Fyodor Chaliapin: bass with a bad character. Fyodor Chaliapin - great Russian singer

The great Russian singer Fyodor Ivanovich Chaliapin combined two qualities in his work: acting and unique vocal abilities. He was a soloist with the Bolshoi and Mariinsky theaters, as well as the Metropolitan Opera. One of the greatest opera singers.

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 government. Fyodor’s mother, Evdokia Mikhailovna, was an ordinary peasant woman from the village of Dudintsy.

Already in childhood it became clear that little Fedor had musical talent. Possessing a beautiful treble, he sang in the suburban church choir and at village festivals. Later, the boy began to be invited to sing in neighboring churches. When Fedor graduated from the 4th grade with a certificate of merit, he was apprenticed to a shoemaker, then to a turner.

At the age of 14, the boy began working in the zemstvo government of the Kazan district as a clerk. I earned 10 rubles a month. However, Chaliapin never forgot about music. Having learned to read music, Fyodor tried to devote all his free time to music.

The beginning of the creative career of singer Fyodor Chaliapin

In 1883, Fyodor first came to the theater for the production of P.P. Sukhonin’s play “Russian Wedding”. Chaliapin became “sick” of the theater and tried not to miss a single performance. Most of all the boy liked opera. And the biggest impression on the future singer was made by M. I. Glinka’s opera “A Life for the Tsar.” The father sends his son to school to study as a carpenter, but when his mother fell ill, Fedor was forced to return to Kazan to care for her. It was in Kazan that Chaliapin began trying to get a job in the theater.

Finally, in 1889, he was accepted as an extra in the prestigious Serebryakov Choir. Before this, Chaliapin was not accepted into the choir, but some lanky, terribly eyed young man was hired. A few years later, having met Maxim Gorky, Fyodor told him about his first failure. Gorky grinned and said that he was this charming young man, although he was quickly expelled from the choir due to his complete lack of voice.

And the first performance of the extra Chaliapin ended in failure. He was given the role without words. The cardinal, played by Chaliapin, and his retinue simply had to walk across the stage. Fedor was very worried and constantly repeated to his retinue: “Do everything as I do!”

As soon as he entered the stage, Chaliapin became entangled in the red cardinal's robe and fell to the floor. His retinue, remembering the instructions, followed him. The Cardinal was unable to rise and crawled across the entire stage. As soon as the crawling retinue led by Chaliapin was behind the scenes, the director gave the “cardinal” a kick with all his heart and threw 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 singing in the local operetta troupe of Semenov-Samarsky. Gradually, Chaliapin began to be assigned small roles in many performances. After the end of the season, Chaliapin joined Derkach's traveling troupe, with which he toured the cities of Russia, Central Asia and the Caucasus.

Life of Fyodor Chaliapin in Tiflis

Like 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 money for my studies.” Usatov not only gave Chaliapin his voice, but also helped him financially. In 1893, Chaliapin made his debut on the stage of the Tiflis Opera House.

HEY, WHACK! Russian folk song. Performed by: FEDOR 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 from a self-taught singer turned into a professional artist.

The heyday of Fyodor Chaliapin's creativity

In 1895, Fyodor Chaliapin came to Moscow, where he entered into a contract with the management of the Mariinsky Theater. Initially, on the stage of the Imperial Theater, Fyodor Ivanovich performed only minor roles.

A meeting with the famous philanthropist Savva Mamontov marked the beginning of the flowering of Chaliapin’s creativity. Mamontov invited the singer to work at the Moscow Private Opera with a salary three times higher than the salary at the Mariinsky Theater.

In the private opera, Chaliapin's multifaceted talent was truly revealed, 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 stunning success. The singer's stage life turned into a grandiose triumph. He became everyone's favorite. The singer's contemporaries assessed his unique voice this way: in Moscow there are three miracles - the Tsar Bell, the Tsar Cannon and the Tsar Bass - Fyodor Chaliapin.

Fyodor Chaliapin. Elegy. Romance. Old Russian Romance.

Music critics wrote that, apparently, Russian composers of the 19th century “foresaw” the emergence of a great singer, which is why they wrote so many wonderful parts for bass: Ivan the Terrible, 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, composers N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov, A.S. Dargomyzhsky, M. Mussorgsky, M. Glinka received worldwide recognition.

During these same years, the singer gained European fame. In 1900 he was invited to the famous Milanese La Scala. The amount that was paid to Chaliapin under the contract was unheard of high at that time. After his stay in Italy, the singer was invited every year to tour abroad. The World War, revolutions and civil war in Russia “put an end to” the singer’s foreign tours for 6 long years. In the period from 1914 to 1920, Chaliapin did not leave Russia.

