Few people have such charm
like Chaliapin. Lives in his being
strange magical power, and when he speaks
Swedish newspaper "Stokholms dagblad" (9.05.1930)
discussions among experts, critics, journalists, colleagues and others
a hundred enthusiastic admirers of his talent, then about his speech voice
There are only a few mentions of the great singer in literature.
knowledge. Judging by them (see epigraph), Chaliapin had an amazing
telny singing sound. Fortunately, one single entry
was stored. This is S. Nadson’s poem “Dreams”, in which
we are talking about a singer (page) who conquered the queen with his singing and
crowd of courtiers.
Why did Chaliapin choose this particular poem for use?
your brilliant artistic talent for speech recitation?
Here, apparently, there were several reasons for the psychological properties
va, and they are explained by the closeness of the content of the poem “Dreams”
personal experiences and life of Chaliapin himself. After all, Chaliapin
past - like the same “unknown page” who once even
was not accepted into the choir, by his own admission, and now (1922)
triumphantly captivating crowds of vocal lovers. In 1901, being
still very young, he had already conquered the main “citadel” of vocal
art - the most demanding audience of the La Scala theater and now
conquers America and stages around the world... His singing also evokes
delight and tears of tenderness in the eyes of the listeners, and a powerful voice
capable of shaking both hearts and chandeliers (“And a chandelier of crystal pendants
on the silver of chains, faded and trembled! ”, recites Chaliapin
Finally, there are still words in Nadson’s poem that are close to the heart
Chaliapin: “Oh, my Motherland! Accept me, I am yours! Exciting re-
the cry with which Chaliapin literally shouts these words, oh
says a lot. He - flesh of the flesh of the Russian people - is doomed to live
and sing in a foreign land. And for the rest of my life I dream of returning to
Motherland, - “...to dream,” as I.S. writes. Kozlovsky, - with such love -
I see, with such suffering..." and not being able to return... This
the greatest psychological drama of the singer of the Russian land. And not without reason
Chaliapin, unable to come to Russia, but burning with desire
for research of records with a recording of speech recitation by F.I. Chaliapin's poem
"Dreams"
124 _____________________ V.P. Morozov_____________________
sing for Russians, already at the end of his life at the age of 60, he still commits
It's a long journey to China and Japan to see if not
Russian lands, then the faces of Russian people who settled there in emigration
Rant settlements, and sing for them: “For fifteen years I sang in Russian
language in front of foreign audiences, - said the great ar-
tist, - and now with enthusiasm and special pleasure I will sing in
Harbin in front of a Russian audience!<...>“From Harbin I have
The feeling is as if I was in a purely Russian city, with Russians
tsami, Russian condo life. When I made a pro-
Walking along your “5th Avenue” - Kitaiskaya Street, I was incredibly excited -
they put up Russian signs for Russian stores; towards every now and then
Russian faces came across; for a minute it seemed to me that I was in
Russian regions" (cited from: Melikhov, 1998).
But let's turn on the player and listen to Chaliapin
reads the poem "Dreams".
When still a child, behind the school wall With a naive
I dreamed of glory with audacity, I saw in my dreams
full of crowds Tall marble
light-filled hall. There was a feast... a merry feast in
honor of the young queen...
We hear the majestic sounds of the familiar Chaliapin
sound that resonates well in the chest and upper resonators
support”, impeccable, as in singing, clarity of diction and spelling.
Like peals of thunder, the power of sound rises and falls, in waves
the intonation rolls, now rising, now falling. Are changing
the mud of what is happening in the royal castle...
the poem “Dreams”, analyzed by I.I. Silantiev and for-
recorded it in musical notation (see Fig. 38). At the same time she gives
your interesting comments.
I. Silantyeva:"F. Chaliapin fills the intonations with psychological
Rising and falling, like a light scarf, intonation, enclosed
in the words “unknown page” is a deep, regretful
sigh; but the stubbornly repeated subsequent sounds are really hard
kids: “I rule the crowd!” Elegant, graceful intonation reproduced
used by Chaliapin in the words “like the queen bowed down”; crowd
The reciter depicts the knights with a series of repeated sounds of the same
kovaya duration. The eyes of the maidens are raised - and the intonation captivates the imagination.
upward movement; their tears run down - and their intonation fades. Climax
on the words “and my song flows in wide waves” reaches the sound
“re” - the very sound that crowned the sigh of the page, the sound that
The art of resonant singing 125
half a tone higher than the “royal” - after all, the page defeated his mistress!
Whole tone descending scale - the step of someone who has established himself in his
the art of an unknown singer - follows after the climactic sound,
ascended on a perfect fifth, and this wave returns to its be-
regu - tonic, to begin a new run - a new stanza.”
Rice. 38. Pitch intonation of the speech voice of F.I. Chaliapin during recitation
poem “Dreams” (after: Silantyeva, 2001).
Our computer analysis of pitch information
matches the musical notation of I.I. Silantieva. In Fig. 39th
when reading a fragment of a poem presented in notation
new recording by I. Silantieva. As the histogram shows, the most
more frequently occurring (dominant) speech pitch
re to re1, that is, a little more than one octave. Thus,
Chaliapin in his speech uses only part of his more than two
octave range, but this is quite enough, as we have heard
shim, to emphasize all emotional and artistic
nuances of the poem “Dreams”.
126 V.P. Morozov
Rice. 39. Histogram of distribution of the pitch of F. Chaliapin’s speech voice when reading
poems by S. Nadson “Dreams”. The height of the bars shows the relative number
lo of sounds (%) pronounced with one or another pitch (indicated below by musical notations
signs and in Hz).
