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, Kirov region), Evdokia Mikhailovna (nee Prozorova). Ivan Yakovlevich and Evdokia Mikhailovna got married on January 27, 1863 in the Church of the Transfiguration in the village of Vozhgaly. As a child, Chaliapin was a singer. Received primary education.
Carier start
Chaliapin himself considered the beginning of his artistic career in 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 he first managed to seriously take up his voice, thanks to the singer D. A. Usatov. Usatov not only approved of Chaliapin's voice, but, due to the latter's lack of financial means, 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, 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 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."
The heyday of creativity
The years spent in the Russian Private Opera, created by S. I. Mamontov, were a brilliant rise in Chaliapin's artistic career. He was a soloist of the RChO for four seasons - from 1896 to 1899. In his autobiographical book "Mask and Soul", written in exile (1932), Chaliapin characterizes this short segment 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. In the productions of the Mammoth Private Opera, the singer grew into a true stage artist. Here is another fragment of his memoirs, which speaks of his initial steps in the Moscow opera company: “S. I. Mamontov told me: - Fedenka, you can do whatever you want in this theater! If you need costumes, tell me, and there will be costumes. If you need to stage a new opera, we will stage an opera! All this dressed my soul in holiday clothes, and for the first time in my life I felt free, strong, able to overcome all obstacles.
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.
Emigration period
Since 1921 (Ents. Dictionary, 1955) or 1922 (Theatre. Ents., 1967) - on tour abroad, in particular in the USA, where Solomon Yurok was his American impresario. When Chaliapin was in France, the Soviet government deprived him of his citizenship only because the singer gave money to the starving children of the White Guards.
Personal life
Chaliapin was married twice, and from both marriages he had 9 children (one died at an early age).
Fyodor Chaliapin met his first wife in Nizhny Novgorod, and they got married in 1896 in the church of the village of Gagino. It was a 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.
In 1984, the ashes of Chaliapin were transferred from Paris to Moscow, to the Novodevichy cemetery.
Addresses in St. Petersburg - Petrograd
- 1894-1895 - Hotel "Palais Royal" - Pushkinskaya street, 20;
- 1899 - Kolokolnaya street, 5;
- 1901 - end of 1911 - furnished rooms by O. N. Mukhina - Bolshaya Morskaya street, 16;
- late 1911 - spring 1912 - tenement house - Liteiny Prospekt, 45;
- summer 1912 - autumn 1914 - Nikolskaya Square, 4, apt. 2;
- autumn 1914 - 06/22/1922 - Permskaya street, 2, apt. 3. (now the Memorial Museum-Apartment of F. I. Chaliapin, St. Petersburg, Graftio St., 2B)
Memory of Chaliapin
- In 1956, the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR considered "proposals to restore F. I. Chaliapin posthumously the title of People's Artist of the Republic", but they were not accepted. The Decree of 1927 was canceled by the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR only on June 10, 1991.
- February 8, 1982 in Kazan, the birthplace of Fyodor Chaliapin, opened the first opera festival named after him. The festival is held on the stage of the Tatar State Opera and Ballet Theatre. M. Jalil, since 1991 has the status of International.
- 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 F. I. Chaliapin was unveiled (sculptor A. Yeletsky, architect Yu. Voskresensky).
- On August 29, 1999, a monument to F. I. Chaliapin (sculptor A. Balashov) was erected in Kazan near the bell tower of the Church of the Epiphany. The monument stands next to the Chaliapin Palace Hotel. In February 1873, Fyodor Chaliapin was baptized in the Church of the Epiphany.
- A monument to Chaliapin was also erected in Ufa.
- Fedor Ivanovich Chaliapin received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for achievements and contributions to music.
- In 2003, on Novinsky Boulevard in Moscow, next to the house-museum named after F.I. Chaliapin, a monument about 2.5 m high was erected in honor of the great artist. The author of the sculpture is Vadim Tserkovnikov.
Gallery
- Portraits of Chaliapin
Valentin Alexandrovich Serov: F. I. Chaliapin in the role of Ivan the Terrible, 1897
P. Robert's caricature of F. I. Chaliapin, 1903
Portrait by B. M. Kustodiev.
Self-portrait of F. Chaliapin in the role of Dosifei (Khovanshchina), made on the wall of the artist's dressing room at the Mariinsky Theater (1911)
Portrait of F. I. Chaliapin on a postage stamp of the USSR, 1965, dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the birth of the artist Serov V. A.
Awards
- 1902 - Order of the Golden Star of Bukhara III degree.
