Chaliapin is an opera singer. Fyodor Chaliapin - great Russian singer

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 early 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: "From Mamontov I received the repertoire that gave me the opportunity to develop all the main features of my artistic nature, my temperament."

Since 1899, he 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 employee of VSERABIS, 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 title of artist was awarded to him” or, according to other sources, by the fact that he allegedly donated money to monarchist emigrants.

At the end of the summer of 1932, he played the main role in the film "Don Quixote" by the Austrian film director Georg Pabst 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 Godzinski 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 of" 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).

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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Great performers of the 20th century

Fedor Chaliapin. king bass

Like Sabinin in Glinka's opera, I exclaim:
"Joy is immeasurable!"
Great happiness fell on us from the sky!
A new, great talent has been born...

(V. Stasov)

We live in that amazing time when miracles have become a common, everyday occurrence. Thanks to one of these miracles, now, just like once Vladimir Vasilyevich Stasov, we can exclaim: "Joy is immeasurable!"- we hear the voice of Chaliapin.

king bass

“Someone said about Chaliapin,- wrote V. I. Nemirovich-Danchenko, - when God created it, he was in a particularly good mood, creating for the joy of everyone.

This voice, once heard, is truly impossible to forget. You come back to it again and again, despite the imperfection of the old recordings. There were beautiful voices both before and after Chaliapin, but few can compare with his high “velvet” bass, which was distinguished by incredible expressiveness. And the listener is captivated not only by the unique timbre, but also by how accurately and subtly the singer managed to convey the slightest shades of feelings embedded in the work, whether it was an opera part, a folk song or a romance.

Chaliapin raised vocal art to new heights, teaching lessons of musical truth to those who were close by, and generously sharing his secrets with future generations of artists.

And the life story of the Russian Tsar Bass is a lesson for everyone. Whatever conditions you live in, if you have a spark of talent in you - follow your dream, work hard, strive for perfection ... And everything will work out.

Since September 24, 1899, Chaliapin has been the leading soloist of the Bolshoi and at the same time the Mariinsky Theaters, with a triumphant success in touring abroad. 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 Enrico 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 field of dramatic truth in 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 performance of Russian operas by Italian singers, but in general, on the entire style of their vocal and stage performance. interpretations, including works by Verdi..."

Of particular importance was the participation of Chaliapin in the "Russian Seasons" as a propagandist of Russian music, especially the work of M. P. Mussorgsky and N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov. He was artistic director of the Mariinsky Theater (1918), an elected member of the directorates of the Bolshoi and Mariinsky Theatres. Having gone abroad on tour in 1922, Chaliapin did not return to the Soviet Union, he lived and died in Paris (in 1984, Chaliapin's remains were transferred to the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow).

The largest representative of the Russian performing arts, Chaliapin, was equally great both as a singer and as a dramatic actor. His voice - amazing in flexibility, timbre richness - sounded now with penetrating tenderness, sincerity, now with striking sarcasm.

Masterfully mastering the art of phrasing, the finest nuances, diction, the singer saturated each musical phrase with figurative meaning, filled it with deep psychological overtones. Chaliapin created a gallery of diverse images, revealing the complex inner world of his characters.

The top creations of the artist were the images of Boris Godunov (Boris Godunov by M. P. Mussorgsky) and Mephistopheles (Faust by Charles Gounod and Mephistopheles by Arrigo Boito). Among other parties: Susanin ("Ivan Susanin" by M. I. Glinka), Melnik ("The Mermaid" by A. S. Dargomyzhsky), Ivan the Terrible ("The Maid of Pskov" by N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov), Don Basilio ("The Barber of Seville "G. Rossini), Don Quixote ("Don Quixote" by J. Massenet).

Chaliapin was an outstanding chamber singer: a sensitive interpreter of the vocal works of M. I. Glinka, A. S. Dargomyzhsky, M. P. Mussorgsky, P. I. Tchaikovsky, A. G. Rubinstein, R. Schumann, F. Schubert, as well as soulful performer of Russian folk songs. He also acted as a director (productions of the opera "Khovanshchina", "Don Quixote"). Acted in films. He also owns sculptures and paintings.

