Fedor Chaliapin is a great Russian singer. Biography
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 peasantry of the Vyatka province and served as a clerk in the Kazan district zemstvo council. In 1887, Fyodor Chaliapin was hired to the same position with a salary of 10 rubles a month. In his free time, Chaliapin sang in the bishop's choir, was fond of the theater (he participated as an extra in drama 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 part 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 choir of an operetta troupe under the direction of Semyon Semyonov-Samarsky. By coincidence, Chaliapin had the opportunity to play the role of soloist in Moniuszko's opera "Pebbles", replacing the sick artist on stage. After that, Chaliapin began to entrust small opera parts, for example, Fernando in Il trovatore. Then the singer moved to Tbilisi, where he took free singing lessons from the famous singer Dmitry Usatov, performed in amateur and student concerts. In 1894, Chaliapin went to St. Petersburg, where he sang in performances that took place in the Arcadia country garden, then at the Panaevsky Theater. On April 5, 1895, he made his debut as Mephistopheles in Charles Gounod's Faust at the Mariinsky Theatre.
In 1896, Chaliapin was invited by patron Savva 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 vivid images that have become classics: Ivan the Terrible in Nikolai Rimsky's The Maid of Pskov Korsakov (1896); Dositheus in "Khovanshchina" by Modest Mussorgsky (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 triumphal tour of Italy took place (at the La Scala theater in Milan). Chaliapin was a member of the "Russian Seasons" abroad, hosted by Sergei Diaghilev.
During the First World War, Chaliapin's tours ceased. The singer opened two infirmaries for wounded soldiers at his own expense, donated large sums to 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 May "The Maid of Pskov").
After the October Revolution of 1917, Fyodor Chaliapin was engaged in the creative reconstruction of the former imperial theaters, was an elected member of the directorates of the Bolshoi and Mariinsky theaters, and in 1918 directed the artistic part of the latter. In the same year, he was the first of the artists 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 decree 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 title role in the film "Don Quixote" by the 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 - staged the operas "Khovanshchina" and "Don Quixote". Peru Chaliapin owns the autobiography "Pages from my life" (1917) and the book "Mask and Soul" (1932).
Chaliapin was also a remarkable draftsman and tried his hand at painting. His works "Self-portrait", dozens of portraits, drawings, caricatures have been preserved.
In 1935 - 1936, the singer went on his last tour to the 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 ashes of the singer 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 the homeland of Chaliapin in Kazan, which received the name of 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 the status of an all-Russian one, and in 1991 it was released.
On June 10, 1991, the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR adopted Resolution No. 317: "Repeal the resolution of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR of August 24, 1927 "On depriving F. I. Chaliapin of the title of" People's Artist "as unreasonable."
The emir of Bukhara granted the singer the Order of the Golden Star of the third degree, in 1907, after a performance at the Berlin Royal Theater, 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, 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 on the basis of information from RIA Novosti and open sources
Fyodor Ivanovich Chaliapin is a famous Russian opera singer, one of the brightest and most talented soloists of the Bolshoi Theater of Moscow in the first half of the 20th century.
Born in 1887 in Kazan, he received his primary education at a parish school, where he also participated in the church choir. In 1889 he was enrolled in the theater troupe of Vasily Serebryakov as an extra, but a year later he performed his debut solo part in Pyotr Tchaikovsky's opera Eugene Onegin.
After moving to Moscow, Fyodor Ivanovich Chaliapin was noticed by the well-known patron of the capital Savva Mamontov, who predicted worldwide fame for the novice singer and invited him to the opera house for leading roles. Several years of work in the private troupe of Mamontov 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 recovered on a world tour with the Bolshoi Theater troupe, Chaliapin decided not to return to his homeland, and in 1923 he began a solo career, 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 kbps
Title: "Dubinushka"
File size: 3.06 MB, 128 kbps
Title: "Two Grenadiers"
File size: 2.79 MB, 128 kbps
Title: "Elegy"
File size: 3.83 MB, 128 kbps
Title: "Beyond the Island"
File size: 3.61 MB, 128 kbps
Title: Black eyes
File size: 3.17 MB, 128 kbps
Title: "Along the Piterskaya"
File size: 1.77 MB, 128 kbps
Title: "Down, along the mother, along the Volga"
File size: 3.07 Mb, 128 kb/s
Title: "Hey, let's go!"
