PREFACE
The art of Fyodor Ivanovich Chaliapin, a brilliant Russian singer who, in the words of M. Gorky, became “a symbol of Russian power and talent,” is still perceived throughout the world as the highest example.
Continuer of the realistic traditions of the Russian musical theater, Chaliapin enriched and developed them, creating unforgettable images in the operas of Russian classics - M, Glinka, A. Dargomyzhsky, A. Serov, M. Mussorgsky, N. Rimsky-Korsakov, A. Borodin. The freshness of interpretation, depth and originality distinguished the parts of the Western European repertoire he sang, among which Mephistopheles in the opera of the same name by A. Boito and “Faust” by C. Gounod, Don Basilio in “The Barber of Seville” by G. Rossini, King Philip in “Don Carlos” especially stood out. "G. Verdi.
The singer's voice - a high (baritone) bass, basso cantante of a soft, velvety timbre was delivered by nature. He was famous not so much for his power and strength, breadth of range, but for his extraordinary flexibility, richness of intonations, shades, and ability to convey the most complex range of experiences. Masterfully mastering the art of bel canto and cantilena, the singer never made mastery an end in itself, his singing was always filled, as conductor A. Pazovsky wrote, with “deep feeling and specific figurative thought.” He always “sang as he spoke,” but he sang, intoned the word is musical, conveyed the meaning and meaning of the word through full-sounding musical speech"Like Caruso among tenors and Titta Ruffo among baritones, Chaliapin became the standard bass," said the Italian singer Lauri-Volpi.
F. I. Chaliapin was born on February 1/13, 1873 in Kazan in the family of a city government clerk. His early childhood was spent in the village of Ometyevo, and the singer’s memory retained memories of village holidays and round dances for the rest of his life. First folk songs Chaliapin heard from his mother. As a boy, he sang in a church choir and learned the basics unusually quickly. musical notation. Participation in church services introduced the future singer to music and developed natural musicality. "Sacred song. lives inseparably and inseparably with that simple plain song, which, like a bell, also shakes the darkness of life. There is a lot of bitter and bright things in a person’s life, but sincere resurrection is a song, true ascension is a chant,” Chaliapin wrote in his book “The Mask and the Soul.”
“The first theatrical burns,” according to Chaliapin’s memoirs, were associated with fair festivities and performances by the farce “grandfather” Yakov Mamonov. And later, having got to the Kazan City Theater, the young man eagerly absorbed the impressions of the performances of talented dramatic actors - V. Andreev-Burlak, I. Kiselevsky, N. Palchikova, visited opera performances with the participation famous singer Yu. Zakrzhevsky. At the same time, Chaliapin began performing as an extra in dramatic and opera performances, and at the age of seventeen he received his first engagement in Ufa, becoming a chorister in the operetta troupe of S. Semenov-Samarsky.
Chaliapin's stage debut took place in the small role of Stolnik in S. Monyushko's opera "Galka" on December 18, 1890. In his first benefit performance, the aspiring artist successfully performed the role of the Unknown in A. Verstovsky's opera "Askold's Grave." While wandering around the south of Russia as part of various provincial troupes, often left without a livelihood, the young Chaliapin reached Tiflis, where he met his first teacher D. A. Usatov, once a tenor of the Moscow Bolshoi Theater, the first performer of the role of Lensky. “From this meeting with Usatov my conscious artistic life, wrote Chaliapin. - He awakened in me my first serious thoughts about the theater, taught me to feel the character of various musical works, clarified my taste and - what I have considered throughout my career and still consider the most precious - clearly taught musical perception And musical expression plays performed"
A year after his debut in Tiflis, where such roles as the Miller in Dargomyzhsky’s “Rusalka” and Mephistopheles in Gounod’s “Faust” were first performed, Chaliapin tries his hand at the capital on the stage of the famous Mariinsky Theater. However, he did not stay here long. In 1896 in Nizhny Novgorod the singer met S.I. Mamontov, a meeting with whom determined his future fate. Mamontov sensed and guessed Chaliapin’s future; in the creative, life-giving atmosphere of the Moscow Russian Private Opera, the artist’s talent developed and grew stronger by leaps and bounds.