The memory of the artist is immortalized in the city of his childhood - Kazan. On the occasion of the 125th anniversary of his birth, the world's first urban monument to F. I. Chaliapin, the work of sculptor Andrei Balashov, was opened here. He took a place on a pedestal near the Cathedral of the Epiphany, in which Chaliapin was once baptized, on the main street of the city.

Arias from the opera "Boris Godunov" M. P. Mussorgsky

Most of all composers Chaliapin loved Mussorgsky. And he sang it in such a way that it seems as if everything created by Mussorgsky was created specifically for Chaliapin. Meanwhile...

“My great disappointment in life is that I did not meet Mussorgsky. He died before my appearance in St. Petersburg. My sorrow…”

Yes, they never knew each other. However, no, it is not. Mussorgsky really did not know Chaliapin. And it's very sad to think about it. How happy Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky would have been if he had heard, seen in the performance of Chaliapin his Tsar Boris, his Varlaam, Pimen, Dositheus, all his peasants, whom he sang with such love, with such great pain and compassion in music.

And Chaliapin knew Mussorgsky. He understood and loved him like a close friend. With the heart of a great artist, he felt every thought of his music, knew every note in it. All of Mussorgsky's compositions that the bass could sing were in his repertoire. In the opera "Boris Godunov" there are three bass parts. And all three were performed by Chaliapin.

We know that Chaliapin was not only a great singer, but also a great actor. And although we have never seen Chaliapin play, we understand this by looking at his portraits in roles. It's hard to believe that this is the same person, that it's all - Chaliapin.

And it’s not only makeup and costume that change the artist in such a way.

Boris Godunov. Boris Godunov has a strong, strong-willed face; he is a handsome, courageous man with a sharp, inquisitive look. But somewhere in the depths of his smart, beautiful eyes beats, screams great anxiety, almost despair.

Hearing: M. Mussorgsky. Boris' monologue (prologue) "The soul is grieving..." from the opera Boris Godunov, performed by F. Chaliapin.

Chaliapin's daughter, Irina, recalls:

“The curtain rose, and to the sound of a bell, “led under the arms of the boyars,” Tsar Boris appeared.

Soul mourns...

We listen to Chaliapin sing. Beautiful, juicy, thick, I want to say - a regal voice. Only in this regal majesty there is no peace. Anxiety and sadness are clearly heard in the voice. Troubled in the soul of Tsar Boris. His bell ringing does not please, his solemn election to the kingdom does not please. But Boris Godunov is a man of strong will. He overcame his anxiety. And now in Russian widely:

And there to call the people to the feast ...

As if this mighty, generous bass embraced everyone:

All free entry; all guests are welcome...

Hearing: M. Mussorgsky. Boris' monologue "I have reached the highest power ..."(2 act) from the opera Boris Godunov, performed by F. Chaliapin.

Pimen - completely different. This old man knows a lot. He sees a lot. He is calm and wise, he is not tormented by remorse, which is why his gaze is so straight and calm. Remember, Pushkin: "Night. Cell in the Miracle Monastery. Pimen writes in front of the lamp.

The voices of the strings in the orchestra sound muffled, note after note is strung unhurriedly, monotonously. Like the quiet rustling of a goose quill over an old parchment, as if an intricate tie of Slavic writing stretches, telling about the "past fate of the native land."

One more, last tale and my chronicle is over...

Wise tired voice. This man is very old. From Chaliapin's voice all the passion, all the tension that so shocked us in Boris disappeared. Now it sounds quite even, very calm. And at the same time, there is some elusive characteristic in it. He reminds me of something. But what? However, it may not remind you of anything: you probably never heard church singing. Except in the movies. And Chaliapin knew well how the priests sang: always at least a little, but "on the nose", a little nasally. Listen to the voice of Chaliapin Pimen... The singer gives it a barely noticeable "church" tone. He feels that Mussorgsky's music demands it.

Almost the entire monologue of Pimen sounds leisurely, thoughtful. But there is no monotonous, boring monotony in Chaliapin's voice. If in the part of Boris it can be compared with an artist's palette, on which you see a variety of colors - blue, and yellow, and green, and red, then Chaliapin-Pimen's voice is like a palette with different shades of one paint (for some reason, I it seems - lilac) from thick dark to light; blurry.