File size: 2.93 MB, 128 kbps
Title: "Calm down, excitement, passions..."
File size: 4.06 MB, 128 kbps
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Fyodor Ivanovich Chaliapin (born 1873 - d. 1938) - a great Russian opera singer (bass).
Fyodor Chaliapin was born on February 1 (13), 1873 in Kazan. The son of a peasant in the Vyatka province Ivan Yakovlevich Chaliapin (1837-1901), a representative of the ancient Vyatka family of the Chaliapins (Shelepins). As a child, Chaliapin was a singer. Received an elementary education.
The beginning of his artistic career, Chaliapin himself considered 1889, when he entered the drama troupe of V. B. Serebryakov. First as a statistician.
On March 29, 1890, Chaliapin's first solo performance took place - the part of Zaretsky in the opera "Eugene Onegin", staged by the Kazan Society of Performing Art Lovers. Throughout May and the beginning of June 1890, Chaliapin was the chorister of V. B. Serebryakova's operetta entreprise.
In September 1890, Chaliapin arrived from Kazan in Ufa and began to work in the choir of the operetta troupe under the direction of S. Ya. Semyonov-Samarsky.
Quite by chance, I had to transform from a chorister into a soloist, replacing the sick artist in Moniuszko's opera "Pebbles". This debut brought forward the 17-year-old Chaliapin, who was occasionally entrusted with small opera parts, such as 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 arrived in Ufa, to which Chaliapin joined. Wanderings with her led him to Tiflis, where for the first time he managed to seriously work out his voice, thanks to the singer D. A. Usatov. Usatov not only approved of Chaliapin's voice, but, in view of the latter's lack of financial means, he began to give him singing lessons for free and generally took a great part in it. He also arranged Chaliapin in the Tiflis Opera 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 with the Lentovsky Opera Company, and in the winter of 1894/5 in the opera company at the Panaevsky Theater, with Zazulin's troupe. The beautiful voice of the novice artist, and especially the expressive musical recitation in connection with the truthful play, drew 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 parts of Mephistopheles (Faust) and Ruslan (Ruslan and Lyudmila). The diverse talent of Chaliapin was also expressed in the comic opera The Secret Marriage by D. Cimarosa, but still did not receive due appreciation. It is reported that in the season of 1895-1896. he "appeared quite rarely and, moreover, in roles that were not very suitable for him." The well-known philanthropist S. I. Mamontov, who at that time held an opera theater in Moscow, was the first to notice an extraordinary talent in Chaliapin, and persuaded him to join his private troupe. Here in 1896-1899. Chaliapin developed in the artistic sense and deployed his stage talent, performing in a number of roles. Thanks to his subtle understanding of Russian music in general and the latest in particular, he created quite individually, but at the same time deeply truthfully, a number of types in Russian operas. At the same time, he worked hard on roles in foreign operas; so, for example, the role of Mephistopheles in Gounod's Faust in his transmission received amazingly bright, strong and peculiar coverage. Over the years, Chaliapin has gained great fame.
Since 1899, he was again in the service of the Imperial Russian Opera in Moscow (Bolshoi Theatre), where he enjoyed tremendous success. He was highly acclaimed 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, donated fees from his performances to the revolutionaries. His performances with folk songs ("Dubinushka" and others) sometimes turned into political demonstrations.
Since 1914, he has been performing in private opera entreprises of S. I. Zimin (Moscow), A. R. Aksarin (Petrograd).
Since 1918 - artistic director of the Mariinsky Theatre. Received the title of People's Artist of the Republic.
The long absence of Chaliapin aroused suspicion and negative attitudes in Soviet Russia; Thus, in 1926, Mayakovsky wrote in his “Letter to Gorky”: “Or do you live / as Chaliapin lives, / with stifled applause / olyapan? / 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 the concerts to the children of emigrants, which was interpreted and presented as support for the White Guards. In 1928, by a decree 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 artist title he was awarded” 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, the ceremony of reburial of the ashes of F. I. Chaliapin took place in Moscow at the Novodevichy Cemetery.
