Chaliapin actor and who else. Fyodor Chaliapin is a great Russian singer. Biography

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10 facts about Fyodor Chaliapin

Fyodor Chaliapin was an artist whom the whole world knew: he performed on the most famous stages in different countries. We collected 10 interesting facts about the singer's life. Read how Chaliapin failed his theatrical debut, signed a contract with La Scala without knowing the Italian language, and violated court etiquette in the royal box of the London theater.

Baby Fyodor Shlyapkin

Fyodor Chaliapin had his last name changed in infancy. The singer was born in a windy and frosty February, frail and sickly, nothing foreshadowed that this baby would later grow into a hero. My parents were worried that I might leave this world unbaptized. IN Epiphany Cathedral Kazan was very cool, the priest who baptized the baby decided to conduct the ceremony in a shortened form, so as not to completely catch a cold or freeze the child. The church scribe was also in a hurry, who made a mistake in his haste, writing “baby Fyodor Shlyapkin” in the church book, distorting Chaliapin’s surname. In this form, several years ago, researchers of the singer’s work found it in the archive.

Ilya Repin. Portrait of Fyodor Chaliapin. 1882

Valentin Serov. Portrait of the artist F.I. Shalyapin. 1905. Tretyakov Gallery

Leonid Pasternak. Portrait of Fyodor Chaliapin. 1913

First teacher - regent

Chaliapin could not be called a very religious person, but his interest in singing came to him after he once accidentally walked into an evening church service and heard church choir. Most of all, he was amazed by the boys - his peers - who sang according to the notes. By chance, in the same house as the Chaliapin family, there lived a church choir director, who checked young Fyodor’s hearing, made sure that everything was fine with it and his voice, and gave him a couple of lessons musical literacy. After them, the future great bass learned to read music and soon joined the church choir. His first vocal performance took place here.

Two days without food or water

Fyodor Chaliapin made his stage debut in dramatic performance"The Tramps", he was assigned the role of gendarme Roger. More precisely, this debut did not take place. When Chaliapin entered the stage of the Panayevsky Garden in Kazan, he fell into a stupor. They told him from behind the scenes, then they shouted - in vain. The curtain was lowered, the director tore off the loser actor’s costume. Chaliapin climbed over the fence and ran wherever he could. For two days without food or water, I holed up in some barn, afraid to leave. It seemed to him that the whole city knew about his shame. By the way, excitement and shyness, despite world fame, remained in his character.

“I love Tornagi madly!”

Chaliapin was quite an amorous person and experienced several affairs before his first marriage. But the Italian ballerina Iola Tornaghi, with whom he found himself in the same troupe, seriously turned his head. Fyodor Ivanovich came up with a very witty way of declaring his love to her. He redid the lines in Gremin’s aria in “Eugene Onegin” and instead of the required “Onegin, I won’t hide it, I love Tatyana madly” sang “Onegin, I swear on my sword, I love Tornagi madly”. It is incomprehensible how Iola, who did not know the Russian language at that time, was able to understand this, but consent to the marriage was obtained.

Fyodor Chaliapin. Photo: rufact.org

Fyodor Chaliapin. Photo: chtoby-pomnili.com

Fyodor Chaliapin and Iola Tornagi. 1890-1900. Photo: aif.ru

The first damn thing is lumpy

Chaliapin's first big role on the stage of the Mariinsky Theater was Ruslan; the singer had only two weeks to prepare for the performance, which turned out to be insufficient. It was, if not a deafening failure, then a clear failure, after which they gave up on Chaliapin for some time and began to entrust him with only small parties. Chaliapin, although he was only 21 years old, reacted to the situation wisely and later often said that this situation “knocked self-confidence out of him forever.”