Hearing: M. Mussorgsky. Monologue of Pimen (1 act) from the opera "Boris Godunov", in Spanish. F. Chaliapin.

Varlaam. Here he is, all at a glance - a slovenly, flabby, half-drunk tramp. But as soon as you look into his eyes, you immediately see: no, this runaway monk is not at all so simple - his eyes are smart, cunning and very unkind.

How does Chaliapin himself imagine him?

“Mussorgsky, with incomparable art, conveyed the bottomless anguish of this tramp ... The anguish in Varlaam is such that you can even strangle yourself, and if you don’t want to strangle yourself, then you have to laugh, invent some sort of rampantly drunken, supposedly funny ... "

That is why Varlaam-Chaliapin has such eyes.

In Pushkin's tragedy, the role of Varlaam is very small. He doesn't have big monologues. And Mussorgsky, creating his Varlaam, did not invent any special arias for him. But remember, Pushkin says: “Varlaam sings the song “How was it in Kazan in the city”?

The omniscient Stasov found the original text of this old Russian song, which tells how Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich the Terrible took Kazan. This song became the first characteristic of Varlaam. And instead of the second song of Varlaam, indicated by Pushkin, “The young black cut his hair”, Varlaam Mussorgsky sings the song “How the yon rides”.

Two songs tell us about the character of Varlaam. And how they say! Especially if Chaliapin sings Varlaam.

We listen to the first song - “As it was in the city in Kazan” and understand that Chaliapin, speaking about how he imagines his Varlaam, did not reveal to us everything that is in his fugitive monk.

As with gunpowder, that barrel spun
I rolled along the digs, rolled along the digs,
Yes, it crashed...

Oh no, not only drunken revelry is heard in Varlaam's voice. Stasov says that Varlaam "sings bestially and fiercely." He says this about Mussorgsky's music, but Chaliapin sings just like that - "bestially and fiercely." A huge force - dense, irrepressible - is felt in this person. Someday she will break free! .. And she breaks out.

"Subsequently,- writes Stasov, - this same Varlaam with a mighty hand will raise a formidable popular storm against the Jesuits who wandered into Russia with False Dmitry ”. We are talking about a scene that was banned by censorship in pre-revolutionary times. This is the final scene of the opera - the popular uprising near Kromy, in which Varlaam plays a very important role.

Here's a runaway drunkard monk!

Three roles - three different people. Such different people, of course, and voices should be completely different. But since we are talking about Chaliapin, it is quite clear that everyone will have one voice - an unforgettable Chaliapin bass. You will always recognize it if you have heard it at least once.

Hearing: M. Mussorgsky. Song of Varlaam (1 act) from the opera "Boris Godunov", performed by F. Chaliapin.

Farlaf's Rondo from M. I. Glinka's opera "Ruslan and Lyudmila"

F. I. Chaliapin performed the parts of Ruslan and Farlaf in the opera Ruslan and Lyudmila by M. I. Glinka, and it was in the second role that, according to A. Gozenpud, he reached the top, surpassing his famous predecessors.

Insolence, boastfulness, unbridled arrogance, intoxication with one’s own “courage”, envy and malice, cowardice, voluptuousness, all the baseness of Farlaf’s nature were revealed by Chaliapin in the performance of the rondo without caricature exaggeration, without emphasizing and pressure. Here the singer reached the pinnacle of vocal performance, overcoming technical difficulties with virtuoso ease.

Hearing: M. Glinka. Rondo Farlaf from the opera "Ruslan and Lyudmila", performed by F. Chaliapin.

Song of the Varangian guest from the opera "Sadko" by N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov

The song of the Varangian guest performed by Chaliapin is stern, warlike and courageous: “O formidable rocks are crushed with the roar of the waves.” The timbre of a low male voice and the thick sonority of wind, mostly brass instruments, harmonizes well with the whole appearance of the Varangian - a brave warrior and navigator.

The party of the Varangian guest conceals enormous artistic possibilities, allowing you to create a vivid stage image.

Hearing: N. Rimsky-Korsakov. Song of the Varangian guest from the opera "Sadko", performed by F. Chaliapin.