On October 31, 1986, the tombstone of the great Russian singer F. I. Chaliapin was unveiled (sculptor A. Yeletsky, architect Yu. Voskresensky).
Russian opera and chamber singer (high bass).
First People's Artist of the Republic (1918-1927, the title was returned in 1991).
The son of a peasant in the Vyatka province Ivan Yakovlevich Chaliapin (1837-1901), a representative of the ancient Vyatka family of the Chaliapins (Shelepins). Chaliapin's mother is a peasant woman from the village of Dudintsy, Kumensky volost (Kumensky district of the Kirov region), Evdokia Mikhailovna (nee Prozorova).
As a child, Fedor was a singer. As a boy, he was sent to study shoemaking to shoemakers N.A. Tonkov, then V.A. Andreev. He received his 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 in 1889, when he entered the drama troupe of V.B. Serebryakova, first as an extra.
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 Performing Art Lovers. Throughout May and the beginning of June 1890, he was the chorister of the operetta entreprise V.B. Serebryakova. In September 1890, he arrived from Kazan in Ufa and began working in the choir of the operetta troupe under the direction of S.Ya. Semyonov-Samarsky.
Quite by chance, I had to transform from a chorister into a soloist, replacing the sick artist in Moniuszko's opera "Pebbles" in the role of Stolnik.
This debut brought forward a 17-year-old boy who was occasionally entrusted with small operatic roles, such as 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 arrived in Ufa, to which Chaliapin joined. Wanderings with her brought him to Tiflis, where for the first time he managed to seriously take up his voice, thanks to the singer D.A. Usatov. Usatov not only approved of Chaliapin's voice, but, in view of the latter's lack of financial resources, he began to give him singing lessons for free and generally took a great part in it. He also arranged Chaliapin in the Tiflis opera of Ludwigov-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 the Lentovsky Opera Company, and in the winter of 1894-1895. - in the opera partnership at the Panaevsky Theater, in the troupe of Zazulin. The beautiful voice of the novice artist, and especially the expressive musical recitation in connection with the truthful play, drew the attention of critics and the public to him.
In 1895, he was accepted by the directorate of the St. Petersburg Imperial Theaters into the opera troupe: he entered the stage of the Mariinsky Theater and successfully sang the parts of Mephistopheles (Faust) and Ruslan (Ruslan and Lyudmila). The diverse talent of Chaliapin was also expressed in the comic opera The Secret Marriage by D. Cimarosa, but still did not receive due appreciation. It is reported that in the 1895-1896 season he "appeared quite rarely and, moreover, in parties that were not very suitable for him." Well-known philanthropist S.I. Mamontov, who at that time held an opera house in Moscow, was the first to notice an extraordinary talent in Chaliapin and persuaded him to join his private troupe. Here, in 1896-1899, Chaliapin developed in the 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 the latest 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 "Pskovityanka" by N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov; Varangian guest in his own "Sadko"; Salieri in his own "Mozart and Salieri"; Melnik in "Mermaid" 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, Dositheus in his own "Khovanshchina" and in many other operas.
At the same time, he worked hard on roles in foreign operas; so, for example, the role of Mephistopheles in Gounod's Faust in his transmission received amazingly bright, strong and peculiar 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 of his creative life as the most important: "I received from Mamontov the repertoire that gave me the opportunity to develop all the main features of my artistic nature, my temperament."
Since 1899, he was again in the service of the Imperial Russian Opera in Moscow (Bolshoi Theatre), where he enjoyed tremendous 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 donated the proceeds from his speeches to the workers. His performances with folk songs ("Dubinushka" and others) sometimes turned into political demonstrations.
Since 1914, he has been performing in private opera entreprises 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 the drama of Leo Mei's The Maid of Pskov).
In 1917, in a production of G. Verdi's opera Don Carlos in Moscow, he performed not only as a soloist (Philip's part), but also as a director. His next directing experience was the opera "Mermaid" by A.S. Dargomyzhsky.
