and the appearance of expression. 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 there is no this large, cheerful, generous with humor, affection, clear person. 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 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 for their high level of production culture. The operas “Rusalka”, “Boris Godunov”, “Prince Igor” had particular success in Paris. 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 parties. 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 (The 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 chamber vocal music 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 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.”
On August 24, 1927, the Council of People's Commissars adopted a resolution depriving 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 Fyodor, trying to get him “into business,” was 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 the 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 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, staging D. Verdi’s opera “Don Carlos” at the Bolshoi Theater.
After 1917 he was appointed artistic director 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 helping “the White Guards to 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 decree 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 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.
Fyodor Ivanovich Chaliapin is a famous Russian opera singer, one of the brightest and most talented soloists of the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow in the first half of the 20th century.
Born in 1887 in Kazan, received primary education at the parish school, where he also participated in the church choir. In 1889, he was enrolled in Vasily Serebryakov’s theater troupe as an extra, but a year later he performed his debut solo role in Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s opera “Eugene Onegin.”
After moving to Moscow, Fyodor Ivanovich Chaliapin drew the attention of the famous metropolitan philanthropist Savva Mamontov, who predicted worldwide fame for the aspiring singer and invited him to the opera house for leading roles. Several years of work in Mamontov's private troupe opened the way for Fyodor Chaliapin to the stage of the Bolshoi Theater, where he served from 1899 to 1921.
The first success came to Fyodor Chaliapin during a foreign tour in 1901, after which he was recognized as one of the best Russian opera soloists.
In 1921, having gone on a world tour with the Bolshoi Theater troupe, Chaliapin decided not to return to his homeland, and in 1923 he began solo career, while simultaneously acting in films with the Austrian director Georg Pabst.
In 1938, he died in Paris from leukemia, and 46 years later his ashes were transported to Moscow and reburied at the Novodevichy Cemetery.
Songs performed by Fyodor Ivanovich Chaliapin
Title: "Flea"File size: 2.62 MB, 128 kb/s
Title: "Dubinushka"
File size: 3.06 MB, 128 kb/s
Title: "Two Grenadiers"
File size: 2.79 MB, 128 kb/s
Title: "Elegy"
File size: 3.83 MB, 128 kb/s
Title: “Because of the island on the land”
File size: 3.61 MB, 128 kb/s
Title: "Black Eyes"
File size: 3.17 MB, 128 kb/s
Title: “Along along Piterskaya”
File size: 1.77 MB, 128 kb/s
Title: “Down, along Mother, along the Volga”
File size: 3.07 MB, 128 kb/s
Title: “Hey, let’s whoop!”
File size: 2.93 MB, 128 kb/s
Title: “Calm down, worries, passions...”
File size: 4.06 MB, 128 kb/s
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Fyodor Ivanovich Chaliapin is a great Russian chamber and opera singer, who brilliantly combined unique vocal abilities with acting skills. He performed roles in high bass and as a soloist at the Bolshoi and Mariinsky theaters, as well as at the Metropolitan Opera. He directed the Mariinsky Theater, acted in films, became the first People's Artist Republic.
Fyodor Ivanovich Chaliapin was born (1) February 13, 1873 in Kazan, in the family of the peasant Ivan Yakovlevich Chaliapin, a representative of the ancient Vyatka family of the Chaliapins. The singer's father, Ivan Yakovlevich Chaliapin, was a peasant originally from the Vyatka province. Mother, Evdokia Mikhailovna ( maiden name Prozorova), was also a peasant from the Kumenskaya volost, where the village of Dudintsy was located at that time. In the village of Vozhgaly, in the Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord, Ivan and Evdokia got married at the very beginning of 1863. And only 10 years later their son Fyodor was born; later a boy and a girl appeared in the family.
Fyodor worked as a shoemaker's apprentice, a turner, and a copyist. At the same time he sang in the bishop's choir. WITH teenage years was interested in theater. WITH early years It became clear that the child had excellent hearing and voice; he often sang along with his mother in a beautiful treble.
The Chaliapins' neighbor, church regent Shcherbinin, hearing the boy's singing, brought him with him to the Church of St. Barbara, and they sang the all-night vigil and mass together. After this, at the age of nine, the boy began singing in the suburban church choir, as well as at village holidays, weddings, prayer services and funerals. For the first three months, Fedya sang for free, and then he was entitled to a salary of 1.5 rubles.
In 1890, Fedor became a chorister of the opera troupe in Ufa, and from 1891 he traveled around the cities of Russia with the Ukrainian operetta troupe. In 1892-1893 he studied with opera singer YES. Usatov in Tbilisi, where he began his professional stage activities. During the 1893-1894 season, Chaliapin performed the roles of Mephistopheles (Gounod's Faust), Melnik (Dargomyzhsky's The Mermaid) and many others.
In 1895 he was accepted into the troupe of the Mariinsky Theater and sang several roles.
In 1896, at the invitation of Mamontov, he entered the Moscow Private Russian Opera, where his talent was revealed. Special significance Chaliapin had classes and subsequent creative friendship with Rachmaninov.