Russian opera occupied a leading place in the repertoire of the Mamontov Theater. Chaliapin’s first triumph was associated with the role of Ivan the Terrible in Rimsky-Korsakov’s “The Woman of Pskov.” Mamontov’s thoughtful direction, impressions of the paintings of I. Repin, V. Schwartz, V. Vasnetsov, and the sculptures of M. Antokolsky contributed to the creation of a contradictory, complex image tyrant king. For the first time, contemporaries felt something new that was characteristic of all of Chaliapin’s subsequent work - a unique synthesis of dramatic mastery with rare musicality. Having seen Chaliapin the Terrible on the tour of Mamontov’s opera in St. Petersburg, V. Stasov, the recognized patriarch of Russian art, exclaimed in the article “Immeasurable Joy” : “Great happiness fell from the sky on us. great talent was born."
In close collaboration with the artists who designed the performances at the Mamontov Private Opera - V. Polenov, V. Serov, K. Korovin, M. Vrubel, who taught the singer to be attentive to makeup, costume, and the plastic solution of each role - they created bright, striking novelty images of the Varangian guest in "Sadko", Salieri in "Mozart and Salieri" by Rimsky-Korsakov, the Assyrian military leader Holofernes ("Judith" by Serov), Dositheus ("Khovanshchina" by Mussorgsky), the role of Boris Godunov in Mussorgsky's opera, which became the best creation of the artist, Chaliapin took place with Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninov, who was invited to conduct the performances of the Private Opera. At the same time, the friendship between the artist and composer began, who performed together in concerts many times. Rachmaninov dedicated several of his romances to Chaliapin and loved to accompany the singer. While going through opera parts, and then learning romances for joint performances in concerts, the sensitive, brilliant singer picked up the slightest instructions or advice from the more musically educated Rachmaninov and performed things as only he could do it,” recalled Rachmaninov’s cousin and biographer S.A. Satina.
In 1899, Chaliapin returned to the imperial stage, becoming a soloist of the Bolshoi and Mariinsky theaters. The beginning of the twentieth century is associated with the flourishing of his creativity, fame and recognition at home and abroad. In 1901, he first went on tour to the “opera capital” of Europe, Milan, to sing Mephistopheles in the opera Boito on the stage of La Scala. Recognition of the Milanese, warmly who received the performance of the Russian singer, was expressed in his enthusiastic response by the famous Italian tenor Angelo Masini, who wrote to the newspaper “Novoye Vremya”: I am writing to you under the fresh impression of the performance with the participation of your Chaliapin. He is both a wonderful singer and an excellent actor, and in addition he has a straight Dantean pronunciation." Chaliapin's participation in historical Russian concerts in Paris (1907), and then in the Russian seasons organized by S. P. Diaghilev (1908-1914), becomes huge event in musical life Europe.
Unusually demanding of himself, Chaliapin never stopped working on his roles, constantly improving those images that seemed to his contemporaries to be real masterpieces. In my soul I carry the image of Mephistopheles, which I never managed to embody,” he wrote in his declining years.” Even when the music of the opera was imperfect, like, say, “Don Quixote” by J. Massenet, the artist was able to enrich the part so deeply with deep content, expressive plasticity, and inspired playing that the audience forgot about the weakness of the musical drama.
The singer's concert repertoire was extensive and varied. His performances on the stage constituted a special, brilliant page of chamber singing. A great dramatic gift and the power of stage imagination helped Chaliapin create a whole gallery of portraits of psychologically accurate characters, be it the infernal Mephistopheles (“Song of the Flea”) or the unfortunate peasant doomed to death (“Trepak”).
The singer invariably included in his programs and lyrical works: songs by F. Schubert, R. Schumann, J. Brahms, romances by Glinka, Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov. B.V. Asafiev recalled: “Chaliapin sang truly chamber music, it happened, so concentratedly, so “deeply” that it seemed that he had nothing in common with the theater. Complete calm and restraint took possession of him. For example, I remember: “In a dream I cried bitterly” by Schumann - one sound, a voice in silence, the emotion is modest, hidden, but it’s as if the performer is not there, and this large, cheerful, generous, 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."
Gorky considered Chaliapin a “symbolic face,” “an image of democratic Russia.” The famous “Dubinushka”, sung by Fyodor Ivanovich in the Metropol restaurant in 1905 (this episode was included in Gorky’s novel “The Life of Klim Samgin”, seemed to the writer a harbinger of future revolutionary events. Knowledge of the depths and hardships folk life made Chaliapin's performance of Russian songs especially soulful. “Chaliapin among our singers is like a Russian song among all the music we listen to. an organic product of the Russian climate, Russian nature, the free expanses of the Russian steppes, the fresh air of Russian forests, the entire breadth and depth of Russian character and Russian national genius." - wrote the composer and music critic V. G. Karatygin.