In 1918-1921 he was artistic director of the Mariinsky Theatre.
Since 1922 - on tour abroad, in particular in the USA, where Solomon Yurok was his American impresario. The singer went there with his second wife, Maria Valentinovna.
The long absence of Chaliapin aroused suspicion and negative attitudes in Soviet Russia; so, in 1926 V.V. Mayakovsky wrote in his Letter to Gorky:
Or you live
How does Chaliapin live?
with stifled applause olyapan?
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 a decree 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 artist title he was awarded” 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 based on the novel of the same name by Cervantes. The film was filmed immediately in two languages - English and French, with two casts, the music for the film was written by Jacques Ibert. Filming on location took place near the city of Nice.
In 1935-1936, the singer went on his last tour to the Far East, giving 57 concerts in Manchuria, China and Japan. During the tour, Georges de Godzinsky was his accompanist. 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 the 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: "Repeal 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."
Chaliapin was married twice, and from both marriages he had 9 children (one died at an early age from appendicitis).
Fyodor Chaliapin met his first wife in Nizhny Novgorod, and they got married in 1898 in the church of the village of Gagino. It was the young Italian ballerina Iola Tornaghi (Iola Ignatievna Le Presti (based on the stage of Tornaghi), died in 1965 at the age of 92), who was born in the city of Monza (not far from Milan). In total, Chaliapin had six children in this marriage: Igor (died at the age of 4), Boris, Fedor, Tatyana, Irina, Lydia. Fedor and Tatyana were twins. Iola Tornaghi lived in Russia for a long time and only at the end of the 1950s, at the invitation of her son Fyodor, she moved to Rome.
Already having a family, Fyodor Ivanovich Chaliapin becomes close to Maria Valentinovna Petzold (née Elukhen, in her first marriage - Petzold, 1882-1964), who had two of her children from her first marriage. They have three daughters: Marfa (1910-2003), Marina (1912-2009) and Dasia (1921-1977). Chaliapin's daughter Marina (Marina Fedorovna Chaliapin-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, the marriage of Maria Valentinovna with Chaliapin was formalized in 1927 already in Paris.
prizes and awards
1902 - Order of the Golden Star of Bukhara III degree.
1907 - Golden Cross of the Prussian Eagle.
1910 - the title of Soloist of His Majesty (Russia).
1912 - the title of Soloist of His Majesty the Italian King.
1913 - the title of Soloist of His Majesty the English King.
1914 - English order for special merit in the field of art.
1914 - Russian order of Stanislav III degree.
1925 - Commander of the Order of the Legion of Honor (France).
Fedor Ivanovich Chaliapin was born on February 13, 1873 in Kazan, in a poor family of Ivan Yakovlevich Chaliapin, a peasant from the village of Syrtsovo, Vyatka province. Mother, Evdokia (Avdotya) Mikhailovna (nee Prozorova), originally from the village of Dudinskaya in the same province. Already in childhood, Fedor had a beautiful voice (treble) and often sang along with his mother, "adjusting his voice." 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 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 irrepressible craving for the theater led him to various acting troupes, with which he wandered around the cities of the Volga region, the Caucasus, Central Asia, working either as a loader or a hooker on the pier, often starving and spending the night on benches.
"... Apparently, even in the modest role of a chorister, I managed to show my natural musicality and not bad voice means. 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 "Pebbles", and replaced him there was no one in the troupe, then the entrepreneur Semenov-Samarsky turned to me - would I 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 down on the stage past a chair), Semyonov-Samarsky was nevertheless moved by both my singing and my conscientious desire to portray something similar to a Polish magnate. He added five rubles to my salary and also began to entrust me with other roles. I still think superstitiously: a good sign for a beginner in the first performance on stage in front of an audience is to sit past the chair. Throughout my subsequent career, however, I vigilantly watched the chair and was afraid not only to sit by, but also to sit in the chair of another ...
In this first season of mine, I also sang Fernando in Il trovatore 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 the famous singer D. Usatov, performed in amateur and student concerts. In 1894 he sang in performances that took place in the St. Petersburg suburban garden "Arcadia", then in the Panaevsky Theater. On April 5, 1895, he made his debut as Mephistopheles in Gounod's Faust at the Mariinsky Theatre.
