Born in the family of a peasant Ivan Yakovlevich from the village of Syrtsovo, who served in the Zemstvo Council, and Evdokia Mikhailovna from the village of Dudinskaya, Vyatka province.
At first, little Fyodor, trying to put "to the point", was given as an apprentice to the shoemaker N.A. Tonkov, then V.A. Andreev, then to a turner, later to a carpenter.
In early childhood, he developed a beautiful treble voice and often sang with his mother. At the age of 9, he began to sing in the church choir, where he was brought by the regent Shcherbitsky, their neighbor, and began to earn money from weddings and funerals. The father bought a violin for his son at the flea market and Fedor tried to play it.
Later, Fedor entered the 6th city four-year school, where there was a wonderful teacher N.V. Bashmakov, which he graduated with a commendable diploma.
In 1883, Fyodor Chaliapin first got into the theater and then sought to watch all the performances.
From the age of 12, he began to participate in the performances of a touring troupe as an extra.
In 1889 he entered the drama troupe of V.B. Serebryakova as an extra.
On March 29, 1890, Fyodor Chaliapin made his debut with the part of Zaretsky in P.I. Tchaikovsky "Eugene Onegin", staged by the Kazan Society of Performing Art Lovers. Soon he moved from Kazan to Ufa, where he performed in the choir of the troupe S.Ya. Semenov-Samarsky.
In 1893, Fedor Chaliapin moved to Moscow, and in 1894 to St. Petersburg, where he began to sing in the country garden "Arcadia", in the theater of V.A. Panaev and in the troupe of V.I. Zazulin.
In 1895, the directorate of the St. Petersburg Opera Houses accepted him into the troupe of the Mariinsky Theater, where he sang the parts of Mephistopheles in Faust by Charles Gounod and Ruslan in Ruslan and Lyudmila by M.I. Glinka.
In 1896, S.I. Mamontov invited Fyodor Chaliapin to sing in his Moscow private opera and move to Moscow.
In 1899, Fyodor Chaliapin became the leading soloist of the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow and, while touring, performed at the Mariinsky Theater with great success.
In 1901, Fyodor Chaliapin gave 10 triumphal performances at La Scala in Milan in Italy and went on a concert tour of Europe.
Since 1914, he began to perform in the private opera companies of S.I. Zimin in Moscow and A.R. Aksarin in Petrograd.
In 1915, Fyodor Chaliapin played the role of Ivan the Terrible in the film drama "Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich the Terrible" based on L. May's drama "The Maid of Pskov".
In 1917, Fyodor Chaliapin acted as a director, staging D. Verdi's opera Don Carlos at the Bolshoi Theater.
After 1917 he was appointed artistic director of the Mariinsky Theatre.
In 1918, Fyodor Chaliapin was awarded the title of People's Artist of the Republic, but in 1922 he went on tour to Europe and stayed there, continuing to perform successfully in America and Europe.
In 1927, Fyodor Chaliapin donated money to a priest in Paris for the children of Russian emigrants, which was presented as assistance to "White Guards in the fight against Soviet power" on May 31, 1927 in the magazine Vserabis by S. Simon. And on August 24, 1927, the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR, by a decree, deprived him of the title of People's Artist and forbade him to return to the USSR. This decision was canceled by the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR on June 10, 1991 "as unfounded."
In 1932, he starred in the film "The Adventures of Don Quixote" by G. Pabst based on the novel by Cervantes.
In 1932-1936 Fyodor Chaliapin went on tour to the Far East. In China, Japan, Manchuria, he gave 57 concerts.
In 1937 he was diagnosed with leukemia.
On April 12, 1938, Fedor died and was buried in the Batignolles cemetery in Pargiers, France. In 1984, his ashes were transferred to Russia and on October 29, 1984, they were reburied at the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow.
FOREWORD
The art of Fyodor Ivanovich Chaliapin, a brilliant Russian singer, who, according to M. Gorky, became "a symbol of Russian power and talent", and today is perceived throughout the world as the highest example.