After October, Chaliapin worked especially intensively - as a singer, opera director, and public figure. His audience in these years has become truly massive. It is no coincidence that it was Chaliapin, together with M. N. Ermolova, who for the first time in the history of the country were awarded the title of People's Artist of the Republic.
In 1922, Chaliapin went on a long tour abroad. One of his last concerts was attended by the then beginning singer S. Ya. Lemeshev. He forever remembered how the artist said goodbye to the Moscow public. “One thing is clear,” Lemeshev later wrote, “after Chaliapin it was no longer possible to sing the way they sang before him. The great singer discovered new possibilities for expressively sung words and the powerful forces hidden in romance, in song, in an operatic image, and showed the whole world the greatness of Russian music.”
The last sixteen years of Chaliapin's life were spent in a foreign land. Returning to his homeland for him, as for many other figures Russian culture, in the difficult political atmosphere of that time it turned out to be impossible. Chaliapin died in Paris on April 12, 1938. In 1984, the ashes of the great artist were transferred to Moscow to the Novodevichy Cemetery.
There is enormous and inexhaustible interest in Chaliapin’s work here and abroad, his voice is constantly heard on the radio and from numerous records. This collection of the singer’s repertoire, the third in a row, published by the Muzyka publishing house, includes arias from operas, romances and songs that will complement the understanding of vocal music lovers about his creative image.
E. Dmitrievskaya
- M. Glinka. Rondo Farlafa from the opera "Ruslan and Lyudmila"
- A. Verstovsky. Song of the Unknown from the opera "Askold's Grave"
- M. Mussorgsky. Song of Varlaam from the opera "Boris Godunov"
- A. Arensky. Cavatina of the Hermit from the opera "Dream on the Volga".
- W. A. Mozart. Recitative and aria of Figaro from the opera “The Marriage of Figaro”. Translation by M. Slonov
- C. Gounod. The Spell of Flowers from the opera "Faust". Translation by P. Kalashnikov
- J. Massenet. Serenade of Don Quixote from the opera "Don Quixote". Translation by F. Chaliapin
- A. Boito. Ballad of Mephistopheles (with whistling) from the opera "Mephistopheles". Translation by F. Chaliapin and M. Slonov
- M. Glinka. Night view. Words by V. Zhukovsky
- A. Dargomyzhsky. Miller. Words by A. Pushkin
- A. Rubinstein. It swirls like a wave. Russian text by P. Tchaikovsky.
- M. Mussorgsky. Trepak. Words by A. Golenishchev-Kutuzov
- N. Rimsky-Korsakov. The stormy day has gone out. Words by A. Pushkin.
- S. Rachmaninov. Yesterday we met. Words by Ya. Polonsky
- G. Lishkn. She laughed. Words by A. Maykov (from Heine)
- J.P. Martini. Aria ("Love's Delight")
- F. Schubert. Double. Words by G. Heine, translation by M. Svobodin
- R. Schumann. I'm not angry. Words by G. Heine, translation by F. Berg
- In my dream I cried bitterly. Words by G. Heine, translation by M. Mikhailov.
- J. Massenet. Elegy. Words by L. Galle
- Night. Russian folk song. Arranged by M. Slonov
- Dubinushka. Work song. Arranged by M. Slonov
Fyodor Chaliapin is a Russian opera and chamber singer. IN different times he was a soloist at the Mariinsky and Bolshoi theaters, as well as at the Metropolitan Opera. Therefore, the work of the legendary bass is widely known outside his homeland.
Childhood and youth
Fyodor Ivanovich Chaliapin was born in Kazan in 1873. His parents were visiting peasants. Father Ivan Yakovlevich moved from the Vyatka province, he was engaged in work unusual for a peasant - he served as a scribe in the zemstvo administration. And mother Evdokia Mikhailovna was a housewife.
As a child, little Fedya noticed a beautiful treble, thanks to which he was sent to the church choir as a singer, where he received the basic knowledge of musical literacy. In addition to singing in the temple, the father sent the boy to be trained by a shoemaker.