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 N. Rimsky's The Maid of Pskov -Korsakov (1896); Dositheus in M. Mussorgsky's "Khovanshchina" (1897); Boris Godunov in the opera of the same name by M. Mussorgsky (1898) and others.
Communication in the Mammoth Theater with the best artists of 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 compelling stage presence. The singer prepared a number of opera parts in the theater with the then novice conductor and composer Sergei Rachmaninoff. Creative friendship united two great artists until the end of their lives. Rachmaninov dedicated several romances to the singer, including "Fate" (verses by A. Apukhtin), "You knew him" (verses by F. Tyutchev).
The deeply national art of the singer 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 a new era in the national musical theater. He managed to surprisingly organically combine the two most important principles of opera art - dramatic and musical - to subordinate his tragic gift, unique stage plasticity and deep musicality to a single artistic concept.
From September 24, 1899, Chaliapin, the leading soloist of the Bolshoi and at the same time the Mariinsky Theater, toured abroad with triumphant success. In 1901, in Milan's La Scala, he sang with great success the part of Mephistopheles in the opera of the same name by A. Boito with E. Caruso, conducted by A. Toscanini. 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 of all countries. His high bass, delivered by nature, with a velvety, soft timbre, sounded full-blooded, powerful and had a rich palette of vocal intonations. The effect of artistic transformation amazed the listeners - there is not only an external appearance, but also a deep inner content, which was conveyed by the vocal speech of the singer. 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 a versatile talent of the great artist is reminiscent of the masters of the Renaissance - it is no coincidence that contemporaries compared his opera heroes with the titans of Michelangelo. The art of Chaliapin crossed national borders and influenced the development of the world opera house. Many Western conductors, artists and singers could repeat the words of the Italian conductor and composer D. Gavazeni: “Chaliapin’s innovation in the sphere of the dramatic truth of 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 performance Russian operas by Italian singers, but in general, on the whole style of their vocal and stage interpretation, including works by Verdi ... "
"Chaliapin was attracted by the characters of strong people, seized with an idea and passion, experiencing a deep emotional drama, as well as vivid comedy images," notes D.N. Lebedev. "With amazing truthfulness and strength, Chaliapin reveals the tragedy of an unfortunate father distraught with grief in "Mermaid" or painful mental discord and remorse experienced by Boris Godunov.
In sympathy for human suffering, high humanism is manifested - an inalienable property of progressive Russian art, based on nationality, on purity and depth of feelings. In this nationality, which filled the whole being and all the work of Chaliapin, the strength of his talent is rooted, the secret of his persuasiveness, comprehensibility to everyone, even to an inexperienced person.
Chaliapin is categorically against simulated, 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 formal if the intonation of the phrase is not developed in it, if the sound is not colored with the necessary shades of emotions. Western music also needs this intonation… which I recognized as obligatory for the transmission of Russian music, although it has less psychological vibration than Russian music.”
Chaliapin is characterized by a bright, rich concert activity. Listeners were invariably delighted with his performance of the romances The Miller, The Old Corporal, Dargomyzhsky's Titular Counsellor, The Seminarist, Mussorgsky's Trepak, Glinka's Doubt, Rimsky-Korsakov's The Prophet, Tchaikovsky's The Nightingale, The Double Schubert, “I am not angry”, “In a dream I wept bitterly” by Schumann.
Here is what the remarkable Russian musicologist academician B. Asafiev wrote about this side of the singer’s creative activity:
“Chaliapin sang truly chamber music, sometimes so concentrated, so deep 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 calmness and restraint took possession of him. For example, I remember Schumann’s “In my dream I wept 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. The voice sounds lonely - 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 students or in a sarcastic serenade: there they burned maliciously, mockingly, and then the eyes of a man who felt the elements of sorrow, but who understood that only in the harsh discipline of the mind and heart - in the rhythm of all its manifestations - does a person gain power over both passions and suffering.
The press loved to calculate the artist's fees, supporting the myth of fabulous wealth, Chaliapin's greed. What if this myth is refuted by posters and programs of many charity concerts, famous performances of the singer in Kyiv, Kharkov and Petrograd in front of a huge working audience? 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. Useless!