A successor to the realistic traditions of the domestic 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 were also distinguished by the parts of the Western European repertoire sung by him, among which Mephistopheles in the opera of the same name by A. Boito and "Fauste" by C. Gounod, Don Basilio in "The Barber of Seville" by G. Rossini, King Philip in "Don Carlos" were especially distinguished "G. Verdi.
The singer's voice - a high (baritone) bass, basso cantante of a soft, velvety timbre was set by nature. He was famous not so much for his power and strength, the breadth of his 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, cantilena, the singer never made mastery an end in itself, his singing was always filled, as the conductor A. Pazovsky wrote, with "deep feeling and concrete figurative thought." He always "sang as he spoke", but he sang, intoned the word musically, 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 bass standard," 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 for life retained memories of village holidays, round dances. Chaliapin heard his first folk songs from his mother. As a boy, he sang in the church choir, unusually quickly mastered the basics of musical notation. Participation in church services introduced the future singer to music, developed natural musicality. "Holy song. lives inseparably and inseparably from that simple lowland song which, like a bell, also shakes the twilight of life. There is a lot of bitter and bright things in a person's life, but a sincere resurrection is a song, a true ascension is a hymn," Chaliapin wrote in his book "Mask and Soul".
The "first theatrical burns", according to Chaliapin's memoirs, were associated with fairground festivities, performances by the farcical "grandfather" Yakov Mamonov. And later, when he got to the Kazan City Theatre, the young man eagerly absorbed the impressions of the game of talented dramatic actors - V. Andreev-Burlak, I. Kiselevsky, N. Palchikova, attended opera performances with the participation of the famous singer Y. Zakrzhevsky. At the same time, Chaliapin began to act 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 debut on stage took place in a small part of Stolnik in S. Moniuszko's opera "Pebbles" 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 begins,” Chaliapin wrote. - He awakened in me the first serious thoughts about the theater, taught me to feel the nature of various musical works, clarified my taste and - which I have considered and still consider the most precious throughout my career - clearly taught the musical perception and musical expression of the plays performed "
A year after his debut in Tiflis, where for the first time such roles as Melnik in Dargomyzhsky's "Mermaid" and Mephistopheles in Gounod's "Faust" were performed, Chaliapin tries his hand in 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 felt, guessed the future of Chaliapin, in the creative, invigorating atmosphere of the Moscow Russian Private Opera, the artist's talent developed and grew stronger by leaps and bounds.
The leading place in the repertoire of the Mammoth theater was occupied by Russian opera. Chaliapin's first triumph was associated with the role of the Terrible in Rimsky-Korsakov's The Maid of Pskov. Mamontov's thoughtful direction, impressions from the paintings of I. Repin, V. Schwartz, V. Vasnetsov, and the sculptures of M. Antokolsky contributed to the creation of a contradictory, complex image of the tyrant tsar. For the first time, contemporaries felt the new that was characteristic of all subsequent work of Chaliapin - a unique synthesis of dramatic skill with the rarest musicality. Seeing Grozny-Chaliapin on tour of Mamontov's opera in St. Petersburg, V. Stasov - the recognized patriarch of Russian art - exclaimed in the article "Immense Joy": Great happiness fell on us from the sky. A new great talent has been 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 make-up, costume, 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 commander Holofernes ("Judith" Serov), Dositheus ("Khovanshchina" Mussorgsky), the part of Boris Godunov in Mussorgsky's opera, which became the best creation of the artist, Chaliapin took place together with Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninov, who was invited to conduct performances of the Private Opera. At the same time, the friendship between the artist and the composer began, many times performing together in concerts. Rachmaninoff dedicated several of his romances to Chaliapin and loved to accompany the singer. Passing opera parts, and then learning romances for a joint performance in concerts, a sensitive genius singer picked up the slightest instructions or advice from a more musically educated Rachmaninoff and performed things as soon as he could do it, "recalled Rachmaninov's cousin and biographer S.A. Satin.