Having completed several classes primary education with honors, the young man goes to work as a clerk's assistant. Fyodor Chaliapin will later remember these years as the most boring in his life, because he was deprived of the main thing in his life - singing, since at that time his voice was going through a period of withdrawal. This is how the career of the young archivist would have gone on, if one day he had not attended a performance by Kazansky opera house. The magic of art has forever captured the young man’s heart, and he decides to change his career.
At the age of 16, Fyodor Chaliapin, with his bass voice already formed, auditioned for the opera house, but failed miserably. After this, he turns to the drama group of V. B. Serebryakov, in which he is hired as an extra.
Gradually young man began to assign vocal parts. A year later, Fyodor Chaliapin performed the role of Zaretsky from the opera Eugene Onegin. But he does not stay long in the dramatic enterprise and after a couple of months he gets a job as a chorister in the musical troupe of S. Ya. Semyonov-Samarsky, with whom he leaves for Ufa.
As before, Chaliapin remains a talented self-taught person who, after several comically disastrous debuts, gains stage confidence. The young singer is invited to a traveling theater from Little Russia under the direction of G.I. Derkach, with whom he makes a number of first trips around the country. The journey ultimately leads Chaliapin to Tiflis (now Tbilisi).
In the capital of Georgia talented singer notes vocal teacher Dmitry Usatov, a former famous tenor of the Bolshoi Theater. He takes on a poor young man to fully support him and works with him. In parallel with his lessons, Chaliapin works as a bass performer at the local opera house.
Music
In 1894, Fyodor Chaliapin entered the service of the Imperial Theater of St. Petersburg, but the severity that reigned here quickly began to weigh on him. By luck, a benefactor notices him at one of the performances and lures the singer to his theater. Possessing a special instinct for talent, the patron discovers incredible potential in the young, temperamental artist. He gives Fyodor Ivanovich complete freedom in his team.
Fyodor Chaliapin - "Black Eyes"While working in Mamontov's troupe, Chaliapin revealed his vocal and artistic abilities. He sang all the famous bass parts of Russian operas, such as “The Woman of Pskov”, “Sadko”, “Mozart and Salieri”, “Rusalka”, “A Life for the Tsar”, “Boris Godunov” and “Khovanshchina”. His performance in Faust by Charles Gounod still remains exemplary. He will subsequently recreate similar image in the aria “Mephistopheles” at the La Scala theater, which will earn him success among the world public.
Since the beginning of the 20th century, Chaliapin has appeared again on the stage of the Mariinsky Theater, but this time in the role of a soloist. With the capital's theater he tours European countries, appears on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera in New York, not to mention regular trips to Moscow, Bolshoi Theater. Surrounded by the famous bass, you can see the entire color of the creative elite of that time: I. Kuprin, Italian singers T. Ruffo and . Photos have been preserved where he is captured next to his close friend.
In 1905, Fyodor Chaliapin especially distinguished himself with solo performances, in which he sang romances and the then famous folk songs “Dubinushka”, “Along St. Petersburg” and others. The singer donated all the proceeds from these concerts to the needs of workers. Such concerts of the maestro turned into real political actions, which later earned Fyodor Ivanovich honor from the Soviet government. In addition, friendship with the first proletarian writer Maxim Gorky protected Chaliapin’s family from ruin during the “Soviet terror.”
Fyodor Chaliapin - "Along along Piterskaya"After the revolution new government appoints Fyodor Ivanovich as head of the Mariinsky Theater and awards him the title of People's Artist of the RSFSR. But the singer did not work in his new capacity for long, since with his first foreign tour in 1922 he immigrated abroad with his family. He never appeared on the stage of the Soviet stage again. Years later, the Soviet government stripped Chaliapin of the title of People's Artist of the RSFSR.
The creative biography of Fyodor Chaliapin is not only his vocal career. Besides singing, talented artist He was interested in painting and sculpture. He also starred in films. He got a role in the film of the same name by Alexander Ivanov-Gay, and also participated in the filming of the film by German director Georg Wilhelm Pabst “Don Quixote”, where Chaliapin played main role the famous fighter against windmills.
Personal life
Chaliapin met his first wife in his youth, while working in entreprise theater Mamontova. The girl's name was Iola Tornaghi, she was a ballerina of Italian origin. Despite his temperament and success with women, the young singer decided to tie the knot with this sophisticated woman.
Over the years of their marriage, Iola gave birth to Fyodor Chaliapin six children. But even such a family did not keep Fyodor Ivanovich from making radical changes in his life.