Aria by Ivan Susanin "You will rise my dawn..." from M. I. Glinka's opera "Ivan Susanin"

“Shalyapinsky Susanin is a reflection of an entire era, this is a virtuoso and mysterious embodiment of folk wisdom, the wisdom that saved Russia from destruction in difficult years of trials.”

(Edward Stark)

Chaliapin performed Susanin's aria with brilliance at a closed debut at the Mariinsky Theatre, when he came from the provinces to conquer the capital and was accepted on the imperial stage on the day of his full majority on February 1 (13), 1894.

This audition took place on the recommendation of the patron of the arts, a major official T. I. Filippov, known for his friendship with Russian composers and writers. In Filippov's house, young Chaliapin met with M. I. Glinka's sister, Lyudmila Ivanovna Shestakova, who showered the young singer with praise when she heard the aria of the Russian national hero in his performance.

Ivan Susanin in the work of Fyodor Chaliapin played a fateful role. In the spring of 1896, the singer decides to go to Nizhny Novgorod for the summer. There he meets S. I. Mamontov - Savva the Magnificent, industrialist and patron of the arts, reformer of the opera house, founder of the Russian Private Opera and a true collector of talents. On May 14, with the play "A Life for the Tsar" with Chaliapin in the title role, regular performances by the Mamontov troupe, which toured in Nizhny Novgorod, began.

Hearing: M. Glinka. Aria Susanina "You will rise my dawn" from the opera "Ivan Susanin", in Spanish. F. Chaliapin.

Chaliapin was unusually musical. He not only understood and knew music, he lived in it, music permeated his whole being. Every sound, every breath, gesture, every step - everything was subordinated to her.

The great singer always "choose" from the richest arsenal of techniques exactly the one that the musical image demanded from him. Chaliapin gives his voice entirely to the service of music. He fiercely hates singers who consider their own singing to be the main thing in their activity.

“After all, I know singers with beautiful voices, they control their voices brilliantly, that is, they can sing loudly and quietly at any moment ... but almost all of them sing only notes, adding syllables or words to these notes ... Such a singer sings beautiful ... But if this charming singer needs to sing several songs in one evening, then almost never one is different from the other. Whatever he sings about, love or hate. I don’t know how an ordinary listener reacts to this, but personally, after the second song, it becomes boring for me to sit in a concert.

Do not think, however, that a deep understanding of music came to Chaliapin by itself. He had mistakes, and failures, and breakdowns. There was dissatisfaction. So it was even with Mussorgsky, whom he adored.

“I stubbornly did not cheat on Mussorgsky, I performed his things at all the concerts in which I performed. I sang his romances and songs according to all the rules of cantilena art - I gave rib breathing, kept my voice in a mask and generally behaved like a decent singer, and Mussorgsky came out dimly with me ... "

So it was in my youth. And Chaliapin tries, rehearses, achieves. In Chaliapin's way, he passionately strives for knowledge, greedily absorbs everything that seems to him necessary to achieve a single goal. This goal is to serve music.

Presentation

Included:
1. Presentation - 15 slides, ppsx;
2. Sounds of music:
Glinka. Opera "Ivan Susanin":
Aria Susanina "You will rise my dawn...".mp3;
Glinka. Opera "Ruslan and Lyudmila":
Rondo Farlaf, mp3;
Mussorgsky. Opera "Boris Godunov":
Boris' monologue (prologue), mp3;
Pimen's monologue (1 act), mp3;
Song of Varlaam (1 act), mp3;
Boris' monologue (act 2), mp3;
Rimsky-Korsakov. Opera "Sadko":
Song of the Varangian guest, mp3;
(all works performed by Fyodor Chaliapin)
3. Accompanying article, docx.

Fedor Chaliapin is a Russian opera and chamber singer. At various 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 of his homeland.

Childhood and youth

Fedor 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 an unusual job for a peasant - he served as a clerk in the administration of the Zemstvo. And mother Evdokia Mikhailovna was a housewife.

As a child, a beautiful treble was noticed by little Fedya, thanks to which he was sent to the church choir as a chorister, where he received the basic knowledge of musical literacy. In addition to singing in the temple, the father sent the boy to study with a shoemaker.

After completing several classes of primary education with honors, the young man goes to work as an assistant clerk. Fedor 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 did not get to the performance of the Kazan Opera House. The magic of art has captured the young man's heart forever, and he decides to change his activity.

