Fyodor Chaliapin: biography, personal life, family, wife, children - photo. Fyodor Chaliapin - great Russian singer

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. Received primary education.

Carier start

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 chorus of an operetta troupe under the direction of S. Ya. Semenov-Samarsky.

Quite by accident, I had to transform from a chorister into a soloist, replacing a sick artist in Moniuszko’s opera “Pebble.”

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, and Chaliapin joined it. Traveling with her led him to Tiflis, where for the first time he managed to take his voice seriously, 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 perform in the Tiflis opera of Ludwig-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 1894-1895. - in the opera partnership at the Panaevsky Theater, in the Zazulin 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 successfully sang 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 in the 1895-1896 season he “appeared quite rarely and, moreover, in parties that were not very suitable for him.”

Creativity flourishes

The years spent at the Russian Private Opera, created by S.I. Mamontov, marked the brilliant rise of Chaliapin’s artistic career. He was a soloist of the Russian Orchestra Orchestra for four seasons - from 1896 to 1899. In his autobiographical book “Mask and Soul,” written in exile (1932), Chaliapin characterizes this short period 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 Mamontov Private Opera, the singer grew into a true stage artist. Here is another fragment of his memoirs, which talks about his initial steps in the Moscow opera group: “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 we need to stage a new opera, we will stage an opera! All this dressed my soul in festive clothes, and for the first time in my life I felt free, strong, able to overcome all obstacles.”

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.

Emigration period

From 1921 ("Enc. Dictionary", 1955) or 1922 ("Theatre Enc.", 1967) he went on tour abroad, in particular in the USA, where his American impresario was Solomon Hurok. When Chaliapin was in France, the Soviet government deprived him of citizenship only because the singer gave money to 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. This was the young Italian ballerina Iola Tornaghi (Iola Ignatievna Le Presti (after Tornaghi’s stage), died in 1965 at the age of 92), born in the city of Monza (near Milan). In total, Chaliapin had six children in this marriage: Igor (died at the age of 4), Boris, Fedor, Tatyana, Irina, Lydia. Fyodor and Tatyana were twins. Iola Tornaghi lived in Russia for a long time and only in the late 1950s, at the invitation of her son Fedor, she moved to Rome.

Already having a family, Fyodor Ivanovich Chaliapin became close to Maria Valentinovna Petzold (née Elukhen, in her first marriage - Petzold, 1882-1964), who had two children of her own from her first marriage. They have three daughters: Marfa (1910-2003), Marina (1912-2009) and Dasia (1921-1977). Shalyapin's daughter Marina (Marina Fedorovna Shalyapina-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, Maria Valentinovna’s marriage to Chaliapin was formalized in 1927 in Paris.

In 1984, Chaliapin's ashes 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 of O. N. Mukhina - Bolshaya Morskaya Street, 16;
• late 1911 - spring 1912 - apartment building - 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. Shalyapin, St. Petersburg, Graftio St., 2B)

Memory of Chaliapin

• In 1956, the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Supreme Council of the RSFSR considered “proposals to posthumously restore the title of People’s Artist of the Republic to F. I. Chaliapin,” but they were not accepted. The 1927 resolution was repealed by the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR only on June 10, 1991.
• On February 8, 1982, the first opera festival named after him opened in Kazan, the homeland of Fyodor Chaliapin. The festival is held on the stage of the Tatar State Opera and Ballet Theater named after. M. Jalil, since 1991 has had the status of International.
• 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 monument to F.I. Chaliapin (sculptor A. Eletsky, architect Yu. Voskresensky) took place.
• On August 29, 1999, in Kazan, a monument to F. I. Chaliapin (sculptor A. Balashov) was erected near the bell tower of the Church of the Epiphany. The monument stands next to the Shalyapin Palace Hotel. In February 1873, Fyodor Chaliapin was baptized in the Church of the Epiphany.
• A monument to Chaliapin was also erected in Ufa.
• Fyodor Ivanovich Chaliapin received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his 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 Aleksandrovich Serov: F. I. Chaliapin in the role of Ivan the Terrible, 1897

Caricature by P. Robert of F. I. Chaliapin, 1903

Portrait by B. M. Kustodiev.