While serving at the Imperial Theater, he often had to live in St. Petersburg, where he started a second family. At first, Fedor Ivanovich met his second wife Maria Petzold secretly, since she was also married. But later they began to live together, and Maria bore him three more children.
The artist's double life continued until his departure to Europe. The prudent Chaliapin went on tour with his entire second family, and a couple of months later five children from his first marriage went to join him in Paris.
Of Fyodor’s large family, only his first wife Iola Ignatievna and eldest daughter Irina remained in the USSR. These women became the guardians of the opera singer's memory in their homeland. In 1960, the old and sick Iola Tornaghi moved to Rome, but before leaving, she turned to the Minister of Culture with a request to create a museum of Fyodor Ivanovich Chaliapin in their house on Novinsky Boulevard.
Death
Chaliapin went on his last tour of the countries of the Far East in the mid-30s. He gives over 50 solo concerts in cities of China and Japan. After this, returning to Paris, the artist felt unwell.
In 1937, doctors diagnosed him with a blood cancer: Chaliapin had a year to live.
The great bass died in his Paris apartment in early April 1938. For a long time his ashes were buried on French soil, and only in 1984, at the request of Chaliapin’s son, his remains were transferred to a grave in Novodevichy Cemetery Moscow.
True, many historians consider the death of Fyodor Chaliapin quite strange. And the doctors unanimously insisted that leukemia with such a heroic physique and at such an age is extremely rare. There is also evidence that after touring the Far East opera singer He returned to Paris in a sick condition and with a strange “decoration” on his forehead - a greenish lump. Doctors say that such neoplasms arise from poisoning with a radioactive isotope or phenol. The question of what happened to Chaliapin on tour was asked by local historian from Kazan Rovel Kashapov.
The man believes that Chaliapin was “removed” by the Soviet government as unwanted. At one time, he refused to return to his homeland, plus, through an Orthodox priest, he provided financial assistance to poor Russian emigrants. In Moscow, his act was called counter-revolutionary, aimed at supporting the White emigration. After such an accusation, there was no longer any talk of returning.
Soon the singer came into conflict with the authorities. His book “The Story of My Life” was published by foreign publishers, and they received permission to print from the Soviet organization “International Book”. Chaliapin was outraged by such an unceremonious disposal of copyrights, and he filed a lawsuit, which ordered the USSR to pay him monetary compensation. Of course, in Moscow this was regarded as the singer’s hostile actions against the Soviet state.
And in 1932 he wrote the book “The Mask and the Soul” and published it in Paris. In it, Fyodor Ivanovich spoke out in a harsh manner towards the ideology of Bolshevism, towards Soviet power and in particular towards.
Artist and singer Fyodor Chaliapin IN recent years During his life, Chaliapin showed maximum caution and did not allow suspicious persons into his apartment. But in 1935, the singer received an offer to organize a tour in Japan and China. And during a tour in China, unexpectedly for Fyodor Ivanovich, he was offered a concert in Harbin, although initially the performance was not planned there. Local historian Rovel Kashapov is sure that it was there that Doctor Vitenzon, who accompanied Chaliapin on this tour, was given an aerosol canister with a toxic substance.
Fyodor Ivanovich's accompanist, Georges de Godzinsky, states in his memoirs that before the performance, Witenzon examined the singer's throat and, despite the fact that he found it quite satisfactory, “sprayed it with menthol.” Godzinsky said that further tours took place against the backdrop of Chaliapin’s deteriorating health.
February 2018 marked the 145th anniversary of the birth of the great Russian opera singer. In the Chaliapin house-museum on Novinsky Boulevard in Moscow, where Fyodor Ivanovich lived with his family since 1910, admirers of his work widely celebrated his anniversary.
Arias
- Life for the Tsar (Ivan Susanin): Susanin’s Aria “They Smell the Truth”
- Ruslan and Lyudmila: Rondo Farlafa “Oh, joy! I knew"
- Rusalka: Miller’s Aria “Oh, that’s all you young girls”
- Prince Igor: Igor’s Aria “Neither sleep, nor rest”
- Prince Igor: Konchak’s Aria “Are you well, Prince”
- Sadko: Song of the Varangian guest “On the formidable rocks the waves break with a roar”
- Faust: Mephistopheles' Aria "Darkness Has Descended"
Russian opera singer (1873-1938)
He is considered the stage personification of the Russian peasant, or rather, his best sides. But in fact, he is the founder of a whole movement in the art of Russian “singing actors.”