At the age of 16, Fyodor Chaliapin, with an already formed bass, auditions for the opera house, but fails miserably. After that, he turns to the drama group of V. B. Serebryakov, in which he is taken as an extra.

Gradually, the young man began to entrust vocal parts. A year later, Fyodor Chaliapin performed the part of Zaretsky from the opera Eugene Onegin. But in the dramatic entreprise, he does not stay long 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, who, after several comically failed 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, a talented singer is noticed by vocal teacher Dmitry Usatov, a famous tenor of the Bolshoi Theater in the past. He takes on the full support of a poor young man and deals with him. In parallel with the 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 strictness prevailing here quickly began to weigh him down. By a lucky chance, at one of the performances, a philanthropist notices him and lures the singer to his theater. Possessing a special flair for talents, the philanthropist discovers incredible potential in a young temperamental artist. He gives Fedor Ivanovich complete freedom in his team.

Fedor Chaliapin - "Black Eyes"

While working in the Mamontov troupe, Chaliapin revealed his vocal and artistic abilities. He covered all the famous bass parts of Russian operas, such as The Maid of Pskov, Sadko, Mozart and Salieri, Rusalka, A Life for the Tsar, Boris Godunov and Khovanshchina. His performance of the role in "Faust" by Charles Gounod is still the standard. Subsequently, he will recreate a similar image in the aria "Mephistopheles" at the theater "La Scala", which will earn success with the world public.

From the beginning of the 20th century, Chaliapin reappeared on the stage of the Mariinsky Theater, but already as a soloist. With the capital's theater, he tours around Europe, gets on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera in New York, not to mention regular trips to Moscow, to the Bolshoi Theater. Surrounded by the famous bass, you can see the whole color of the creative elite of that time: I. Kuprin, Italian singers T. Ruffo and. A photo has 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 the Piterskaya" and others. The singer donated all the funds from these concerts to the needs of the workers. Such concerts by the maestro turned into real political actions, which later earned Fedor Ivanovich honor from the Soviet authorities. In addition, friendship with the first proletarian writer Maxim Gorky protected the Chaliapin family from ruin during the “Soviet terror”.

Fedor Chaliapin - "Along the Piterskaya"

After the revolution, the new government appoints Fyodor Ivanovich as the head of the Mariinsky Theater and awards him the title of People's Artist of the RSFSR. But in a new capacity, the singer did not work long, since with the very first foreign tour in 1922 he immigrated with his family abroad. More he did not appear on the stage of the Soviet stage. 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. In addition to singing, the talented artist was fond of painting and sculpture. He also acted in films. He got a role in the film of the same name by Alexander Ivanov-Gaya, and he also participated in the filming of the film Don Quixote by German director Georg Wilhelm Pabst, where Chaliapin played the main role of the famous windmill fighter.

Personal life

Chaliapin met his first wife in his youth, while working at the Mamontov private theater. The girl's name was Iola Tornaghi, she was a ballerina of Italian origin. Despite the temperament and success with women, the young singer decided to tie the knot with just this sophisticated woman.

During the years of marriage, Iola gave birth to six children to Fedor Chaliapin. But even such a family did not keep Fedor Ivanovich from cardinal changes in life.

While serving in the Imperial Theater, he often had to live in St. Petersburg, where he started a second family. At first, Fyodor Ivanovich met his second wife Maria Petzold secretly, since she was also married. But later they began to live together, and Mary bore him three more children.

The double life of the artist continued until his departure to Europe. The prudent Chaliapin went on tour as part of his entire second family, and a couple of months later five children from his first marriage went to Paris.

Of Fedor's large family, only his first wife Iola Ignatievna and eldest daughter Irina remained in the USSR. These women became the keepers of the memory of the opera singer 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-1930s. He gives over 50 solo concerts in the cities of China and Japan. After that, returning to Paris, the artist felt unwell.

In 1937, doctors diagnosed him with an oncological blood disease: 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 the grave at the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow.