Self-portrait of F. Chaliapin in the role of Dosifey (“Khovanshchina”), made on the wall of the artist’s dressing room at the Mariinsky Theater (1911)

Portrait of F. I. Chaliapin on a 1965 USSR postage stamp, dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the birth of the artist V. A. Serov.

Awards

• 1902 - Bukhara Order of the Golden Star, III degree.
• 1907 - Golden Cross of the Prussian Eagle.
• 1908 - Knight of the officer rank.
• 1910 - title of Soloist of His Majesty (Russia).
• 1912 - title of Soloist of His Majesty the Italian King.
• 1913 - title of Soloist of His Majesty the King of England.
• 1914 - English Order for special services in the field of art.
• 1914 - Russian Order of Stanislav III degree.
• 1916 - rank of officer.
• 1918 - title of People's Artist of the Republic (awarded for the first time).
• 1934 - Commander 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 memories of his contemporaries. The singer's voice is a high bass (possibly a bass-baritone) of a light timbre, with very pronounced tremulation. Contemporaries note the singer’s excellent diction and his flying voice, which can be heard even in the most distant places 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 impersonation 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 his frantic temperament, he sang every note, found very precise and sincere intonations for every word of the song, and was absolutely organic and authentic on stage.

Chaliapin's artistic talent was not limited to musical and acting activities. 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, and tenacious observation.

Partners over the 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.

Fyodor Chaliapin is a Russian opera and chamber singer. At various times he was a soloist at the Mariinsky and Bolshoi theaters, as well as at the Metropolitan Opera. Therefore, the work of the legendary bass is widely known outside 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 was noticed with 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 his bass voice already formed, auditioned for the opera house, but failed miserably. After this, he turns to the drama group of V. B. Serebryakov, in which he is hired as an extra.

Gradually, the young man began to be assigned 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. The young singer is invited to a traveling theater from Little Russia under the direction of G.I. Derkach, with whom he makes a number of first trips around the country. The journey ultimately leads Chaliapin to Tiflis (now Tbilisi).

In the capital of Georgia, the talented singer is noticed by vocal teacher Dmitry Usatov, a former famous tenor of the 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. Subsequently, he will recreate a 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 with 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 political actions, which later 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, the 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 his 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 the main role of the famous windmill fighter.

Personal life

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

Over the years of their marriage, Iola gave birth to Fyodor Chaliapin six children. But even such a family did not keep Fyodor Ivanovich from making radical changes in his 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.

The artist's double life 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.

Of Fyodor’s large family, only his first wife Iola Ignatievna and eldest daughter Irina remained in the USSR. 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 in China and Japan. After this, returning to Paris, the artist felt unwell.

In 1937, doctors diagnosed him with a blood cancer: Chaliapin had a year to live.

The great bass died in his Paris apartment in early April 1938. For a long time, his ashes were buried on French soil, and only in 1984, at the request of Chaliapin’s son, his remains were transferred to a grave at the Novodevichy Cemetery in 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 a tour of the Far East, the opera singer returned to Paris in a sick state 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, through an Orthodox priest, he provided financial assistance to poor Russian emigrants. In Moscow, his act was called counter-revolutionary, aimed at supporting the White emigration. After such an accusation, there was no longer any talk of returning.

Soon the singer came into conflict with the authorities. His book “The Story of My Life” was 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 the last years of 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 a 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, Witenzon 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"

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 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 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

Chaliapin Fyodor Ivanovich (1873─1938) is a great Russian chamber and opera singer who brilliantly combined unique vocal abilities with acting skills. He performed roles in high bass and as a soloist at the Bolshoi and Mariinsky theaters, as well as at the Metropolitan Opera. He directed the Mariinsky Theater, acted in films, and became the first People's Artist of the Republic.

Childhood

Fedor was born on February 1, 1873 in the city of Kazan.
The singer's father, Ivan Yakovlevich Chaliapin, was a peasant originally from the Vyatka province. Mother, Evdokia Mikhailovna (maiden name Prozorova), was also a peasant from the Kumenskaya volost, where the village of Dudintsy was located at that time. In the village of Vozhgaly, in the Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord, Ivan and Evdokia got married at the very beginning of 1863. And only 10 years later their son Fyodor was born; later a boy and a girl appeared in the family.