“All music,” said Chaliapin, “always expresses feelings in one way or another, and where there is feeling, mechanical transmission leaves the impression of terrible monotony.” Indeed, the entire work of this singer is an example of inspired service to art, contempt for craftsmanship, tireless maintenance of demands on oneself, Chaliapin is deservedly considered to this day greatest representative Russian vocal school.
Fyodor Ivanovich Chaliapin was born on February 1 (new style - 13), 1873 in Kazan into a family of peasant origins. My father served as a scribe in the Kazan Zemstvo Council. His small salary allowed Fedor to graduate from a two-year city school, and no more. But already in childhood the future singer attracted his attention beautiful voice, at that time - treble. He liked folk songs, and he often sang them with his mother, as he himself wrote, “tuning up their voices.” But this was in my free time from work. And for days on end Fyodor studied carpentry, shoemaking and bookbinding.
From the age of nine he sang in church choirs, later changed many professions: he worked as a loader, scribe, and hooker. He became interested in theater at the age of 12 and participated in plays as an extra. He performed his first opera role in December 1890 in Ufa (Stolnik in Moniuszko’s “Galka”). Since 1891, he traveled with traveling theater troupes throughout Russia. Finding himself in Tbilisi in 1892, he took up vocals with D. Usatov.
The talent of the young singer is so striking that great operatic glory is predicted for Chaliapin. On September 28, 1893, the singer made his debut on the professional opera stage of the Tbilisi State Theater. The management liked the young artist’s singing, and Chaliapin was left in the theater for the entire season. Even then he performed in Tbilisi such complex roles as Mephistopheles. Since the summer of 1894, he sang leading roles in theaters in St. Petersburg, which meant for him reaching a leading position in professionalism. Finally, on April 5, 1895, he made his debut as Mephistopheles at the Mariinsky Theater itself.
In the summer of 1896, he performed in the opera troupe of S. Mamontov at the Nizhny Novgorod Fair. There, the singer personally met the famous philanthropist and music lover S. Mamontov, who, impressed by the artist’s spirituality, invited him to the Moscow Private Russian Opera, where Chaliapin immediately took the position of leading performer. He sang Ivan the Terrible, Dositheus, Boris Godunov and other roles. The famous music critic V. Stasov wrote about the 25-year-old Chaliapin: “One more great artist.” To receive such an assessment from a renowned critic meant a lot...
Chaliapin worked at the Moscow Private Russian Opera until 1899, and made acquaintance with many outstanding people Russia, who had a beneficial influence on him: I. Levitan, V. Serov, M. Vrubel, V. Korovin and others. And what was the cost of friendship with S. Rachmaninov! Both were barely 25 years old at that time, and the relationship between the young people was very familiar: Chaliapin loved to make fun of Rachmaninoff. However, Rachmaninov did not remain in debt. But the relationship between the singer and his colleagues was not limited to just familiar jokes; one can quite seriously assert that Chaliapin, who did not receive deep music education, learned a lot from brilliantly educated representatives of the creative intelligentsia who worked with S. Mamontov. For example, Chaliapin collaborated with Rachmaninov as a conductor, under the direction of Sergei Vasilyevich he sang in “Prince Igor”, “A Life for the Tsar”, “Rusalka”, “The Queen of Spades” and other performances. Rachmaninov became godfather Chaliapin's first daughter. In 1901, F. Chaliapin's friendship with A. Gorky began.
Since 1899, Chaliapin simultaneously sang at the Bolshoi and Mariinsky theaters. On March 16, 1901, performing abroad for the first time, he triumphantly sang Mephistopheles at the famous La Scala theater in a performance conducted by Arturo Toscanini. The part of Faust in this performance was performed by the brilliant E. Caruso - performing on the leading opera stage in the world, and even together with the luminaries of opera, meant world recognition Chaliapin's talent!
The singer's world tour began with a performance on the La Scala stage. He performed in Rome, Monte Carlo, Berlin, New York, participated in the Paris and London “Russian Seasons” of S. Diaghilev, promoting Russian music, primarily the works of M. Mussorgsky and N. Rims-ko-Korsakov.
After the October Revolution of 1917, Chaliapin initially experienced an upsurge of spirit and made every effort in the name of better organization of affairs on the opera stages of Russia. He became the head of the artistic department of the Mariinsky Theater and an elected member of the directors of the Bolshoi and Mariinsky Theaters, developed a scheme for reorganizing the opera troupe, and attracted young conductors to work. He amazed with his ability to work - he sang 80 or more performances per season and gave a lot free concerts, willingly performed in factories and in front of soldiers and sailors.