True, many historians consider the death of Fyodor Chaliapin rather strange. Yes, and the doctors unanimously insisted that leukemia with such a heroic physique and at that age is extremely rare. There is also evidence that after a tour of the Far East, the opera singer returned to Paris in a sick condition and with a strange "decoration" on his forehead - a greenish bump. Doctors say that such neoplasms occur when poisoned by a radioactive isotope or phenol. The question of what happened to Chaliapin on tour, and asked local historian from Kazan Rovel Kashapov.

The man believes that Chaliapin was "removed" by the Soviet authorities as objectionable. At one time, he refused to return to his homeland, plus, through an Orthodox priest, he provided material 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 printed by foreign publishers, and they received permission to print from the Soviet organization "International Book". Chaliapin was outraged by such an unceremonious disposal of copyright, and he filed a lawsuit, which ordered the USSR to pay him monetary compensation. Of course, in Moscow this was regarded as hostile actions of the singer against the Soviet state.

And in 1932 he wrote the book "Mask and Soul" and published it in Paris. In it, Fedor Ivanovich spoke out in a harsh manner in relation to the ideology of Bolshevism, to the Soviet government, and in particular to.

Actor and singer Fyodor Chaliapin

In the last years of his life, Chaliapin showed maximum caution and did not let 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 Fedor Ivanovich, he was offered to give a concert in Harbin, although the performance there was not originally planned. Local historian Rovel Kashapov is sure that it was there that Dr. Vitenzon, who accompanied Chaliapin on this tour, was handed an aerosol can with a poisonous substance.

Fyodor Ivanovich's accompanist, Georges de Godzinsky, in his memoirs, claims that before the performance Vitenzon examined the singer's throat and, despite the fact that he found it quite satisfactory, "sprayed 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 house-museum of Chaliapin on Novinsky Boulevard in Moscow, where Fyodor Ivanovich lived with his family since 1910, admirers of creativity widely celebrated his anniversary.

Arias

• Life for the Tsar (Ivan Susanin): Aria Susanina “They smell the truth”
• Ruslan and Lyudmila: Farlaf's Rondo “Oh, joy! I knew"
• Mermaid: Melnik's Aria "Oh, that's all you young girls"
• Prince Igor: Igor's Aria "No Sleep, No Rest"
• Prince Igor: Konchak's Aria "Is it healthy, Prince"
• Sadko: Song of the Varangian guest "O formidable rocks are crushed with the roar of the wave"
• Faust: Aria of Mephistopheles "Darkness descended"

The fame of his unique booming bass and powerful talent as a dramatic actor thundered throughout the world, but he was far from an unambiguous person.

Ashamed of his origin

The fate of Fyodor Chaliapin is a story about how a peasant boy managed to rise to the heights of not only Russian, but also world fame. He became the embodiment of the national character and the Russian soul, which is as wide as it is mysterious. He loved the Volga, said that the people here are completely different, "not skimmers."

Meanwhile, according to the memoirs of contemporaries, Chaliapin seemed to be embarrassed by the peasants. Often, while relaxing with friends in the village, he could not talk heart to heart with the peasants. It was as if he was putting on a mask: here he is, Chaliapin, a shirt guy, his soul to plow open, and at the same time a “master”, constantly complaining about someone and hinting at his bitter fate. There was in him that anguish that is so characteristic of the Russian people. The peasants, on the other hand, idolized the "golden guy" and his songs, which "take for the soul." “I wish the king would listen,” they said. “Maybe I would cry if I knew peasant life.” Chaliapin liked to complain that the people were getting drunk, while noting that vodka was invented solely so that "the people did not understand their position." And that evening, he got drunk.

Ingratitude

It is not known how Chaliapin's fate would have developed if in 1896 he had not met with the great Russian philanthropist Savva Mamontov, who persuaded him to leave the Mariinsky Theater and go to his opera house. It was while working with Mamontov that Chaliapin became famous. He considered Mamontov's four years to be the most important, because he had at his disposal a repertoire that allowed him to realize himself. Chaliapin was well aware that, as a connoisseur of all that is beautiful, Mamontov cannot but admire him. Wanting to one day check Savva Ivanovich's attitude towards himself, Fedor Ivanovich said that he wanted to receive a salary not monthly, but as a guest performer, for each performance. Say, love - pay. And when Chaliapin was reproached with ingratitude, because it was thanks to Mamontov that he received both the name, and fame, and money, the bass exclaimed: “And should I also be grateful to the masons who built the theater?” They said that when Mamontov went bankrupt, Chaliapin never visited him.