My father worked in the zemstvo government as an archivist. Mom did hard day labor, washed people’s floors, and washed clothes. The family was poor, they barely had enough money to live on, so Fyodor was taught various crafts from an early age. The boy was sent to be trained by a shoemaker and turner, a woodcarver, a carpenter, and a copyist.

It also became clear from an early age that the child had excellent hearing and voice; he often sang along with his mother in a beautiful treble.

The Chaliapins' neighbor, church regent Shcherbinin, hearing the boy's singing, brought him with him to the Church of St. Barbara, and they sang the all-night vigil and mass together. After this, at the age of nine, the boy began singing in the suburban church choir, as well as at village holidays, weddings, prayer services and funerals. For the first three months, Fedya sang for free, and then he was entitled to a salary of 1.5 rubles.

Even then, his voice did not leave listeners indifferent; later Fedor was invited to sing in churches in neighboring villages. He also had a dream - to play the violin. His father bought him an instrument at a flea market for 2 rubles, and the boy began to learn to draw the bow on his own.

One day, the father came home very drunk and spanked his son for unknown reasons. The boy ran off into the fields out of resentment. Lying on the ground by the lake, he sobbed bitterly, and then he suddenly wanted to sing. As he began to sing, Fyodor felt his soul lighter. And when he fell silent, it seemed to him that the song was still flying nearby somewhere, continuing to live...

Early years

Parents, despite poverty, cared about giving their son an education. His first educational institution was the Vedernikov private school, followed by the fourth Kazan parish and sixth elementary schools. Chaliapin graduated from the latter in 1885, receiving a certificate of merit.

In the summer of the same year, Fyodor worked in the zemstvo government as a clerk, earning 10 rubles a month. And in the fall, his father arranged for him to study in Arsk, where a vocational school had just opened. For some reason, young Chaliapin really wanted to leave the settlement; it seemed to him that a beautiful country was waiting for him ahead.

But soon the young man was forced to return home to Kazan, because his mother fell ill, and he had to take care of her and his younger brother and sister.

Here he managed to join a theater troupe that toured Kazan, he participated in performances as an extra. However, Fyodor’s father did not like this hobby; he told him: “You should go to the janitors, not to the theater, then you will have a piece of bread.” But young Chaliapin was simply a theater fan from the very day when he first attended the production of the play “Russian Wedding.”

The beginning of the theatrical journey

When the young man was 15 years old, he turned to the theater management with a request to audition him and accept him as a choir member. But at this age, Fyodor’s voice began to change, and during the audition he did not sing very well. Chaliapin was not accepted, but this did not in any way affect his love for the theater, it only grew stronger every day.

Finally, in 1889, he was accepted as an extra in Serebryakov’s drama troupe.
At the beginning of 1890, Chaliapin performed for the first time as an opera singer. It was “Eugene Onegin” by P.I. Tchaikovsky, Zaretsky’s part. And in the fall, Fedor left for Ufa, where he joined the local operetta troupe, in many performances he got small roles:

• Stolnik in “Pebble” Moniuszko;
• Ferrando in Il Trovatore;
• Unknown in Verstovsky's Askold's Grave.

And when the theater season ended, a Little Russian traveling troupe came to Ufa, Fyodor joined it and went on tour to Russian cities, the Caucasus and Central Asia.

In Tiflis, Chaliapin met Professor Dmitry Usatov, who once served at the Imperial Theater. This meeting turned out to be vital for Fedor; the professor invited him to stay for his studies, and did not demand money from him for this. Moreover, he not only gave voice to the young talent, but also helped him financially. And at the beginning of 1893, Chaliapin made his debut at the Tiflis Opera House, where he worked for almost a year, performing the first bass parts.

At the end of 1893, Fedor moved to Moscow, and the following year to the capital, St. Petersburg. The aspiring actor, his beautiful voice, truthful acting and stunning expressive musical recitation attracted the attention of both the public and critics.

In 1895, Fyodor Ivanovich was accepted into the Mariinsky Theater.

Prosperity, success and fame

At that time, the famous philanthropist Savva Mamontov lived in Moscow; he owned an opera house and persuaded Chaliapin to come to him, offering a salary three times more than at the Mariinsky Theater. Fyodor Ivanovich agreed and worked for Mamontov in the theater for about four years from 1896. Here he had the repertoire that allowed him to show all his temperament and artistic talent.