Over the years of work at the theater, Chaliapin performed almost all the main roles of his repertoire: Susanin (“Ivan Susanin” by Glinka), Melnik (“Rusalka” by Dargomyzhsky), Boris Godunov, Varlaam and Dosifey (“Boris Godunov” and “Khovanshchina” by Mussorgsky), Ivan Grozny and Salieri (“The Woman of Pskov” and “Mozart and Salieri” by Rimsky-Korsakov), Holofernes (“Judith” by Serov), Nilakanta (“Lakmé” by Delibes), etc.
Chaliapin had great success during the tour of the Moscow Private Russian Opera in St. Petersburg in 1898. Since 1899, he sang at the Bolshoi and at the same time at the Mariinsky theater, as well as in provincial cities.
In 1901 he performed triumphantly in Italy (at the La Scala theater), after which his constant tours began abroad, which brought the singer world fame. Of particular importance was Chaliapin's participation in the Russian Seasons (1907-1909, 1913, Paris), as a promoter of Russian art and, above all, the work of Mussorgsky and Rimsky-Korsakov. Fyodor Ivanovich had a special friendship with Maxim Gorky.
The first wife of Fyodor Chaliapin was Iola Tornagi (1874 - 1965?). He, tall and bass-voiced, she, thin and small ballerina. He didn’t know a word of Italian, she didn’t understand Russian at all.
The young Italian ballerina was a real star in her homeland; already at the age of 18, Iola became the prima of the Venetian theater. Then came Milan and French Lyon. And then her troupe was invited to tour to Russia by Savva Mamontov. This is where Iola and Fyodor met. He liked her immediately, and the young man began to show all sorts of attention. The girl, on the contrary, remained cold towards Chaliapin for a long time.
One day during a tour, Iola fell ill, and Fyodor came to visit her with a saucepan chicken broth. Gradually they began to get closer, an affair began, and in 1898 the couple got married in a small village church.
The wedding was modest, and a year later the first-born Igor appeared. Iola left the stage for the sake of her family, and Chaliapin began touring even more in order to earn a decent living for his wife and child. Soon two girls were born into the family, but in 1903 grief occurred - the first-born Igor died of appendicitis. Fyodor Ivanovich could hardly survive this grief; they say that he even wanted to commit suicide.
In 1904, his wife gave Chaliapin another son, Borenko, and the following year they had twins, Tanya and Fedya.
Iola Tornaghi, the first wife of Fyodor Chaliapin, surrounded by children - Irina, Boris, Lydia, Fyodor and Tatiana. Reproduction. Photo: RIA Novosti / K. Kartashyan
But the friendly family and happy fairy tale collapsed in one moment. In St. Petersburg, Chaliapin appeared new love. Moreover, Maria Petzold (1882-1964) was not just a lover, she became the second wife and mother of Fyodor Ivanovich’s three daughters: Marfa (1910-2003), Marina (1912-2009, Miss Russia 1931, actress) and Dasia (1921 —1977). The singer was torn between Moscow and St. Petersburg, and tours, and two families, he flatly refused to leave his beloved Tornaghi and five children.
When Iola found out everything, she hid the truth from the children for a long time.
Konstantin Makovsky - Portrait of Iola Tornaghi
After the victory of the October Revolution of 1917, Chaliapin was appointed artistic director of the Mariinsky Theater, but in 1922, having gone abroad on tour, he did not return to Soviet Union and stayed to live in Paris. Chaliapin emigrated from the country with his second wife Maria Petzold and daughters. Only in 1927 in Prague did they officially register their marriage.
The Italian Iola Tornaghi remained in Moscow with her children and survived both the revolution and the war here. She returned to her homeland in Italy only a few years before her death, taking with her from Russia only a photo album with portraits of Chaliapin. Iola Tornaghi lived to be 91 years old.
Of all Chaliapin’s children, Marina was the last to die in 2009 (daughter of Fyodor Ivanovich and Maria Petzold).
Kustodiev Boris Mikhailovich. Portrait Portrait of M.V. Chalyapina. 1919
(Portrait of Maria Valentinovna Petzold)
In 1927, Chaliapin was deprived of USSR citizenship and his title was taken away. At the end of the summer of 1932, the actor starred in a movie, performing main role in Georg Pabst's film "The Adventures of Don Quixote" based on the novel of the same name by Cervantes. The film was shot in two languages - English and French, with two casts. In 1991, Fyodor Chaliapin was restored to his rank.
Profound interpreter of romances M.I. Glinka, A.S. Dargomyzhsky, M.P. Mussorgsky, N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov, P.I. Tchaikovsky, A.G. Rubinstein, Schumann, Schubert - he was also a soulful performer of Russian folk songs.
Chaliapin's multifaceted artistic talent was manifested in his talented sculptural, painting, graphic works. He also had a literary gift.
K. A. Korovin. Portrait of Chaliapin. Oil. 1911
Drawings and portraits of Fyodor Chaliapin can be viewed
- Married to