In 1899, Chaliapin returned to the imperial stage, becoming a soloist at the Bolshoi and Mariinsky theatres. The beginning of the twentieth century is associated with the heyday of his work, fame and recognition at home and abroad. In 1901, he first goes on tour to the "opera capital" of Europe, Milan, to sing Mephistopheles in Boito's opera on the stage of La Scala. Recognition of the Milanese, hotly The famous Italian tenor Angelo Masini expressed his enthusiastic response to the performance of the Russian singer when he wrote to the Novoye Vremya newspaper: I am writing to you under the fresh impression of the performance with the participation of your Chaliapin. This is both a wonderful singer and an excellent actor, and in addition he has a direct Dante pronunciation. "Chaliapin's participation in the historical Russian concerts in Paris (1907), and then in the Russian Seasons organized by S. P. Diaghilev (1908-1914), becomes great event in the musical life of 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 later life." Even when the music of the opera was imperfect, like, say, “Don Quixote” by J. Massenet, the artist was able to enrich the part with deep content, expressive plasticity, inspired play, so that the audience forgot about the weakness of musical dramaturgy.
The singer's concert repertoire was extensive and varied. His performances on the stage made up a special, brilliant page of chamber singing. A great dramatic gift, the power of stage imagination helped Chaliapin create a whole gallery of portraits, psychologically accurate characters, whether it be 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, I. Brahms, romances by Glinka, Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov. B.V. Asafiev recalled: “Chaliapin sang truly chamber music, it used to be so concentrated, so“ deep ”that it seemed he had nothing to do with the theater. Perfect calmness and restraint took possession of him. For example, I remember:“ In a dream I wept bitterly" Schumann - one sound, a voice in silence, a modest, hidden emotion - but there is no performer, and there is no this large, cheerful, generous with humor, affection, clear person. A lonely voice sounds - and everything is in the voice: all the depth and fullness of the human heart.
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 of folk life made Chaliapin's performance of Russian songs especially heartfelt. "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 the Russian character and Russian national genius. "- wrote the composer and musical 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. Yermolova, for the first time in the history of the country, who were awarded the title of People's Artists of the Republic.
In 1922, Chaliapin went on a long tour abroad. One of his last concerts was attended by the then-novice 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 opened up new possibilities for the expressively sung word and the powerful forces hidden in the romance, in the song, in the opera image, 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, like for many other figures of Russian culture, in the difficult political atmosphere of that time 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.
Huge and inexhaustible interest in the work of Chaliapin in our country and abroad, his voice constantly sounds on the radio, from numerous records. This collection from 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 idea of vocal music lovers about his creative image.
E. Dmitrievskaya
- M. Glinka. Farlaf's Rondo from the opera "Ruslan and Lyudmila"
- A. Verstovsky. Song of the Unknown from the opera "Askold's Grave"
- M. Mussorgsky. Varlaam's song 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". Translated by M. Slonov
- C. Gounod. Flower Spell from the opera "Faust". Translation by P. Kalashnikov
- J. Massenet. Serenade of Don Quixote from the opera "Don Quixote". Translated by F. Chaliapin
- A. Boito. Ballad of Mephistopheles (with a whistle) 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. Curl up in a wave. Russian text by P. Tchaikovsky.
- M. Mussorgsky. Trepak. Words by A. Golenishchev-Kutuzov
- N. Rimsky-Korsakov. The stormy day is over. Words by A. Pushkin.
- S. Rachmaninov. We met yesterday. Words by Y. 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. Schuman. I'm not angry. Words by G. Heine, translation by F. Berg
- In my dream I wept 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. Working song. Arranged by M. Slonov
The childhood of Fyodor Chaliapin
The future singer was born in Kazan on February 13, 1873. Fyodor Chaliapin's parents got married in January 1863, and 10 years later their son Fyodor was born.My father worked as an archivist in the Zemstvo council. Fedor's mother, Evdokia Mikhailovna, was an ordinary peasant woman from the village of Dudintsy.
Already in childhood, it became clear that little Fedor had a musical talent. Possessing a beautiful treble, he sang in the suburban church choir and at village holidays. Later, the boy was invited to sing in neighboring churches. When Fedor graduated from the 4th grade with a commendable diploma, he was apprenticed to a shoemaker, then to a turner.
At the age of 14, the boy began working as a clerk in the zemstvo council of the Kazan district. Earned 10 rubles a month. However, Chaliapin never forgot about music. Having learned to read music, Fedor tried to devote all his free time to music.