Fabulous fee

When Fyodor Chaliapin received a telegram from La Scala with an offer to perform the role of Mephistopheles in the opera Boito on this stage, the singer initially decided that it was a joke. He even sent a counter telegram to the theater with a request to duplicate the first one. And when he realized that everything was serious, he was not being played, he was terribly scared. In order for the theater to withdraw its invitation, Chaliapin appointed a fabulous fee by the standards of those years, in the hope that the contract would not be signed. But the theater accepted the conditions of the Russian bass. Who, however, did not yet sing in Italian.

Fyodor Chaliapin in the title role in the production of Modest Mussorgsky's opera Boris Godunov. Photo: chtoby-pomnili.com

Fyodor Chaliapin as Ivan the Terrible in a production of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s opera “The Woman of Pskov.” 1898 Photo: chrono.ru

Fyodor Chaliapin as Prince Galitsky in the production of Alexander Borodin's opera "Prince Igor". Photo: chrono.ru

King and Tsar

On tour in London with Sergei Diaghilev's troupe, Chaliapin performed the role of Boris Godunov in the opera of the same name. The King of England was present at one of the performances in the hall. He was amazed by the Russian bass and extended an invitation to the singer to come to the royal box. It was possible to get into the king's box only through the hall, which Chaliapin did right in the makeup and costume of Tsar Boris who had just gone crazy. There was a pause in the royal box, the king was silent for some reason, then Chaliapin, who decided that the monarch was timid before the greatness of Russian music, spoke to him first. What a violation of etiquette. But the king was so moved that the singer got away with it.

Expensive watch from the emperor

Chaliapin was not shy at all strongmen of the world this. Once Emperor Nicholas II sent him a gold watch as a gift. It seemed to Chaliapin that they were not expensive enough; the ones he had on his hand cost a lot more. And he sent this gift to the director of the Imperial Theaters, Telyakovsky, along with a letter in which he explained why he was doing this. Telyakovsky somehow managed to settle the incident, and Chaliapin received a new watch case from the emperor. This time the watch was very expensive. Konstantin Korovin. Portrait of the artist F.I. Shalyapin. 1911. Timing

Konstantin Korovin. Portrait of the artist F.I. Shalyapin. 1905. Private collection

Didn't join the party

Chaliapin long years I sympathized with the socialist movement and even somehow decided to join the party. One day, while walking around Capri with Gorky, Fyodor Ivanovich asked the writer for advice: “Shouldn’t I, Alexey Maksimovich, join the Social Democratic Party?” Gorky looked at him sternly and replied: “You are not fit for this. Don’t join any parties, be an artist, that’s enough for you.”. Subsequently, Chaliapin was very grateful to Gorky for this advice.

Fyodor Chaliapin's biography of the Russian opera and chamber singer is briefly outlined in this article.

Fyodor Chaliapin short biography

Fyodor Ivanovich was born on February 13, 1873 in Kazan into the family of a clerk in the zemstvo administration. His parents noticed their son's abilities and sent him to the church choir, where he learned the basics of musical literacy. At the same time, Fedor studied shoemaking.

Fyodor Chaliapin completed only a few classes primary school and went to work as an assistant clerk. One day he visited the Kazan Opera Theater, and art captivated him. At the age of 16, he auditions for the theater, but in vain. Serebryakov, the head of the drama group, took Fedora as an extra.

Over time, he is entrusted with vocal parts. The successful performance of the role of Zaretsky (the opera Eugene Onegin) brings him minor success. The inspired Chaliapin decides to change the team to music group Semenov-Samarsky, in which he was accepted as a soloist, and leaves for Ufa.

Plenty of musical experience singer, is invited to the Little Russian traveling theater of Derkach. Chaliapin tours the country with him. In Georgia, Fedora is noticed by D. Usatov, a vocal teacher, and takes him in for full support. The future singer not only studied with Usatov, but also worked at the local opera house, performing bass lines.

In 1894, he entered the service of the St. Petersburg Imperial Theater, where he was noticed by benefactor Savva Mamontov, and invited Fedor to his theater. Mamontov gave him freedom of choice in his theater regarding the roles performed. He sang parts from the operas “A Life for the Tsar”, “Sadko”, “The Pskov Woman”, “Mozart and Salieri”, “Khovanshchina”, “Boris Godunov” and “Rusalka”.