During the First World War, Chaliapin's tours ceased. The singer opened two infirmaries for wounded soldiers at his own expense, but did not advertise his "good deeds". Lawyer M.F. Volkenstein, who managed the singer’s financial affairs for many years, recalled: “If only they knew how much Chaliapin’s money went through my hands to help those who needed it!”
After the October Revolution of 1917, Fyodor Ivanovich was engaged in the creative reconstruction of the former imperial theaters, was an elected member of the directorates of the Bolshoi and Mariinsky theaters, and in 1918 directed the artistic part of the latter. In the same year, he was the first of the artists 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 in my life I was anything but an actor and a singer, I was completely devoted to my vocation. But least of all I was a politician.”
Outwardly, it might seem that Chaliapin's life is prosperous and creatively rich. He is invited to perform at official concerts, he also performs a lot for the general public, he is awarded honorary titles, asked to head the work of various kinds of artistic juries, theater councils. But then there are sharp calls to "socialize Chaliapin", "put his talent at the service of the people", doubts are often expressed about the "class loyalty" of the singer. Someone demands the obligatory involvement of his family in the performance of labor service, someone makes direct threats to the former artist of the imperial theaters ... "I saw more and more clearly that no one needs what I can do, that there is 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, Zinoviev. But to be in constant dependence on the orders of even such high-ranking officials of the administrative-party hierarchy is humiliating for an artist. In addition, they often did not guarantee full social security and certainly did not inspire confidence in the future.
In the spring of 1922, Chaliapin did not return from foreign tours, although for some time he continued to consider his non-return to be temporary. The home environment played a significant role in what happened. Caring for children, the fear of leaving them without a livelihood forced Fedor Ivanovich to agree to endless tours. The eldest daughter Irina remained to live in Moscow with her husband and mother, Paula Ignatievna Tornagi-Chaliapina. Other children from the first marriage - Lydia, Boris, Fedor, Tatyana - and children from the second marriage - Marina, Martha, 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; portraits and sketches of his father made by Boris "are priceless monuments to the great artist ...".
In a foreign land, the singer enjoyed constant success, touring in almost all countries of the world - in England, America, Canada, China, Japan, and the Hawaiian Islands. From 1930, Chaliapin performed in the Russian Opera company, whose performances were famous for their high level of staging culture. The operas Mermaid, Boris Godunov, and Prince Igor were especially successful in Paris. In 1935, Chaliapin was elected a member of the Royal Academy of Music (together with A. Toscanini) and was awarded an academic diploma. Chaliapin's repertoire included about 70 parts. In operas by Russian composers, he created images of Melnik (Mermaid), Ivan Susanin (Ivan Susanin), Boris Godunov and Varlaam (Boris Godunov), Ivan the Terrible (The Maid of Pskov) and many others, unsurpassed in strength and truth of life. . Among the best parts in Western European opera are Mephistopheles (Faust and Mephistopheles), Don Basilio (The Barber of Seville), Leporello (Don Giovanni), Don Quixote (Don Quixote). Just as great was Chaliapin in chamber vocal performance. Here he introduced an element of theatricality and created a kind of "romance theater". His repertoire included up to four hundred songs, romances and other genres of chamber and vocal music. Among the masterpieces of performing arts are "Bloch", "Forgotten", "Trepak" by Mussorgsky, "Night Review" by Glinka, "Prophet" by Rimsky-Korsakov, "Two Grenadiers" by R. Schumann, "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 core”.
In the 20-30s he made about three hundred records. “I love gramophone records ... - Fedor Ivanovich admitted. “I am excited and creatively excited by the idea that the microphone symbolizes not some particular audience, but millions of listeners.” The singer was very picky about recordings, among his favorites is 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 great, powerful, inescapable breath of the great singer sated the melody, and, it was heard, there was no limit to the fields and steppes of our Motherland."
On August 24, 1927, the Council of People's Commissars adopts 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, which was already rumored in the spring of 1927: will do." However, in reality, everything happened differently, not at all the way Gorky imagined ...