In 1918, he was the first to be awarded the title of People's Artist of the Soviet Republic. However, in 1922, Chaliapin went on tour abroad with the consent of the authorities and did not return. The reason for his non-return was Chaliapin’s resentment against Soviet power.
The fact is that the singer decided to publish his memoirs in America. But when the question of the fee was raised, the American publisher answered the singer something like this: “Why would I pay you a big fee if your memoirs have already been published in Soviet Russia and it’s cheaper for me to simply reprint them from a Russian source than to buy them from you?”
So the stunned Chaliapin learned that his memoirs had already been published in Russia - and without his knowledge or consent. The Bolsheviks apparently believed that they had the right to publish the memoirs of a “people’s artist” at their own discretion - after all, an artist is a “people’s artist.” In fact, this meant a special, new, proletarian approach to copyright law, and Chaliapin did not like this “innovation” very much. Gorky repeatedly wrote letters to the artist in which he asked not to publish his claims to Soviet power, not to “disgrace yourself,” but Chaliapin did not listen to his advice.
Not everyone in Soviet Russia was tolerant of Chaliapin, who, while abroad, nevertheless allowed himself to be publicly outraged by the scandalous story of his memoirs. Leftist-minded leaders of the Central Committee Rabis (Union of Art Workers) launched a campaign to deprive Chaliapin of the title of People's Artist. To the surprise of the singer, who did not expect such a harsh verdict, the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR, by its resolution of August 24, 1927, deprived him of the honorary title of People's Artist... Essentially, this fact finally closed Chaliapin's path to his homeland.
Touring a lot around the world, the singer lived in Paris. There is an opinion that he did not do anything new abroad, but he sang a lot and enjoyed constant success in all the countries where his concerts took place. He was and remained the greatest representative of the Russian vocal school, possessing a bass of enormous range, extraordinary expressiveness and flexibility of timbre. Chaliapin considered each of his performances in the context of the entire score and the author's intention. As a result, his arias acquired amazing depth and truthfulness, conveying the subtlest semantic intonations - these things were the indisputable moments that determined Chaliapin's genius. He is considered a perfect master of vocal art, an innovator in music, who had a huge influence on the vocal art of the 20th century.
F.I. Chaliapin died in Paris on April 12, 1938, 65 years old. Guide the idol to last path crowds of thousands of fans came. The great singer was buried in the Batignolles cemetery.
In 1973, the USSR magnificently celebrated the 100th anniversary of the birth of F. Chaliapin. A ceremonial meeting and concert took place at the Bolshoi Theater.
In October 1984, the ashes of F. Chaliapin were transported from the Batignolles cemetery to the Novodevichy cemetery in Moscow. Before the reburial, the coffin with the remains was exhibited at the Bolshoi Theater, where very controversial, to put it mildly, speeches were made about the great singer’s great desire to return to Russia.
These days, an open competition has been announced for a monument to Chaliapin in Moscow. It is also planned to erect a monument to the great singer in St. Petersburg - on the Petrograd side in front of the music hall, the former building of the People's House Opera House.
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 the beginning of 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 chorus 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”. 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, which Chaliapin joined. 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 owned 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 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.
On October 29, 1984, a ceremony for the reburial of the ashes of F.I. Chaliapin took place at the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow.
The opening took place on October 31, 1986 tombstone the great Russian singer F. I. Chaliapin (sculptor A. Eletsky, architect Yu. Voskresensky).
Russian opera and chamber singer Fyodor Ivanovich Chaliapin was born on February 13 (February 1, old style) 1873 in Kazan. His father, Ivan Yakovlevich Chaliapin, came from the peasants of the Vyatka province and served as a scribe in the Kazan district zemstvo government. In 1887, Fyodor Chaliapin was hired for the same position with a salary of 10 rubles per month. In his free time from service, Chaliapin sang in the bishop's choir and was fond of theater (participated as an extra in dramatic and opera performances).
Chaliapin's artistic career began in 1889, when he joined Serebryakov's drama troupe. On March 29, 1890, the first solo performance of Fyodor Chaliapin took place, who performed the role of Zaretsky in the opera "Eugene Onegin", staged by the Kazan Society of Performing Art Lovers.