Emigration period

In 1922, Chaliapin went on tour to the USA. The singer never returned to the Soviet Union. In their homeland, in turn, they decided to deprive Chaliapin of the title of People's Artist. The path to Russia was completely 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.

Personal life of Fyodor Chaliapin

Fyodor Chaliapin was married twice. The singer met his first wife, Italian ballerina Iona Tornaghi, in 1898 in Nizhny Novgorod. In this marriage seven children were born at once.

Later, without dissolving his first marriage, Chaliapin became close to Maria Petzold. At that time, the woman already had two children from her first marriage. They met secretly 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 in the Batignolles cemetery in Paris. Only almost half a century later, in 1984, his son Fyodor obtained permission to rebury his father’s ashes in Moscow, at the Novodevichy Cemetery.

The second funeral was held with all honors.

And 57 years after the artist’s death, the title of People’s Artist of the USSR was posthumously returned to him.

Thus, finally, the singer returned to his homeland.

Born into the family of peasant Ivan Yakovlevich from the village of Syrtsovo, who served in the zemstvo government, and Evdokia Mikhailovna from the village of Dudinskaya, Vyatka province.

At first, little Fyodor, trying to get him “into business,” was apprenticed 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 singing in a 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 a flea market and Fyodor tried to play it.

Later Fedor entered the 6th city four-year school, where there was a wonderful teacher N.V. Bashmakov, who graduated with a diploma of commendation.

In 1883, Fyodor Chaliapin went to the theater for the first time and continued to strive to watch all the performances.

At the age of 12, he began participating in the performances of the touring troupe as an extra.

In 1889 he joined the drama troupe of V.B. Serebryakov as a statistician.

On March 29, 1890, Fyodor Chaliapin made his debut as Zaretsky in the opera by P.I. Tchaikovsky's "Eugene Onegin", staged by the Kazan Society of Performing Art Lovers. Soon he moves from Kazan to Ufa, where he performs in the choir of the troupe S.Ya. Semenov-Samarsky.

In 1893, Fyodor Chaliapin moved to Moscow, and in 1894 to St. Petersburg, where he began singing in the Arcadia country garden, at the V.A. Panaev and in the troupe of V.I. Zazulina.

In 1895, the directorate of the St. Petersburg Opera Houses accepted him into the troupe of the Mariinsky Theater, where he sang the roles of Mephistopheles in Faust by C. 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 with great success at the Mariinsky Theater.

In 1901, Fyodor Chaliapin gave 10 triumphant performances at La Scala in Milan, Italy, and went on a concert tour throughout Europe.

Since 1914, he began performing in private opera companies of S.I. Zimin in Moscow and A.R. Aksarina in Petrograd.

In 1915, Fyodor Chaliapin played the role of Ivan the Terrible in the film drama “Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich the Terrible” based on the drama “The Pskov Woman” by L. Mey.

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 Theater.

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 remained 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 help “to the 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 decree, deprived him of the title of People's Artist and forbade him to return to the USSR. This resolution 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. He gave 57 concerts in China, Japan, and Manchuria.

In 1937 he was diagnosed with leukemia.

On April 12, 1938, Fedor died and was buried in the Batignolles cemetery in Pargis in France. In 1984, his ashes were transferred to Russia and on October 29, 1984, they were reburied at the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow.

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 peasants of the Vyatka province and served as a scribe in the Kazan district zemstvo government. In 1887, Fyodor Chaliapin was hired for the same position with a salary of 10 rubles per month. In his free time from service, Chaliapin sang in the bishop's choir and was fond of theater (participated as an extra in dramatic 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 role 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 chorus of an operetta troupe under the direction of Semyon Semenov-Samarsky. By coincidence, Chaliapin had the opportunity to perform the role of a soloist in Moniuszko's opera "Pebble", replacing a sick artist on stage. After this, Chaliapin began to be assigned small opera roles, for example, Fernando in Il Trovatore. Then the singer moved to Tbilisi, where he took free singing lessons from the famous singer Dmitry Usatov, and performed in amateur and student concerts. In 1894, Chaliapin went to St. Petersburg, where he sang in performances held in the Arcadia country garden, then at the Panaevsky Theater. On April 5, 1895, he made his debut as Mephistopheles in the opera Faust by Charles Gounod at the Mariinsky Theater.

In 1896, Chaliapin was invited by philanthropist 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 became classic: Ivan the Terrible in Nikolai Rimsky's "Pskovite" Korsakov (1896); Dosifey in Modest Mussorgsky's Khovanshchina (1897); Boris Godunov in Modest Mussorgsky's opera of the same name (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 took place in Italy (at the La Scala theater in Milan). Chaliapin was a participant in the “Russian Seasons” abroad, organized by Sergei Diaghilev.

