Фёдор Иванович Шаляпин

Feodor Chaliapin Russian Фёдор Иванович Шаляпин February 13 O.S. February 1 1873 – April 12 1938 Was A Russian Opera Singer. The Possessor Of A Large Deep And Expressive Bass Voice He Enjoyed An Important International Career At Major Opera Houses And Is Often Credited With Establishing The Tradition Of Naturalistic Acting In His Chosen Art Form. During The First Phase Of His Career Chaliapin Endured Direct Competition From Three Other Great Basses The Powerful Lev Sibiriakov 1869–1942 The More Lyrical Vladimir Kastorsky 1871–1948 And Dmitri Buchtoyarov 1866–1918 Whose Voice Lay Between The Extremes Exemplified By Sibiriakov And Kastorsky. The Fact That Chaliapin Is Far And Away The Best Remembered Of This Magnificent Quartet Of Rival Basses Is A Testament To The Magnetic Power Of His Personality The Acuteness Of His Musical Interpretations And The Vividness Of His Performances. Feodor Chaliapin Was Born Into A Peasant Family On February 1 OS 1873 In Kazan In The Wing Of Merchant Lisitzin's House On Rybnoryadskaya Street Now Pushkin Street 10. This Wing No Longer Exists But The House With The Yard Where The Wing Was Situated Is Still There. The Next Day Candlemas The Meeting Of Our Lord He Was Baptized In Epiphany Bogoyavlenskaya Church On Bolshaya Prolomnaya Street Now Bauman Street . His Godparents Were His Neighbors The Shoemaker Nikolay Tonkov And Ludmila Kharitonova A 12-Year-Old Girl. The Dwelling Was Expensive For His Father Ivan Yakovlevich Who Served As A Clerk In The Zemskaya Uprava Zemstvo District Council And In 1878 The Chaliapin Family Moved To The Village Of Ametyevo Also Ometyevo Or The Ometyev Settlements Now A Settlement Within Kazan Behind The Area Of Sukonnaya Sloboda And Settled In A Small House. Largely Self-Taught He Began His Career At Tbilisi And The Imperial Opera St. Petersburg In 1894. He Was Then Invited To Sing At The Mamontov Private Opera 1896–1899 His First Role There Was As Mephistopheles In Gounod's Faust In Which He Was A Considerable Success. At Mamontov He Also Met Sergei Rachmaninoff Who Was Serving As An Assistant Conductor There And With Whom He Remained Friends For Life. Rachmaninoff Taught Him Much About Musicianship Including How To Analyze A Music Score And Insisted That Chaliapin Learn Not Only His Own Roles But Also All The Other Roles In The Operas In Which He Was Slated To Appear. With Rachmaninoff He Learned The Title Role Of Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov Which Became His Signature Character. Chaliapin Returned The Favor By Showing Rachmaninoff How He Built Each Of His Interpretations Around A Culminating Moment Or "point." Regardless Of Where That Point Was Or At Which Dynamic Within That Piece The Performer Had To Know How To Approach It With Absolute Calculation And Precision Otherwise The Whole Construction Of The Piece Could Crumble And The Piece Could Become Disjointed. Rachmaninoff Put This Approach To Considerable Use When He Became A Full-Time Concert Pianist After World War I. On The Strength Of His Mamontov Appearances The Bolshoi Theatre In Moscow Engaged Chaliapin Where He Appeared Regularly From 1899 Until 1914. During The First World War Chaliapin Also Appeared Regularly At The Zimin Private Opera In Moscow. In Addition From 1901 Chaliapin Began Touring In The West Making A Sensational Debut At La Scala That Year As The Devil In A Production Of Boito's Mefistofele Under The Baton Of One Of The 20th Century's Most Dynamic Opera Conductors Arturo Toscanini. At The End Of His Career Toscanini Observed That The Russian Bass Was The Greatest Operatic Talent With Whom He Had Ever Worked. The Singer's Metropolitan Opera Debut In The 1907 Season Was Disappointing Due To The Unprecedented Frankness Of His Stage Acting But He Returned To The Met In 1921 And Sang There With Immense Success For Eight Seasons New York's Audiences Having Grown More Broad-Minded Since 1907. In 1913 Chaliapin Was Introduced To London And Paris By The Brilliant Entrepreneur Sergei Diaghilev At Which Point He Began Giving Well-Received Solo Recitals In Which He Sang Traditional Russian Folk Songs As Well As More Serious Fare. Among These Folk Songs Were Along Peterskaya Which He Recorded With A British-Based Russian Folk-Instrument Orchestra And The Song Which He Made Famous Throughout The World The Song Of The Volga Boatmen. read less