At the beginning of the twentieth century he appears at the Mariinsky Theater as a soloist. Together with the capital's theater he tours throughout Europe and New York. He performed at the Moscow Bolshoi Theater many times.

In 1905, Fyodor Chaliapin, the singer, was already popular. He often gave the proceeds from concerts to workers, which earned him respect from Soviet power.

After the revolution in Russia, Fyodor Ivanovich was appointed leader Mariinsky Theater and was awarded the title of People's Artist of the Republic. But to work hard in the theatrical field in new position he did not succeed for long. In 1922, together with his family, the singer emigrated abroad forever. After some time, the authorities deprived him of the title of People's Artist of the Republic.

He toured all over the world. He gave 57 concerts in Manchuria, China and Japan. Chaliapin even acted in films.

After a medical examination in 1937, he was diagnosed with leukemia. Chaliapin died in April 1938 in his Paris apartment.

Fyodor Chaliapin personal life

His first wife was a ballerina of Italian origin. Her name was Iola Tornaghi. The couple married in 1896. The marriage produced 6 children - 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, Fyodor Ivanovich started a second family. The artist led a double life before leaving for Europe, where he took his second family. At that time, Maria gave birth to 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 is a Russian opera and chamber singer. IN different time he was a soloist at the Mariinsky and Bolshoi theaters, as well as at the Metropolitan Opera. Therefore, the work of the legendary bass is widely known outside his homeland.

Childhood and youth

Fyodor Ivanovich Chaliapin was born in Kazan in 1873. His parents were visiting peasants. Father Ivan Yakovlevich moved from the Vyatka province, he was engaged in work unusual for a peasant - he served as a scribe in the zemstvo administration. And mother Evdokia Mikhailovna was a housewife.

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

Having completed several classes of primary education with honors, the young man goes to work as an assistant clerk. Fyodor Chaliapin will later remember these years as the most boring in his life, because he was deprived of the main thing in his life - singing, since at that time his voice was going through a period of withdrawal. This is how the career of the young archivist would have gone on, if one day he had not attended a performance at the Kazan Opera House. The magic of art has forever captured the young man’s heart, and he decides to change his career.

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

Gradually young man began to assign vocal parts. A year later, Fyodor Chaliapin performed the role of Zaretsky from the opera Eugene Onegin. But he does not stay long in the dramatic enterprise and after a couple of months he gets a job as a chorister in the musical troupe of S. Ya. Semyonov-Samarsky, with whom he leaves for Ufa.

As before, Chaliapin remains a talented self-taught person who, after several comically disastrous debuts, gains stage confidence. Young singer invited to the traveling theater from Little Russia under the direction of G.I. Derkach, with whom he made a number of first trips around the country. The journey ultimately leads Chaliapin to Tiflis (now Tbilisi).

In the capital of Georgia talented singer notes vocal teacher Dmitry Usatov, a former famous tenor Bolshoi Theater. He takes on a poor young man to fully support him and works with him. In parallel with his lessons, Chaliapin works as a bass performer at the local opera house.

Music

In 1894, Fyodor Chaliapin entered the service of the Imperial Theater of St. Petersburg, but the severity that reigned here quickly began to weigh on him. By luck, a benefactor notices him at one of the performances and lures the singer to his theater. Possessing a special instinct for talent, the patron discovers incredible potential in the young, temperamental artist. He gives Fyodor Ivanovich complete freedom in his team.

While working in Mamontov's troupe, Chaliapin revealed his vocal and artistic abilities. He sang all the famous bass parts of Russian operas, such as “The Woman of Pskov”, “Sadko”, “Mozart and Salieri”, “Rusalka”, “A Life for the Tsar”, “Boris Godunov” and “Khovanshchina”. His performance in Faust by Charles Gounod still remains exemplary. He will subsequently recreate similar image in the aria “Mephistopheles” at the La Scala Theater, which will earn him success among the world public.