In September 1890, Chaliapin moved to Ufa, where he began working in the chorus of an operetta troupe under the direction of Semyon Semenov-Samarsky. By coincidence, Chaliapin had the opportunity to perform the role of a soloist in Moniuszko's opera "Pebble", replacing a sick artist on stage. After this, Chaliapin began to be assigned small opera roles, for example, Fernando in Il Trovatore. Then the singer moved to Tbilisi, where he took free singing lessons from the famous singer Dmitry Usatov, and performed in amateur and student concerts. In 1894, Chaliapin went to St. Petersburg, where he sang in performances held in the Arcadia country garden, 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 philanthropist Savva Mamontov to the Moscow Private Opera, where he took a leading position and fully revealed his talent, creating an entire gallery over the years of work in this theater bright images that have become classics: Ivan the Terrible in Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s “The Woman of Pskov” (1896); Dosifey in Modest Mussorgsky's Khovanshchina (1897); Boris Godunov in the opera of the same name by Modest Mussorgsky (1898).
Since September 24, 1899, Chaliapin has been the leading soloist of the Bolshoi and at the same time the Mariinsky theaters. In 1901, Chaliapin's triumphant tour took place in Italy (at the La Scala theater in Milan). Chaliapin was a participant in the “Russian Seasons” abroad, organized by Sergei Diaghilev.
During the First World War, Chaliapin's tours stopped. The singer opened two hospitals for wounded soldiers at his own expense, donated large amounts for charity. In 1915, Chaliapin made his film debut, where he played the main role in the historical film drama “Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich the Terrible” (based on the work of Lev Mei “The Pskov Woman”).
After October Revolution In 1917, Fyodor Chaliapin 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 department of the latter. In the same year, he was the first artist to be awarded the title of People's Artist of the Republic.
In 1922, having gone abroad on tour, Chaliapin did not return to the Soviet Union. In August 1927, 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 country.
At the end of the summer of 1932, Chaliapin played the main role in the film Don Quixote by Austrian film director Georg Pabst, based on the novel of the same name by Miguel Cervantes.
Fyodor Chaliapin was also an outstanding chamber singer - he performed Russian folk songs, romances, vocal works; He also acted as a director - he staged the operas "Khovanshchina" and "Don Quixote". Chaliapin is the author of the autobiography “Pages from My Life” (1917) and the book “Mask and Soul” (1932).
Chaliapin was also a wonderful draftsman and tried his hand at painting. His works “Self-Portrait”, dozens of portraits, drawings, and caricatures have been preserved.
In 1935 - 1936, the singer went on his last tour to Far East, giving 57 concerts in Manchuria, China and Japan. In the spring of 1937, he was diagnosed with leukemia, and on April 12, 1938, he died in Paris. He was buried in the Batignolles cemetery in Paris. In 1984, the singer’s ashes were transported to Moscow and buried at the Novodevichy cemetery.
On April 11, 1975, the first in Russia dedicated to his work was opened in St. Petersburg.
In 1982, an opera festival was founded in Chaliapin’s homeland in Kazan, named after the great singer. The initiator of the creation of the forum was the director of the Tatar Opera House Raufal Mukhametzyanov. In 1985, the Chaliapin Festival received All-Russian status, and was released in 1991.
On June 10, 1991, 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 unreasonable."
On August 29, 1999, in Kazan, near the bell tower of the Epiphany Cathedral, in which Fyodor Chaliapin was baptized on February 2, 1873, the city authorities erected a monument dedicated to the singer by sculptor Andrei Balashov.
Fyodor Chaliapin's achievements and contributions to opera were also noted in the United States, where the artist received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2003, on Novinsky Boulevard in Moscow, next to the house-museum named after Fyodor Chaliapin, a monument about 2.5 meters high was erected in honor of the great artist. The author of the sculpture was Vadim Tserkovnikov.
Fyodor Chaliapin was the owner large number various awards and titles. Thus, in 1902, the Emir of Bukhara awarded the singer the Order of the Golden Star of the third degree; in 1907, after a performance at the Royal Theater in Berlin, Kaiser Wilhelm summoned the famous artist to his box and presented him with the golden cross of the Prussian Eagle. In 1910, Chaliapin was awarded the title of Soloist of His Majesty, and in 1934 in France he received the Order of the Legion of Honor.
Chaliapin was married twice, and from both marriages he had nine children (one died at an early age).
The material was prepared based on information from RIA Novosti and open sources