Heavy character

Chaliapin had a bad temper. Not a day went by that he did not quarrel with someone. On one of these days, before performing the main part in Boris Godunov, Chaliapin managed to quarrel with the conductor, the hairdresser and ... the choir. That evening he sang especially admirably. Chaliapin himself said that he felt like Boris on stage. Friends also aptly noticed that after quarrels Chaliapin always sang great. He didn't try to choose words or smooth over sharp corners. He often did not get along with conductors, believing that many of these “idiots” did not understand what they were playing: “Notes are not music yet! Notes are only signs. They still need to make music!” Among Fyodor Ivanovich's acquaintances there were many artists: Korovin, Serov, Vrubel, Levitan. Chaliapin could directly declare that he did not understand what was in the picture: “Is this a man? I wouldn't hang one like this!" As a result, he quarreled with almost everyone.

unwillingness to forgive

Chaliapin always repeated that he did not like to forgive: "Forgiving is the same as making a fool of yourself." He believed that if you allow it, anyone will begin to "exploit" you. A case is known that happened to him in Baku. He strongly quarreled with the entrepreneur, who, after the performance, put up an unknown singer without a penny with the words: “Drive him in the neck!” Much later, the woman, while in the capital, decided to visit a friend whose name had already become popular. Having learned who asked him, Chaliapin boomed loudly: “Entrepreneur? From Baku? Throw her in the neck!”

Threw homeland

He always believed that the Russian people should live better. But the events of 1905 only worsened the situation. Looking out the window, Chaliapin said that "it is impossible to live in this country." “There is no electricity, even the restaurants are closed…” And despite the lamentations, he will live in Russia for another 17 years - a lifetime. During this time, he will make his film debut, playing the role of Ivan the Terrible, will repeatedly act as a director and become the head of the Mariinsky Theater, and will also receive the title of People's Artist. Chaliapin will be forbidden to return to the Land of Soviets and will be deprived of the title of People's in 1927 due to his alleged unwillingness "to return and serve the people whose title of artist was awarded to him." Yes, Chaliapin had not been in his homeland for 5 years already - in 1922 he went on tour abroad, and on the eve of the “sentence” he dared to transfer money from the concert to the children of emigrants (according to another version, Chaliapin generously financed the monarchists in exile). Be that as it may, it will no longer be possible to see Chaliapin's home.

Weary of fame

At the beginning of the 20th century, Fedor Ivanovich Chaliapin was one of the most popular people not only in Russia, but throughout the world. Everyone loved him, regardless of rank and class: ministers and coachmen, composers and carpenters. They recalled that in the very first season of work with Mamontov, Chaliapin became so famous that any dinner in a large restaurant turned into a silent scene: Chaliapin ate - the audience watched. Later, Chaliapin will complain that he is too tired of “all this nonsense”: “I can’t stand fame! They think it's very easy to sing. There is a voice, sang and, ap, Chaliapin! Of course, there were those who did not understand Chaliapin. They said: “Good for him! I sang and please - here's the money for you. Apparently, those who slandered forgot that you can’t go far with one talent. To get to such heights, and, moreover, to hold on, one had to work tirelessly. And Chaliapin, of course, was a great worker.

Chaliapin felt especially tired towards the end of his life. In the last months before his death from leukemia, Fedor Ivanovich dreamed of singing for a couple more years, and then, as he said, "to rest, to the village." “There I will be called Prozorov, after my mother. But Chaliapin is not needed! Was and swam away!

I wanted to express my tone

In his memoirs Mask and Soul, Chaliapin wrote: “There are letters in the alphabet and signs in music. You can write everything with these letters and draw with these signs. But there is an intonation of a sigh. How to write or draw this intonation? There are no such letters and signs! Throughout his life, Fedor Ivanovich perfectly conveyed this very subtle intonation. It was he who opened the Russian opera not only for the world audience, but also for Russia itself. Almost always it was not easy, but Chaliapin possessed those qualities of a national character that allowed him to become Russian property and pride: amazing talent, breadth of soul and the ability to hide the innermost somewhere deep inside.