Since the beginning of the 20th century, Chaliapin has appeared again on the stage of the Mariinsky Theater, but this time in the role of a soloist. With the capital's theater, he tours European countries, appears on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera in New York, not to mention regular trips to Moscow, to the Bolshoi Theater. Surrounded by the famous bass, you can see the entire color of the creative elite of that time: I. Kuprin, Italian singers T. Ruffo and . Photos have been preserved where he is captured next to his close friend.

In 1905, Fyodor Chaliapin especially distinguished himself solo performances, in which he sang romances and the then famous folk songs “Dubinushka”, “Along St. Petersburg” and others. The singer donated all the proceeds from these concerts to the needs of workers. Such concerts of the maestro turned into real ones political actions, which subsequently earned Fyodor Ivanovich honor from the Soviet authorities. In addition, friendship with the first proletarian writer Maxim Gorky protected Chaliapin’s family from ruin during the “Soviet terror.”

After the revolution new government appoints Fyodor Ivanovich as head of the Mariinsky Theater and awards him the title of People's Artist of the RSFSR. But the singer did not work in his new capacity for long, since with his first foreign tour in 1922 he immigrated abroad with his family. He never appeared on the stage of the Soviet stage again. Years later, the Soviet government stripped Chaliapin of the title of People's Artist of the RSFSR.

The creative biography of Fyodor Chaliapin is not only about him vocal career. In addition to singing, the talented artist was interested in painting and sculpture. He also starred in films. He got a role in the film of the same name by Alexander Ivanov-Gay, and also participated in the filming of the film by German director Georg Wilhelm Pabst “Don Quixote”, where Chaliapin played main role the famous fighter against windmills.

Personal life

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

Over the years life together Iola gave birth to Fyodor Chaliapin six children. But even such a family could not keep Fyodor Ivanovich from dramatic changes in life.

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

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

From big family Fyodor only his first wife Iola Ignatievna and eldest daughter Irina. These women became the guardians of the opera singer's memory in their homeland. In 1960, the old and sick Iola Tornaghi moved to Rome, but before leaving, she turned to the Minister of Culture with a request to create a museum of Fyodor Ivanovich Chaliapin in their house on Novinsky Boulevard.

Death

Chaliapin went on his last tour of the countries of the Far East in the mid-30s. He gives over 50 solo concerts in cities of China and Japan. After this, returning to Paris, the artist felt unwell.

In 1937, doctors diagnosed him with cancer blood: Chaliapin has one year left to live.

The great bass died in his Paris apartment in early April 1938. For a long time his ashes were buried on French soil, and only in 1984, at the request of Chaliapin’s son, his remains were transferred to a grave in Novodevichy Cemetery Moscow.

True, many historians consider the death of Fyodor Chaliapin quite strange. And the doctors unanimously insisted that leukemia with such a heroic physique and at such an age is extremely rare. There is also evidence that after touring the Far East Opera singer He returned to Paris in a sick condition and with a strange “decoration” on his forehead - a greenish lump. Doctors say that such neoplasms arise from poisoning with a radioactive isotope or phenol. The question of what happened to Chaliapin on tour was asked by local historian from Kazan Rovel Kashapov.

The man believes that Chaliapin was “removed” by the Soviet government as unwanted. At one time, he refused to return to his homeland, plus everything, through Orthodox priest provided financial assistance poor Russian emigrants. In Moscow, his act was called counter-revolutionary, aimed at supporting the White emigration. After such an accusation, there was no longer any talk of returning.

Soon the singer came into conflict with the authorities. His book “The Story of My Life” was published by foreign publishers, and they received permission to print from the Soviet organization “ International book" Chaliapin was outraged by such an unceremonious disposal of copyrights, and he filed a lawsuit, which ordered the USSR to pay him monetary compensation. Of course, in Moscow this was regarded as the singer’s hostile actions against the Soviet state.