- 1907 - Golden Cross of the Prussian Eagle.
- 1908 - holder of the officer rank.
- 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.
- 1916 - rank of officer.
- 1918 - the title of People's Artist of the Republic (awarded for the first time).
- 1934 - Commander of the Order of the Legion of Honor (France).
Creation
The surviving gramophone recordings of the singer are of very low quality, so one can judge his work mainly from the memoirs of his contemporaries. The singer's voice is a high bass (perhaps a bass-baritone) of a light timbre, with a very pronounced tremulation. Contemporaries note the singer's excellent diction, a flying voice that can be heard even in places farthest from the stage.
According to a common point of view, Chaliapin gained his popularity not so much as a singer, but as an outstanding artist, a master of disguise and artistic expression. Tall, stately, with pronounced demonic features, with a piercing gaze, Chaliapin made an indelible impression in his best tragic roles (Melnik, Boris Godunov, Mephistopheles, Don Quixote). Chaliapin shocked the audience with a frantic temperament, he sang every note, found very accurate and sincere intonations for every word of the song, was absolutely organic and reliable on stage.
Chaliapin's artistic talent was not limited to music and acting. Chaliapin painted well in oils, drew and sculpted, showed great literary abilities, demonstrating in his written works a great and quick-witted natural mind, an extraordinary sense of humor, tenacious powers of observation.
Partners in different years were: A. M. Davydov, T. Dal Monte, D. de Luca, N. Ermolenko-Yuzhina, I. Ershov, E. Zbrueva, E. Caruso, V. Kastorsky, E. Cuza, N. M. Lanskaya, L. Lipkovskaya, F. Litvin, E. Mravina, V. Petrov, T. Ruffo, N. Salina, T. Skipa, P. Slovtsov, D. Smirnov, L. Sobinov, R. Storchio, M. Cherkasskaya, V. Eberle, L. Yakovlev.
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
The message about Chaliapin, summarized in this article, will tell you about the life and work of the Russian opera and chamber singer.
Report on Fyodor Chaliapin
Chaliapin Fedor Ivanovich was born on February 13, 1873 in Kazan in the family of a clerk in the zemstvo administration. The parents noticed a beautiful treble in the little boy and sent him to sing in the church choir, where he got acquainted with the basics of musical literacy. In parallel with this, Fedor studied shoemaking.
The future Russian singer Fyodor Chaliapin graduated from only a few classes of elementary school and went to work as an assistant clerk. Once he visited the Kazan Opera House, and art captivated him. At the age of 16, the young man tries to audition for the theater, but in vain. Fedor took Serebryakov, the head of the drama group, as an extra.
Over time, he is entrusted with vocal parts. The successful performance of the part of Zaretsky (opera Eugene Onegin) brings him little success. Encouraged, Chaliapin decides to change the team to the Semenov-Samarsky musical group, in which he was taken as a soloist, and leaves for Ufa.
The singer, who has gained musical experience, is invited to the Little Russian wandering theater of Derkach. Chaliapin toured the country with him. In Georgia, Fedor is noticed by D. Usatov, a vocal teacher, and takes him to his full support. The future singer not only studied with Usatov, but also worked at the local opera house, performing bass parts.
Creativity of Fyodor Chaliapin
Fyodor Chaliapin's life changed in 1894 when he entered the service of the St. Petersburg Imperial Theatre. It was here that during one performance he was noticed by the philanthropist Savva Mamontov, who lured Fyodor to him. Mamontov gave him the freedom of choice in his theater regarding the parties performed. He sang parts from the operas "Life for the Tsar", "Sadko", "Pskovite", "Mozart and Salieri", "Khovanshchina", "Boris Godunov" and "Mermaid".
At the beginning of the 20th century, he appeared at the Mariinsky Theater as a soloist. Together with the Moscow theater tours around Europe, New York. He performed many times at the Moscow Bolshoi Theatre.
In 1905, Fyodor Chaliapin, the singer, was already a fully formed artist who performed songs famous at that time. He often gave the proceeds from concerts to the workers, which earned him respect for his person from the Soviet authorities.
After the revolution in Russia, Fyodor Ivanovich was appointed head of the Mariinsky Theater and awarded the title of People's Artist of the Republic. But he did not manage to work hard in the theatrical field in his new position for long. In 1922, together with his family, the singer emigrated abroad and he did not perform again in Soviet Russia. After some time, the authorities deprived him of the title of People's Artist of the Republic.