In 1899, Chaliapin entered the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow, and the success of his performances was enormous. Then they often liked to repeat that there are three miracles in Moscow - the Tsar Bell, the Tsar Cannon and the Tsar Bass (this is about Chaliapin). And when he came on tour to the Mariinsky stage, for St. Petersburg it became a grandiose event in the world of art.

In 1901, he performed ten times at La Scala in Milan. The fee for tours was unheard of at that time, now Fyodor Ivanovich was increasingly invited abroad.

They say about Chaliapin that he is the best bass of all peoples and times. He was the first Russian singer to be recognized in the world. He created unique and great characters in opera, which to this day no one can surpass. They say that you can re-sing an opera, but you can never surpass Chaliapin.

Critics argue that it was only thanks to his opera roles that many Russian composers received worldwide recognition.

In 1915, Fyodor Ivanovich made his film debut, playing the role of Tsar Ivan the Terrible.

Since 1918, he directed the Mariinsky Theater and at the same time was the first to receive the title of People's Artist of the Republic.

The singer's total repertoire consists of 70 opera roles and about 400 romances and songs.
No wonder Maxim Gorky said about Chaliapin: “In Russian art, he is an era, like Pushkin.”

Personal life

The first wife of Fyodor Chaliapin was Iola Tornaghi. They say that opposites attract, probably following this law, they, completely different, were so strongly drawn to each other.

He, tall and bass-voiced, she, thin and small ballerina. He didn’t know a word of Italian, she didn’t understand Russian at all.

The young Italian ballerina was a real star in her homeland; already at the age of 18, Iola became the prima of the Venetian theater. Then came Milan and French Lyon. And then her troupe was invited to tour to Russia by Savva Mamontov. This is where Iola and Fyodor met. He liked her immediately, and the young man began to show all sorts of attention. The girl, on the contrary, remained cold towards Chaliapin for a long time.

One day during a tour, Iola fell ill, and Fyodor came to see her with a pot of chicken broth. Gradually they began to get closer, an affair began, and in 1898 the couple got married in a small village church.

The wedding was modest, and a year later the first-born Igor appeared. Iola left the stage for the sake of her family, and Chaliapin began to tour even more in order to earn a decent living for his wife and child. Soon two girls were born into the family, but in 1903 grief occurred - the first-born Igor died of appendicitis. Fyodor Ivanovich could hardly survive this grief; they say that he even wanted to commit suicide.

In 1904, his wife gave Chaliapin another son, Borenko, and the following year they had twins, Tanya and Fedya.

But the friendly family and happy fairy tale collapsed in one moment. In St. Petersburg, Chaliapin found a new love. Moreover, Maria Petzold was not just a mistress, she became the second wife and mother of Fyodor Ivanovich’s three daughters. The singer was torn between Moscow and St. Petersburg, and tours, and two families, he flatly refused to leave his beloved Tornaghi and five children.

When Iola found out everything, she hid the truth from the children for a long time.

In 1922, Chaliapin emigrated from the country with his second wife Maria Petzold and daughters. Only in 1927 in Prague did they officially register their marriage.

The Italian Iola Tornaghi remained in Moscow with her children and survived both the revolution and the war here. She returned to her homeland in Italy only a few years before her death, taking with her from Russia only a photo album with portraits of Chaliapin.

Of all Chaliapin’s children, Marina was the last to die in 2009 (daughter of Fyodor Ivanovich and Maria Petzold).

Emigration and death

In 1922, the singer went on tour to the USA, from where he never returned to Russia. At home, he was deprived of the title of People's Artist.

In the summer of 1932, he starred in a sound film, where he played Don Quixote. And in 1935-1936 his last tour took place; he gave 57 concerts in Japan and China, Manchuria and the Far East.

In the spring of 1937, doctors diagnosed Chaliapin with leukemia. A year later, on April 12, 1938, he died in Paris in the arms of his second wife. He was buried in the Batignolles cemetery. In 1984, the singer’s ashes were transported from France to Russia. In 1991, the decision to deprive Chaliapin of the title of People's Artist was canceled.