During the First World War, Chaliapin's tours stopped. The singer opened two hospitals for wounded soldiers at his own expense and 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 Mei “The Pskov Woman”).

After the October Revolution of 1917, Fyodor Chaliapin was involved in the creative reconstruction of the former imperial theaters, was an elected member of the directors of the Bolshoi and Mariinsky theaters, and directed the artistic department of the latter in 1918. In the same year, he was the first artist 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 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 country.

At the end of the summer of 1932, Chaliapin played the main role in the film Don Quixote by 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, and vocal works; He also acted as a director - he staged the operas "Khovanshchina" and "Don Quixote". Chaliapin is the author of the autobiography “Pages from My Life” (1917) and the book “Mask and Soul” (1932).

Chaliapin was also a wonderful draftsman and tried his hand at painting. His works “Self-Portrait”, dozens of portraits, drawings, and 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 singer’s ashes 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 Chaliapin’s homeland in Kazan, named after 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 All-Russian status, and was released in 1991.

On June 10, 1991, the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR adopted Resolution No. 317: “To cancel the resolution of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR of August 24, 1927 “On depriving F. I. Chaliapin of the title “People's Artist” as unfounded.”

The emir of Bukhara awarded the singer the Order of the Golden Star of the third degree; in 1907, after a performance at the Royal Theater in Berlin, 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, and 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 based on information from RIA Novosti and open sources

Understanding the history of Russian musical theater is impossible without considering the question of in which operas Chaliapin performed the main roles. This outstanding singer had a huge influence on the development of not only domestic but also world culture. It is difficult to overestimate his contribution to the development of national opera art. His phenomenal success abroad contributed to the dissemination and popularization of not only Russian classical music, but also folk songs.

Some biographical 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 his difficult financial situation, he studied handicraft 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 he initially performed small parts, participating in choral singing.

In 1890, Fyodor Ivanovich Chaliapin left for Ufa, where he joined the operetta troupe. Here he began performing solo parts. Four years later he moved to Moscow, and then to the capital of the empire, where he was accepted into the main theater. Here he performed roles from 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 of popularity, Chaliapin felt somewhat constrained: he lacked freedom and personal initiative.

Carier start

A turning point in the singer’s life occurred after he met the famous Russian millionaire and philanthropist S. Mamontov. He first met him while searching for talent 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 fateful role in the artist’s career, since it was in this production that his enormous talent was revealed 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.

Creativity flourishes

Mamontov's opera played an outstanding role in Russian culture. The fact is that on this private stage those operas were staged that were not shown in state theaters. 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 singer’s talent 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 roles. He began to sing great 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 traditional folk motifs, and 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 Woman of Pskov” is based on a historical episode and is distinguished by a sharp and dynamic plot and, at the same time, the psychological depth of the image of the king and the inhabitants of the city. The music of this work was ideally suited to the vocal and artistic capabilities of the singer. In the role of this ruler, he was very convincing and expressive, so 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 did not act in films, and his first film did not deserve critical recognition.

Features of execution

For an objective assessment of the singer’s creativity, it is necessary to indicate in which operas Chaliapin performed the main roles. It is worth noting that there are many of them. The opera “The Pskov Woman” 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, ability to get used to the role and convey all the smallest shades of intonation with his voice.

Critics noted that he had a great sense of the musical language of the works he performed. In addition, Chaliapin was an excellent theater artist, that is, with the help of facial expressions and gestures, he conveyed all the psychological traits of the character he portrayed. The singer had the talent of transformation. For example, he could play several roles in one performance. Fyodor Chaliapin became especially famous for this skill.

“Boris Godunov” is an opera in which he sang the roles of the Tsar and the monk Pimen. His performance was particularly expressive, since he knew how to find a new musical language for each role. Mussorgsky was his favorite composer.

Episodes

Chaliapin's voice is a high bass. And although he became famous for performing primarily dramatic roles, he nevertheless had a good sense of humor, and as a great artist he perfectly played comedic roles, 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 “A Life for the Tsar,” he played the role of one of the knights in his other work. This small mise-en-scène was positively noted by critics, who said that the artist managed to surprisingly accurately convey the image of a boastful warrior.

Another small but significant role is the part of the Varangian guest, which became the singer’s calling card, and the image of the miller from another fairy-tale opera. Nevertheless, serious dramatic roles continued to be the basis of his repertoire. Here the work in the opera “Mozart and Salieri” should be highlighted 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, performing the bass part superbly.