The beginning of the creative career of the singer Fyodor Chaliapin
In 1883, Fedor first came to the theater to stage the play by P.P. Sukhonin "Russian Wedding". Chaliapin "fell ill" with the theater and tried not to miss a single performance. Most of all, the boy liked the opera. And the greatest impression on the future singer was made by M. I. Glinka's opera A Life for the Tsar. The father sends his son to the school to study as a carpenter, but when his mother fell ill, Fedor was forced to return to Kazan to look after her. It was in Kazan that Chaliapin began to try to get a job in the theater.Finally, in 1889, he was accepted as an extra in the prestigious Serebryakov Choir. Prior to this, Chaliapin was not accepted into the choir, but they took some lanky, terribly rounded young man. A few years later, having met Maxim Gorky, Fedor told him about his first failure. Gorky chuckled and said that it was he who was this dumb young man, although he was quickly expelled from the choir due to the complete absence of his voice.
And the first performance of the extra-Chaliapin ended in failure. He was entrusted with a role without words. The cardinal played by Chaliapin, along with his retinue, had to simply walk across the stage. Fedor was very worried and constantly repeated to his retinue: “Do everything like me!”.
As soon as he entered the stage, Chaliapin got entangled in the red cardinal's robe and fell to the floor. The retinue, remembering the instructions, followed him. The cardinal could not get up and crawled across the stage. As soon as the creeping retinue headed by Chaliapin was behind the scenes, the director wholeheartedly kicked the “cardinal” and lowered him down the stairs!
Chaliapin performed his first solo role - the role of Zaretsky in the opera "Eugene Onegin" in March 1890.
In September of the same year, Chaliapin moved to Ufa and began to sing in the local operetta troupe of Semenov-Samarsky. Gradually, Chaliapin began to entrust small roles in many performances. After the end of the season, Chaliapin joined Derkach's itinerant troupe, with whom he toured the cities of Russia, Central Asia and the Caucasus.
Life of Fyodor Chaliapin in Tiflis
As for many other great representatives of Russian literature and art, Tiflis played a very important role in the life of Chaliapin. Here he met a former artist of the Imperial Theaters, Professor Usatov. After listening to the singer, Usatov said: “Stay to learn from me. I won't take any money for my studies. Usatov not only "put" the voice of Chaliapin, but helped him financially. In 1893, Chaliapin made his debut on the stage of the Tiflis Opera House.HEY FUCK! Russian folk song. Performed by: FYODOR SHALYAPIN.
A year later, all the bass parts in the Tiflis opera were performed by Chaliapin. It was in Tiflis that Chaliapin gained fame and recognition, and turned from a self-taught singer into a professional artist.
The heyday of creativity of Fyodor Chaliapin
In 1895, Fyodor Chaliapin arrived in Moscow, where he signed a contract with the directorate of the Mariinsky Theater. Initially, Fedor Ivanovich played only minor roles on the stage of the Imperial Theater.The meeting with the famous philanthropist Savva Mamontov marked the beginning of the flowering of Chaliapin's work. Mamontov invited the singer to work at the Moscow Private Opera with a salary three times higher than the salary at the Mariinsky Theater.
Chaliapin's many-sided talent was truly revealed in the private opera, and the repertoire was replenished with many unforgettable images from the operas of Russian composers.
In 1899, Chaliapin was invited to the Bolshoi Theater, where he had a stunning success. The stage life of the singer turned into a grandiose triumph. He became everyone's favorite. The singer's contemporaries assessed his unique voice in this way: in Moscow there are three miracles - the Tsar Bell, the Tsar Cannon and the Tsar Bass - Fedor Chaliapin.
Fyodor Chaliapin. Elegy. Romance. Old Russian Romance.
Music critics wrote that, apparently, Russian composers of the 19th century “foresaw” the appearance of a great singer, which is why they wrote so many wonderful parts for bass: Ivan the Terrible, the Varangian Guest, Salieri, Melnik, Boris Godunov, Dosifey and Ivan Susanin. Largely thanks to the talent of Chaliapin, who included arias from Russian operas in his repertoire, the composers N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov, A.S. Dargomyzhsky, M. Mussorgsky, M. Glinka received world recognition.