Abroad, he went on tour around the world. After the last tour in the countries of the Far East, Fedor Ivanovich felt bad. After a medical examination in 1937, he was diagnosed with blood cancer. Doctors said that he would not live more than a year. The great singer died in April 1938 in his Paris apartment.
Fedor Chaliapin personal life
His first wife was a ballerina of Italian origin. Her name was Iola Tornagi. The couple married in 1896. 6 children were born in the marriage - Igor, Boris, Fedor, Tatyana, Irina, Lydia. Chaliapin often traveled to perform in St. Petersburg, where he met Maria Valentinovna Petzold. She had two children from her first marriage. They began to meet secretly and, in fact, Fedor Ivanovich started a second family. The artist led a double life before leaving for Europe, where he took a second family. At that time, Maria bore him three more children - Martha, Marina and Dasia. Later, Chaliapin took five children from his first marriage to Paris (son Igor died at the age of 4). Officially, the marriage of Maria and Fyodor Chaliapin was registered in Paris in 1927. Although he maintained a friendly relationship with his first wife Iola, he constantly wrote letters to her about the achievements of their children. Iola herself went to Rome in the 1950s at the invitation of her son.
- Fyodor Chaliapin's music has not been preserved on gramophone records in very good quality. However, contemporaries note his flying, timbre voice with pronounced tremulation.
- Fyodor Chaliapin not only sang. He was fond of sculpture, painting and even starred in 2 films.
- Even in his youth, he auditioned for the choir along with M. Gorky. And the leaders of the team preferred the latter. Chaliapin harbored a grudge against Gorky for the rest of his life, although he did not know the name of his competitor. Once, when meeting with the writer, Fyodor Ivanovich told him this story. And Gorky, laughing, said that he was the offender.
- Has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
- He painted beautifully, as evidenced by his "Self-Portrait".
- Collected weapons.
- His second wife could not officially bear the surname Chaliapin, since he was not divorced from his first wife. Scandals have always arisen in the Western press about this. Once, even on tour in New York, the artist was blackmailed by reporters, demanding $ 10,000 so that the information would not go to the people.
We hope that the report about Fyodor Chaliapin helped you learn a lot of useful information about the singer. And you can leave your message about Fyodor Chaliapin through the comment form below.
“The great Chaliapin was a reflection of the split Russian reality: a tramp and an aristocrat, a family man and a “runner”, a wanderer, a frequenter of restaurants ... ”- this is how his teacher said about the world-famous artist Dmitry Usatov. Despite all life circumstances, Fyodor Chaliapin forever entered the world opera history.
Vasily Shkafer as Mozart and Fyodor Chaliapin as Salieri in Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's Mozart and Salieri. 1898 Photo: RIA Novosti Fedor Ivanovich Chaliapin was born on February 13 (old style - February 1), 1873 in Kazan in a peasant family of immigrants from the Vyatka province. They lived in poverty, his father served as a clerk in the Zemstvo council, often drank, raised his hand to his wife and children, over the years his addiction worsened.
Fedor studied at Vedernikova's private school, but he was expelled for kissing a classmate. Then there was the parish and vocational school, the latter he left due to a serious illness of his mother. On this state education Chaliapin ended. Even before the school, Fedor was assigned to the godfather - to learn shoemaking. “But fate did not judge me to be a shoemaker,” the singer recalled.
Once Fedor heard choral singing in the church, and it fascinated him. He asked to join the choir, and the regent Shcherbinin accepted it. The 9-year-old Chaliapin had an ear and a beautiful voice - a treble, and the regent taught him musical notation and put a salary.
At the age of 12, Chaliapin first got into the theater - to the "Russian Wedding". From that moment on, the theater “drove Chaliapin crazy” and became his lifelong passion. Already in Parisian exile in 1932, he wrote: “Everything that I will remember and tell will ... be connected with my theatrical life. About people and phenomena ... I'm going to judge ... as an actor, from an actor's point of view ... ".
Actors of the opera performance "The Barber of Seville": V. Lossky, Karakash, Fyodor Chaliapin, A. Nezhdanova and Andrey Labinsky. 1913 Photo: RIA Novosti / Mikhail Ozersky
When the opera arrived in Kazan, she, according to Fyodor, amazed him. Chaliapin really wanted to look behind the scenes, and he made his way behind the stage. He was taken as an extra "for a nickel." The career of a great opera singer was still far away. Ahead were breaking voices, moving to Astrakhan, a hungry life and returning to Kazan.