Fyodor Ivanovich returned to his homeland...

Fyodor Ivanovich Chaliapin was born on February 1 (13), 1873, in Kazan. As a child, Fedor sang in the church choir. Before entering school, he studied shoemaking with N.A. Tonkov and V.A. Andreev. He received his primary education at Vedernikova’s private school. Then he entered the Kazan parish school.

His studies at the school ended in 1885. In the fall of the same year, he entered the vocational school in Arsk.

The beginning of a creative journey

In 1889, Chaliapin became a member of the drama troupe of V. B. Serebryakov. In the spring of 1890, the artist's first solo performance took place. Chaliapin performed the part of Zaretsky in P. I. Tchaikovsky’s opera, “Eugene Onegin”.

In the autumn of the same year, Fyodor Ivanovich moved to Ufa and joined the choir of the operetta troupe of S. Ya. Semenov-Samarsky. In S. Monyushko’s opera “Pebble,” 17-year-old Chaliapin replaced the ill artist. This debut brought him fame in a narrow circle.

In 1893, Chaliapin became a member of G. I. Derkach’s troupe and moved to Tiflis. There he met the opera singer D. Usatov. On the advice of an older comrade, Chaliapin took his voice seriously. It was in Tiflis that Chaliapin performed his first bass parts.

In 1893, Chaliapin moved to Moscow. A year later he moved to St. Petersburg and joined the opera troupe of M. V. Lentovsky. In the winter of 1894-1895. joined the troupe of I.P. Zazulin.

In 1895, Chaliapin was invited to join the St. Petersburg opera troupe. On the stage of the Mariinsky Theater, Chaliapin performed in the roles of Mephistopheles and Ruslan.

Creative takeoff

Studying the short biography of Fyodor Ivanovich Chaliapin, you should know that in 1899 he first appeared on the stage of the Bolshoi Theater. In 1901, the artist performed the role of Mephistopheles at the La Scala theater in Milan. His performance was very popular with European viewers and critics.

During the revolution, the artist performed folk songs and donated his fees to the workers. In 1907-1908 His tour began in the United States of America and Argentina.

In 1915, Chaliapin made his film debut, playing the title role in the film “Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich the Terrible.”

In 1918, Chaliapin took charge of the former Mariinsky Theater. In the same year he was awarded the title of People's Artist of the Republic.

Abroad

In July 1922, Chaliapin went on tour to the USA. This fact in itself deeply worried the new government. And when in 1927 the artist donated his fee to the children of political emigrants, this was regarded as a betrayal of Soviet ideals.

Against this background, in 1927, Fyodor Ivanovich was deprived of the title of People's Artist and was forbidden to return to his homeland. All charges against the great artist were dropped only in 1991.

In 1932, the artist played the title role in the film “The Adventures of Don Quixote.”

last years of life

In 1937, F.I. Chaliapin was diagnosed with leukemia. The great artist passed away a year later, on April 12, 1938. In 1984, thanks to Baron E. A. von Falz-Fein, Chaliapin’s ashes were delivered to Russia.

The reburial ceremony of the outstanding singer took place on October 29, 1984, at the Novodevichy cemetery.

Other biography options

• There were many interesting and funny facts in the life of F.I. Chaliapin. In his youth, he auditioned for the same choir together with M. Gorky. The choir directors “rejected” Chaliapin due to a mutation in his voice, preferring him to an arrogant competitor. Chaliapin retained his resentment for his much less talented competitor for the rest of his life.
• Having met M. Gorky, he told him this story. The surprised writer, laughing cheerfully, admitted that it was he who was a competitor in the choir, who was soon kicked out due to lack of a voice.
• The stage debut of young Chaliapin was quite original. At that time he was the main extra, and at the premiere of the play he performed in the silent role of the cardinal. The whole role consisted of a majestic procession across the stage. The cardinal's retinue was played by junior extras who were very worried. While rehearsing, Chaliapin ordered them to do everything on stage exactly as he did.
• Entering the stage, Fyodor Ivanovich became entangled in his robe and fell. Thinking that this was the way it should be, the retinue did the same. This “heap of small things” crawled across the stage, making the tragic scene incredibly funny. For this, the enraged director lowered Chaliapin down the stairs.