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 songs, which received a special sound in his performance. The song “Dubinushka” became especially famous, to which the workers gave a revolutionary sound. After the Bolsheviks came to power in 1917, Chaliapin became the de facto leader of the Mariinsky Theater and was awarded the title of People's Artist of the Republic. However, due to his 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, it is necessary to indicate in which operas Chaliapin performed the main roles. Thus, J. Massenet wrote the opera “Don Quixote” especially for him. 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.

Fyodor Ivanovich Chaliapin (b. 1873 - d. 1938) - great Russian opera singer (bass).

Fyodor Chaliapin was born on February 1 (13), 1873 in Kazan. 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). As a child, Chaliapin was a singer. Received an elementary education.

Chaliapin himself considered the beginning of his artistic career to be 1889, when he joined the drama troupe of V. B. Serebryakov. Initially, as a statistician.

On March 29, 1890, Chaliapin's first solo performance took place - the role 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 a chorus member of V. B. Serebryakov’s operetta company.

In September 1890, Chaliapin arrived from Kazan to Ufa and began working in the choir of an operetta troupe under the direction of S. Ya. Semenov-Samarsky.

Quite by accident I had to change from a chorister to a soloist, replacing a sick artist in Moniuszko’s opera “Galka”. This debut brought out the 17-year-old Chaliapin, who was occasionally assigned small opera roles, for example 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 came to Ufa, which Chaliapin joined. Traveling with her brought him to Tiflis, where for the first time he managed to seriously practice 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 resources, began giving him singing lessons for free and generally took a great part in it. He also arranged for Chaliapin to join the Tiflis opera of 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 Lentovsky's opera troupe, and in the winter of 1894/5 - in an opera company at the Panaevsky Theater, in Zazulin's troupe. The beautiful voice of the aspiring artist and especially his expressive musical recitation in connection with his truthful acting attracted the attention of critics and the public to him. In 1895, Chaliapin was accepted by the directorate of the St. Petersburg Imperial Theaters into the opera troupe: he entered the stage of the Mariinsky Theater and sang with success the roles of Mephistopheles (Faust) and Ruslan (Ruslan and Lyudmila). Chaliapin’s varied talent was also expressed in the comic opera “The Secret Marriage” by D. Cimaroz, but still did not receive due appreciation. It is reported that during the 1895-1896 season. he “appeared quite rarely and, moreover, in parties that were not very suitable for him.” The famous philanthropist S.I. Mamontov, who at that time owned an opera house in Moscow, was the first to notice Chaliapin’s extraordinary talent and persuaded him to join his private troupe. Here in 1896-1899. Chaliapin developed artistically and developed his stage talent, performing in a number of roles. Thanks to his subtle understanding of Russian music in general and modern music in particular, he completely individually, but at the same time deeply truthfully created a whole series of types in Russian operas. At the same time, he worked hard on roles in foreign operas; for example, the role of Mephistopheles in Gounod’s Faust in his broadcast received amazingly bright, strong and original coverage. Over the years, Chaliapin has gained great fame.

Since 1899, he again served in the Imperial Russian Opera in Moscow (Bolshoi Theater), where he enjoyed enormous success. He was highly appreciated in Milan, where he performed at the La Scala theater in the title role of Mephistopheles A. Boito (1901, 10 performances). Chaliapin's tours in St. Petersburg on the Mariinsky stage constituted a kind of event in the St. Petersburg musical world.

During the revolution of 1905, he joined progressive circles and donated proceeds from his speeches to revolutionaries. 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).

Since 1918 - artistic director of the Mariinsky Theater. Received the title of People's Artist of the Republic.

Chaliapin's long absence aroused suspicion and negative attitude in Soviet Russia; Thus, in 1926, Mayakovsky wrote in his “Letter to Gorky”: “Or should you live, / as Chaliapin lives, / with scented applause / daubed? / Come back / now / such an artist / back / to Russian rubles - / I will be the first to shout: / - Roll back, / People’s Artist of the Republic!” In 1927, Chaliapin donated the proceeds from one of his concerts to the children of emigrants, which was interpreted and presented as support for the White Guards. In 1928, 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.

In the spring of 1937, he was diagnosed with leukemia, and on April 12, 1938, he died in the arms of his wife. He was buried in the Batignolles cemetery in Paris.

On October 29, 1984, a ceremony for the reburial of the ashes of F.I. Chaliapin took place at the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow.

On October 31, 1986, the opening of the tombstone of the great Russian singer F. I. Chaliapin (sculptor A. Eletsky, architect Yu. Voskresensky) took place.

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