Chaliapin's first solo performance, the part of Zaretsky in the opera Eugene Onegin, took place at the end of March 1890. In September, as a chorister, he moves to Ufa, where he transforms into a soloist, replacing a sick artist. The debut of the 17-year-old Chaliapin in the opera "Pebbles" was appreciated and occasionally entrusted him with small parts. But the theatrical season ended, and Chaliapin again found himself without work and without money. He played passing roles, wandered, and in desperation even thought about suicide.
Russian singer Fyodor Ivanovich Chaliapin as Tsar Ivan the Terrible on a poster for the Châtelet Theater in Paris. 1909 Photo: RIA Novosti / Sverdlov
Friends helped, who advised me to take lessons from Dmitry Usatov- In the past, an artist of the imperial theaters. Usatov not only taught him the famous operas, but also taught him the basics of etiquette. He introduced the newcomer to the music circle, and soon to the Lyubimov Opera, already under contract. Having successfully played over 60 performances, Chaliapin went to Moscow, and then to St. Petersburg. After the successful role of Mephistopheles in Faust, Chaliapin was invited to audition at the Mariinsky Theater and enrolled in the troupe for three years. Chaliapin receives the part of Ruslan in the opera Glinka"Ruslan and Lyudmila", but critics wrote that Chaliapin sang "badly", and he remains without roles for a long time.
But Chaliapin meets a famous philanthropist Savva Mamontov, who offers him a place as a soloist of the Russian Private Opera. In 1896, the artist moved to Moscow and performed successfully for four seasons, improving his repertoire and skills.
Since 1899, Chaliapin has been in the troupe of the Imperial Russian Opera in Moscow and is a success with the public. He is enthusiastically received at the La Scala theater in Milan - where Chaliapin performed in the image of Mephistopheles. The success was amazing, offers began to pour in from all over the world. Chaliapin conquers Paris and London with Diaghilev, Germany, America, South America, and becomes a world famous artist.
In 1918, Chaliapin became the artistic director of the Mariinsky Theater (while refusing the position of artistic director at the Bolshoi Theater) and received the first in Russia title of "People's Artist of the Republic".
Despite the fact that Chaliapin sympathized with the revolution from an early age, he and his family did not escape emigration. The new government confiscated the artist's house, car, bank savings. He tried to protect his family and the theater from attacks, met repeatedly with the leaders of the country, including Lenin And Stalin but that only helped temporarily.
In 1922, Chaliapin left Russia with his family, toured Europe and America. In 1927, the Council of People's Commissars deprives him of the title of People's Artist and the right to return to his homeland. According to one version, Chaliapin donated the proceeds from the concert to the children of emigrants, and in the USSR this gesture was regarded as support for the White Guards.
The Chaliapin family settles in Paris, and it is there that the opera singer will find his last refuge. After touring in China, Japan, and America, Chaliapin returned to Paris in May 1937 already sick. Doctors diagnose - leukemia.
“I’m lying ... in bed ... reading ... and remembering the past: theaters, cities, hardships and successes ... How many roles I played! And it doesn't seem bad. Here's a Vyatka little peasant for you ... ”, - Chaliapin wrote in December 1937 of his daughter Irina.
Ilya Repin paints a portrait of Fyodor Chaliapin. 1914 Photo: RIA Novosti
The great artist died on April 12, 1938. Chaliapin was buried in Paris, and only in 1984 did his son Fyodor achieve the reburial of his father's ashes in Moscow, at the Novodevichy cemetery. In 1991, 53 years after his death, Fyodor Chaliapin was returned the title of People's Artist.
Fyodor Chaliapin made an invaluable contribution to the development of opera art. His repertoire includes over 50 roles in classical operas, over 400 songs, romances and Russian folk songs. In Russia, Chaliapin became famous for the bass parts of Borisov Godunov, Ivan the Terrible, Mephistopheles. Not only his magnificent voice delighted the audience. Chaliapin paid great attention to the stage image of his heroes: he reincarnated as them on stage.
Personal life
Fyodor Chaliapin was married twice, and from both marriages he had 9 children. With his first wife, an Italian ballerina Iola Tornagi- the singer meets at the Mamontov Theater. In 1898 they got married, and in this marriage Chaliapin had six children, one of whom died at an early age. After the revolution, Iola Tornaghi lived in Russia for a long time, and only at the end of the 50s she moved to Rome at the invitation of her son.
Fyodor Chaliapin at work on his sculptural self-portrait. 1912 Photo: RIA Novosti
Being married, in 1910 Fyodor Chaliapin became close to Maria Petzold who raised two children from her first marriage. The first marriage had not yet been dissolved, but in fact the singer had a second family in Petrograd. In this marriage, Chaliapin had three daughters, but the couple was able to formalize their relationship already in Paris in 1927. Fedor Chaliapin spent the last years of his life with Maria.