And in 1932 he wrote the book “The Mask and the Soul” and published it in Paris. In it, Fyodor Ivanovich spoke out in a harsh manner towards the ideology of Bolshevism, towards Soviet power and in particular towards.

IN last years During his life, Chaliapin showed maximum caution and did not allow suspicious persons into his apartment. But in 1935 the singer received an offer to organize tour in Japan and China. And during a tour in China, unexpectedly for Fyodor Ivanovich, he was offered a concert in Harbin, although initially the performance was not planned there. Local historian Rovel Kashapov is sure that it was there that Doctor Vitenzon, who accompanied Chaliapin on this tour, was given an aerosol canister with a toxic substance.

Fyodor Ivanovich's accompanist, Georges de Godzinsky, states in his memoirs that before the performance, Vitenzon examined the singer's throat and, despite the fact that he found it quite satisfactory, “sprayed it with menthol.” Godzinsky said that further tours took place against the backdrop of Chaliapin’s deteriorating health.

February 2018 marked the 145th anniversary of the birth of the great Russian opera singer. In the Chaliapin house-museum on Novinsky Boulevard in Moscow, where Fyodor Ivanovich lived with his family since 1910, admirers of his work widely celebrated his anniversary.

Arias

• Life for the Tsar (Ivan Susanin): Susanin’s Aria “They Smell the Truth”
• Ruslan and Lyudmila: Rondo Farlafa “Oh, joy! I knew"
• Rusalka: Miller’s Aria “Oh, that’s all you young girls”
• Prince Igor: Igor’s Aria “Neither sleep, nor rest”
• Prince Igor: Konchak’s Aria “Are you well, Prince”
• Sadko: Song of the Varangian guest “On the formidable rocks the waves break with a roar”
• Faust: Mephistopheles' Aria "Darkness Has Descended"

Fyodor Ivanovich Chaliapin. Born on February 1 (13), 1873 in Kazan - died on April 12, 1938 in Paris. Russian opera and chamber singer (high bass).

Soloist of the Bolshoi and Mariinsky theaters, as well as the Metropolitan Opera, first People's Artist of the Republic (1918-1927, title returned in 1991), in 1918-1921 - artistic director Mariinsky Theater. He has a reputation as an artist who has combined in his work “natural musicality, bright vocal abilities, extraordinary acting skills" He was also engaged in painting, graphics and sculpture, and acted in films. He had a great influence on world opera.

The son of the peasant of the Vyatka province Ivan Yakovlevich Chaliapin (1837-1901), a representative of the ancient Vyatka family of the Shalyapins (Shelepins). 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 Transfiguration Church in the village of Vozhgaly.

As a child, Chaliapin was a singer. As a boy, he was sent to study shoemaking with shoemakers N.A. Tonkov, then V.A. Andreev. Received elementary education V private school Vedernikova, then studied at the Fourth Parish School in Kazan, and later at the Sixth Primary School. In May 1885, Chaliapin graduated from college, receiving the highest score - 5.

In September 1885, his father hired Fyodor Chaliapin as a teacher at the newly opened vocational school in Arsk. “I thought,” Chaliapin recalled, “that I was going to some beautiful country, and I was quietly glad that I was leaving Sukonnaya Sloboda, where life was becoming increasingly difficult for me.”

Chaliapin himself considered the beginning of his artistic career to be 1889, when he joined the drama troupe of V. B. Serebryakov, initially as an extra.

On March 29, 1890, Chaliapin’s first performance took place - he performed the part of Zaretsky in the opera “Eugene Onegin” staged by the Kazan Amateur Society performing arts. Throughout May and early June 1890, Chaliapin was a chorus member of V. B. Serebryakov’s operetta company.

On September 19, 1890, Chaliapin arrives from Kazan to Ufa and begins working in the choir of an operetta troupe under the direction of S. Ya. Semenov-Samarsky.