In the same years, the singer receives European fame. In 1900 he was invited to the famous Milanese La Scala. The amount that was paid to Chaliapin under the contract at that time was unheard of high. After a stay in Italy, the singer began to be invited on tour abroad every year. The world war of the revolution and the civil war in Russia for a long 6 years "put an end" to the singer's foreign tours. In the period from 1914 to 1920, Chaliapin did not leave Russia.
Emigration period
In 1922, Chaliapin went on tour in the United States. The singer never returned to the Soviet Union. At home, in turn, they decided to deprive Chaliapin of the title of People's Artist. The way to Russia was finally cut off.
Abroad, Chaliapin tries his hand at a new art - cinema. In 1933, he starred in the film "Don Quixote" directed by G. Pabst.
Fyodor Chaliapin's personal life
Fedor Chaliapin was married twice. The singer met his first wife, an Italian ballerina, Iona Tornaghi, in 1898 in Nizhny Novgorod. In this marriage, seven children were born at once. 
Later, without terminating the first marriage, Chaliapin becomes close to Maria Petzold. The woman at that time already had two children from her first marriage. They met in secret for a long time. The marriage was officially registered only in 1927 in Paris.
Memory
Chaliapin died in the spring of 1938 in Paris. The great singer was buried at the Batignolles cemetery in Paris. Only almost half a century later, in 1984, his son Fyodor obtained permission to reburial his father's ashes in Moscow, at the Novodevichy cemetery.The repeated funeral was held with all honors.
And 57 years after the death of the artist, he was posthumously returned the title of People's Artist of the USSR.
So, finally, the singer returned to his homeland.
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 kbps
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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Understanding the history of Russian musical theater is impossible without considering the question of in which operas Chaliapin performed the main parts. This outstanding singer had a huge impact on the development of not only domestic, but also world culture. It is difficult to overestimate his contribution to the formation of the national opera art. His phenomenal success abroad contributed to the spread and popularization of not only Russian classical music, but also folk, folk songwriting.
Some biography facts
Chaliapin was born in Kazan in 1873. The future singer came from a simple peasant family. He graduated from the local parish school and sang in the church choir since childhood. However, due to the difficult financial situation, he studied craftsmanship for some time. After some time, the young man entered the Arsk school. The beginning of his creative career is associated with joining Serebryakov's troupe, where at first he performed small parts, participating in choral singing.
In 1890, Fedor Ivanovich Chaliapin left for Ufa, where he joined an operetta troupe. Here he began to perform solo parts. Four years later he moved to Moscow, and then to the capital of the empire, where he was admitted to the main theater. Here he performed the roles of both foreign and domestic repertoire. The talent of the young singer immediately attracted the attention of not only the general public, but also critics. However, despite the growth in popularity, Chaliapin felt somewhat constrained: he lacked freedom and personal initiative.
Carier start
The turning point in the singer's life occurred after he met the famous Russian millionaire and philanthropist S. Mamontov. He first met him in the search for talents and recruited the best singers, musicians and artists into his troupe. In this city, Chaliapin's performances began with his performance of the title role of Ivan Susanin in M. Glinka's opera A Life for the Tsar. The performance was a great success and played a decisive role in the artist's career, since it was in this production that his great talent was revealed precisely as a performer of Russian classical music, which he perfectly felt and understood.
Then Savva Ivanovich invited the singer to his private troupe. He wanted to create a Russian national musical theater, and therefore took special care to attract the most talented artists to himself.
The heyday of creativity
The Mammoth Opera has played an outstanding role in Russian culture. The fact is that operas that were not staged in state theaters were staged on this private stage. For example, it was here that the premiere of Rimsky-Korsakov's new work Mozart and Salieri took place. The role of the latter was brilliantly played by Chaliapin. In general, this new theater was intended to popularize the music of the representatives of the "Big Handful". And it was in this repertoire that the talent of the singer was revealed to the maximum.