Fedor Ivanovich Chaliapin received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for achievements and contributions to music.
Chaliapin was a remarkable draftsman and tried his hand at painting. Many of his works have survived, including "Self-portrait". He also tried his hand at sculpture. Performing in Ufa at the age of 17 as Stolnik in the opera Moniuszko"Pebbles" Chaliapin fell on stage - sat down past a chair. All his life from that moment he vigilantly watched the chairs on the stage. Lev Tolstoy after listening to the folk song "Nochenka" performed by Chaliapin, he expressed his impressions: "He sings too loudly ...". A Semyon Budyonny after meeting Chaliapin in the carriage and drinking a bottle of champagne with him, he recalled: "The whole carriage seemed to shudder from his mighty bass."
Chaliapin collected weapons. Old pistols, shotguns, spears, mostly donated A.M. Gorky hung on his walls. The house committee either took away his collection, then, at the direction of the deputy chairman of the Cheka, returned it.
Writer Alexei Maksimovich Gorky and singer Fyodor Ivanovich Chaliapin. 1903 Photo:
After artists or architects something material remains. And what remains after the great singers? Mostly technically imperfect recordings. It's even a shame that this is the case. That is why it is better to listen to such masters "live". Especially when there is such an opportunity. And if not - well, it remains to trust the films and memoirists.
Biography of Fyodor Chaliapin
He was born into a poor peasant family on 02/13/1873. The father dreamed of seeing his son as a man of a practical profession. Of course, music in his eyes was not a matter. He raised his son in strictness. It happened that he severely flogged at the stable. In 1883, Chaliapin first appeared in the theater. Everything he saw there magically struck him for life. Later, Chaliapin travels a lot with various acting troupes. And from lack of money, he had to work on the pier - either as a loader, or as a hooker.
Fate brings him to Tiflis. Here Usatov, a well-known singing teacher at that time, saw him and became interested. In the past, he himself was a famous opera singer. He undertook to teach the young Chaliapin vocals completely free of charge, sensing in him a remarkable talent. The student quickly made progress, and already in 1893 Fedor entered the professional scene. The choice was huge. In just one season, Chaliapin had to master as many as 12 opera parts. He quickly became a crowd favorite. She received him warmly and enthusiastically.
Chaliapin shone in the role of Melnik from "Mermaid". A year later, the beginning bass went to conquer the capital. There he was also noticed and appreciated. The management of the Mariinsky Theater concludes a three-year contract with Chaliapin. The pinnacle of recognition is the imperial stage. Then he was invited to perform in a private troupe by a well-known philanthropist. They immediately liked each other. However, Chaliapin does not accept Mamontov's tempting offer. He returns to the everyday life of the imperial theater. Then, succumbing to the persuasion of his beloved woman, the Greek woman Iola Tarnaki, he moves to Moscow.
Now Chaliapin is working with enthusiasm in the Mamontov Theater. Here he can afford the most daring artistic experiments. Ivan the Terrible, Boris Godunov - a whole gallery of bright and expressive images. A number of Chaliapin's parts were helped to prepare by the composer and conductor, who was then starting out. Their friendship continued until the end of their lives. For his part, Rachmaninoff even dedicated several of his romances to Chaliapin.
There were legends about Chaliapin's tough temper. He lost his temper over every little thing. He especially could not stand falsehood, hack-work on stage. I spent the most. Loved money. He said: "Only birds poop for free." Thanks to his unique vocal range, Chaliapin was both a bass and a tenor. Chaliapin also had occasion to sing in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior.
The coming to power of the Bolsheviks at first changed little. Chaliapin is still invited to perform at official concerts, he is in demand. He is awarded honorary titles. But then official voices are heard demanding the socialization of creativity, putting talent at the service of the people. In 1922, Chaliapin and his family left Russia forever. Officially - on tour, in fact - in exile. In 1927, in his homeland, he was deprived of the title of People's Artist. He was known all over the world, but he chose France.
Numerous tours, fame, the purchase of a luxurious mansion. With tremendous success, Chaliapin makes a tour of America. At the end of his life, he will write a memoir called "The Mask and the Soul." Chaliapin died of leukemia in 1938. Until the last years, he dreamed of returning to his homeland.
- Few people know that Chaliapin owed Savva Mamontov the formation of his voice. He sang superbly, although he did not make a career in this field.