He received the solo part of Stolnik in Moniuszko's opera "Pebble", replacing the artist who accidentally fell ill. This debut brought forward the 17-year-old Chaliapin, who was occasionally assigned small opera roles - for example, Ferrando in Il Trovatore. Once, performing as Stolnik, Chaliapin fell on stage, sitting past a chair - since then, all his life he vigilantly watched the chairs on stage, fearing to miss again.

IN next year Chaliapin performed as the Unknown in Verstovsky's Askold's Grave. He was offered a place in the Ufa zemstvo, but the aspiring singer joined the Little Russian troupe of G.I. Derkach that arrived in Ufa. Traveling with her led him to Tiflis, where he was able to take his voice seriously for the first time, thanks to the singer Dmitry Usatov.

Usatov not only approved of Chaliapin’s voice, but, due to the latter’s lack of material resources, began to give him singing lessons for free and generally took a great part in it. He also arranged for Chaliapin to perform in the Tiflis opera of Ludwig-Forcatti and Lyubimov. Chaliapin lived in Tiflis whole year, performing the first bass parts in the opera.

In 1893 he moved to Moscow, and in 1894 to the capital, St. Petersburg, where he sang in Arcadia in Lentovsky's opera troupe, and in the winter of 1894-1895. - in the opera partnership at the Panaevsky Theater, in the Zazulin troupe.

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 roles of Mephistopheles (Faust by C. Gounod) and Ruslan (Ruslan and Lyudmila by M. I. Glinka). Chaliapin's diverse talent was expressed in comic opera D. Cimarosa " Secret marriage", but has not yet received proper evaluation.

In the 1895-1896 season, he “appeared quite rarely and, moreover, in parties that were not suitable for him.”

Famous philanthropist S.I. Mamontov, who at that time ran the opera house in Moscow, noticing outstanding talent in Chaliapin, persuaded him to join his troupe. Chaliapin sang at the Mamontov Opera in 1896-1899, and over these four seasons gained great fame. Here he developed into artistic sense and developed his stage talent, performing in a number of solo roles. Thanks to his subtle understanding of Russian music in general and modern music in particular, he individually and deeply truthfully created a number of significant images in such works of Russian composers as “The Woman of Pskov” (Ivan the Terrible), “Sadko” (The Varangian Guest) and “Mozart and Salieri” (Salieri ) N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov; “Mermaid” (Melnik) by A. S. Dargomyzhsky; “Life for the Tsar” (Ivan Susanin) by M. I. Glinka; “Boris Godunov” (Boris Godunov) and “Khovanshchina” (Dosifei) by M. P. Mussorgsky. At the same time, he also worked on roles in foreign operas; Thus, the role of Mephistopheles in C. Gounod’s opera “Faust” received bright, strong and original coverage in his broadcast.

In an autobiographical book "Mask and Soul" Chaliapin characterizes these years 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 1899, Chaliapin again entered service in Imperial theaters - this time he sang in Moscow, at the Bolshoi Theater, where he enjoyed enormous success. Chaliapin's tour performances on the imperial Mariinsky stage constituted a kind of event in the St. Petersburg musical world.

In 1901, Chaliapin gave 10 performances at La Scala in Milan: his performance in the title role in A. Boito’s opera “Mephistopheles” was highly praised.

During the revolution of 1905, he donated proceeds from his performances to workers. His performances with folk songs(“Dubinushka” and others) sometimes turned into political demonstrations.

Since 1914 he has performed in the private opera companies of S. I. Zimin (Moscow) and A. R. Aksarin (Petrograd).

In 1915, Chaliapin made his film debut, he played the role of Ivan the Terrible in the historical film drama “Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich the Terrible” (based on Lev Mey’s drama “The Pskov Woman”).