In order to understand how much the roles of this outstanding performer have changed, it is enough to simply list in which operas Chaliapin performed the main parts. He began to sing a large Russian opera: he was attracted by the strong, powerful and dramatic music of composers who wrote their works on historical, epic and fairy-tale themes. The singer especially liked the traditional folk motifs, and the paintings from ancient Russian history attracted him with their picturesqueness and depth. It was during this period of his work (1896-1899) that he embodied a number of outstanding images on stage. One of his most significant works of this stage was the role of Ivan the Terrible in the work of Rimsky-Korsakov.
Historical themes in creativity
The opera The Maid of Pskov is based on a historical episode and is notable for its sharp and dynamic plot and, at the same time, the psychological depth of the depiction of the tsar and the inhabitants of the city. The music of this work was ideal for the vocal and artistic possibilities of the singer. In the role of this ruler, he was very convincing and expressive, so that this work became one of the most significant in his career. Subsequently, he even starred in a film based on this work. However, since the singer did not perceive the independent value of cinema, he almost never acted, and his first film did not deserve critical acclaim.
Performance features
For an objective assessment of the singer's work, it is necessary to indicate in which operas Chaliapin performed the main parts. It should be noted that there are many of them. The opera "Pskovityanka" became one of the most significant in his career. However, he became famous in a number of other outstanding productions. During this period, he considered Russian opera to be his main repertoire, which he especially appreciated, and attached great importance to it in the development of world musical theater. Contemporaries noted that the singer's popularity was explained not only by his amazing vocal abilities, but also by his artistry, the ability to get used to the role and convey all the smallest shades of intonation with his voice.
Critics noticed that he perfectly felt the musical language of the performed works. In addition, Chaliapin was an excellent theatrical artist, that is, with the help of facial expressions and gestures, he conveyed all the psychological traits of the character portrayed. The singer had the talent of reincarnation. For example, he could play several roles in one performance. Fyodor Chaliapin became especially famous for this skill.
"Boris Godunov" - an opera in which he sang the parts of the tsar and the monk Pimen. His performance was particularly expressive, since for each role he knew how to find a new musical language. Mussorgsky was his favorite composer.
Episodes
Chaliapin's voice is a high bass. And although he became famous for performing primarily dramatic parts, nevertheless, he had a good sense of humor, and as a great artist he played comedic roles perfectly, for example, the part of Don Basilio in the opera The Barber of Seville.
His talent was multifaceted: he sang superbly in episodic roles, as, for example, in Glinka's opera. In addition to playing the main role in the play "Life for the Tsar", he played the role of one of the knights in his other work. This small mise-en-scene was positively noted by critics, who said that the artist was able to accurately convey the image of a boastful warrior.
Another small but significant role is the party of the Varangian guest, which has become the singer's calling card, and the image of the miller from another fairy tale opera. Nevertheless, serious dramatic parts continued to be the basis of his repertoire. Here, the work in the opera Mozart and Salieri should be singled out separately. This work is chamber and differs from those performances in which he previously participated. Nevertheless, Chaliapin showed himself as a great artist here too, superbly performing the bass part.
In the first decades of the 20th century
On the eve of the first Russian revolution, the singer was already very popular. At this time, he sings songs from folk songwriting, which received a special sound in his performance. The song Dubinushka, to which the workers gave a revolutionary sound, gained particular fame. After the Bolsheviks came to power in 1917, Chaliapin became the de facto director of the Mariinsky Theater and was awarded the title of People's Artist of the Republic. However, due to frequent tours abroad and donations to the children of emigrants, he was suspected of sympathy for the monarchy. Since 1922, the singer lived and toured abroad, for which he was deprived of the title of People's Artist.
Emigration
In the 1920-1930s, the singer actively toured, performing not only with domestic, but also with foreign repertoire. When characterizing this period of his work, one should indicate in which operas Chaliapin performed the main parts. So, especially for him, J. Massenet wrote the opera Don Quixote. The singer played this role and starred in the film of the same name.
Chaliapin died in 1938 from a serious illness, was buried in France, but then his ashes were transported to our country. In 1991, he was posthumously returned the title of People's Artist.