In 1917, during the production of G. Verdi’s opera “Don Carlos” at the Bolshoi Theater, Chaliapin performed not only as a singer, performing the part of Philip, but also as a director. His next directorial experience was the production of A. S. Dargomyzhsky’s opera “Rusalka”. On main party he chooses the young singer K. G. Derzhinskaya.

Since 1918, Chaliapin has been the artistic director of the former Mariinsky Theater. In the same year, he was the first to receive the title of People's Artist of the Republic.

Since 1922, Chaliapin has been on tour abroad, in particular to the USA, where his American impresario was Solomon Yurok. The singer left with his second wife, Maria Valentinovna. His long absence aroused suspicion and negative attitude in Soviet Russia.

In 1927, Chaliapin donated the proceeds from one of the concerts to the children of emigrants, which was presented on May 31, 1927 in the VSERABIS magazine by a certain VSERABIS employee S. Simon as support for the White Guards. This story is told in detail in Chaliapin’s autobiography “Mask and Soul”. On August 24, 1927, by a resolution of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR, he was deprived of the title of People's Artist and the right to return to the USSR. This was justified by the fact that he did not want to “return to Russia and serve the people whose title of artist was awarded to him” or, according to other sources, by the fact that he allegedly donated money to monarchist emigrants.

“Proposals for the posthumous restoration of the title of People’s Artist of the Republic to F. I. Chaliapin” were considered by the CPSU Central Committee and Supreme Council RSFSR in 1956, but were not accepted. The 1927 decree was canceled only 53 years after the singer’s death: on June 10, 1991, the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR adopted Resolution No. 317, ordering the repeal of the decree of the Council of People’s Commissars of the RSFSR of August 24, 1927 “On depriving F. I. Chaliapin of the title “ National artist“” as unreasonable.

At the end of the summer of 1932, Chaliapin starred in films, playing the main role in Georg Pabst's film The Adventures of Don Quixote. novel of the same name Cervantes. The film was shot in two languages ​​at once - English and French, with two casts. The music for the film was written by Jacques Ibert, and location shooting took place near the city of Nice.

In 1935-1936, Chaliapin, together with accompanist Georges de Godzinsky, went on his last tour to Far East: He gave 57 concerts in Manchuria, China and Japan.

In the spring of 1937, Chaliapin 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 Fedorovich, authorized the transfer of the singer’s ashes from France to Russia. This was possible thanks to Baron Eduard Alexandrovich von Falz-Fein, who persuaded him to transfer the ashes to Russia. After the death of Fyodor Fedorovich, the baron bought the Chaliapin family heirlooms that remained in Rome and donated them to the Chaliapin Museum in St. Petersburg. The reburial ceremony took place at the Novodevichy cemetery in Moscow on October 29, 1984. Two years later it was installed there tombstone works by sculptor A. Yeletsky and architect Yu. Voskresensky.

Personal life of Chaliapin:

Chaliapin was married twice.

Chaliapin met his first wife, the Italian ballerina Iola Tornaghi (Le Presti), in Nizhny Novgorod. They got married in the church of the village of Gagino in 1898. In this marriage, Chaliapin had six children: Igor (died at the age of 4), Boris, twins Fyodor and Tatyana, Irina and Lydia.

Already having a family, Fyodor Ivanovich Chaliapin became close to Maria Valentinovna Petzold (née Elukhen, 1882-1964), who already had two children from her first marriage. They have three daughters: Marfa (1910-2003), Marina (1912-2009) and Dasia (1921-1977). In fact, Chaliapin had a second family, although the first marriage was not dissolved and the second was not registered. One family lived in Moscow, the second in Petrograd, they did not intersect with each other. The marriage of Maria Valentinovna and Chaliapin was formalized in one of the Russian churches in Prague, during his solo tour, presumably on November 10, 1927.

Of all Chaliapin's children, Marina lived the longest, and died at the age of 98.

Songs performed by Fyodor Ivanovich Chaliapin

Title: "Dubinushka"
File size: 3.06 MB, 128 kb/s

Title: "Two Grenadiers"
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