Let us now turn to consideration of the spectral features
ABOUT, highlighted in the word "thunderstorm" ABOUT yu" in the phrase "And powerful thunderstorms ABOUT Yu
thunders." It is clearly seen that in this speech sound there is a
Simum F7 at a frequency of 2418.8 Hz, almost corresponding
high speech formant (VRF, let's call it that) Chaliapin in
This sound reaches a very large value (37.1%; see
when expressing anger (in Fig. 36).
But let’s ask ourselves a question: maybe in other good re-
To answer this question, we analyzed the voice of our
outstanding radio announcer Yuri Levitan. His mighty, great
high-quality, unusually beautiful timbre, the bass often sounded ra-
dio during the Great Patriotic War, passing on the latest
news from the front, appeals supreme commander in chief
Stalin to the people and the army, instilled confidence in the hearts of people
victory No wonder Hitler, they say, promised 100 thousand marks for his life.
whether Levitan was dead or not, so great was the power of the psychological
victory over the enemy.
The art of resonant singing 127
Rice. 40. F. Chaliapin, “Dreams” by S. Nadson. Vowel ABOUT in the word "thunderstorm" ABOUT yu", in the phrase "And
powerful thunderstorms ABOUT it's thundering..." High speech formant F7 (indicated by shading)
has a relative level of 37.1% and is located in the region of 2428.8 Hz, which corresponds
Rice. 41. Radio announcer, Yuri Levitan, vowel A in the word "friend" I " Well expressed-
HIGH SPEECH FORMANT (relative level 31.9% and h a s t o t a
Fmax= 1439.7) does not correspond to the frequency of the VMF of the pitched voice.
Rice. 42. Comparison of the integral spectra of speech vowels by F. Chaliapin and Yu. Levitan.
Chaliapin's vowels A and O in words p A and , crowds ABOUT th, crystal, clean A , and Yo stormy, thunderous ABOUT yu from poetry
creations of S. Nadson “Dreams”. Levitan's vowels A And ABOUT in the words of the sovereign A rstva, incl. A d, br A tsky,
nar ABOUT dov, ist ABOUT riya. ABOUT n, P ABOUT lshi, pl ABOUT d, page A n, conquest, from the text he read on the radio
latest news. Important difference: high speech formant (VRF) of Chaliapin has -
in the region of about 2300 Hz (which is close to the VPF in his singing voice), and the VRF of Yu. Levitan in the region
lasts about 1400 Hz, which is almost 1000 Hz lower than Chaliapin’s VRF. VRFs are indicated by arrows.
128 V.P. Morozov
"Levitan" timbre. But its top is located significantly
lower (almost 1000 Hz) than the VRF in Chaliapin’s speech voice.
Average statistical studies of vowel spectra in different
pattern. Thus, research shows that
necessarily corresponds to the formant structure of other speech
dio Yu. Levitan).
We conducted similar studies of the voice of a famous
dramatic artist People's Artist USSR Oleg Basi-
lashvili (see album of spectra in Appendix 2) also showed
well expressed in its VRF spectrum in the region of about 1600 Hz,
which is close to Levitan’s VRF, but also significantly lower than Sha-
Lyapin, in addition, similar results were obtained when using
(V. Kachalov, I. Prudovsky, etc.).
As for the origin of the VRF, it is quite obvious
that it is associated with the activity of the resonant system of the vocal
apparatus (like all formant areas), however, differences in hour-
tote GRP and VPF equally clearly indicate that
during the formation of these formants, the resonance system in different images
The singers and artists we followed work differently.
Thus, we need to emphasize here an important law -
HIS HIGH SPEECH FORMANT, PRACTICALLY CORRESPONDING -
corresponds to the frequency of the high singing formant of its
by comparing the data from two parts of Table 6: the upper part,
which shows the results of determining the relative
level of VRF (%) and its frequency position (Hz) in various re-
Chaliapin’s primary vowels, and the lower part, on which the
relative levels of VMF (%) and its frequency location
tion (Hz) already in his singing vowels, isolated from various
ny vocal works.
A comparison shows that the average frequency values
placement of high formants in speech and singing vowels
The art of resonant singing 129
Chaliapin turn out to be very close (2354.9 Hz and 2513.0 Hz
respectively in speech and singing vowels), i.e. practically
coinciding, since in Chaliapin’s singing vowels we meet
such meanings as in his speech are also expected (see: “Oh, if only I could
express in sound...", lower part of the table. 6).
Table 6
Comparison of formant characteristics in speech (VRF)
read the phrase VRF,% VRF, Hz
A...unknown P A and... 12,4 2361,5
ABOUT...I dominate the crowds ABOUT th... 20.0 2411.6
A...crystal and clean A... 21,8 2293,5
A... Krist A flax and pure... 25.8 2306.5
ABOUT...and Yo this is my song... 28.5 2337.6
ABOUT...and powerful thunderstorms ABOUT yu thunders... 37.1 2418.8
Average value 24.3 2354.9
read the phrase Product of the VPF,% VPF, Hz
A d A and the one with me Nochenka 58.5 2667.0
A for Kude I ra- Legend of the 12 Thieves 41.4 2502.0
ABOUT for Kudeyar-razb ABOUT ynik Legend of the 12 Thieves 57.8 2527.0
A R A you beat my heart Oh if I could express it in sound 29.1 2371.0
ABOUT How ABOUT am I a miller?! Miller in “Rusalka” 27.9 2498.0
Average 42.9 2513.0
Designations: VRF, % - relative level of high formant in speech
vowels; VRF, Hz - frequency location of the high speech formant (VRF) in
spectrum of speech vowels; VPF, % - relative level of high singing ability
formants in the spectra of vocal vowels; VPF, Hz - VPF frequency in the spectra of
kal vowels.
3.4.8.9. Main conclusions
high singing formant (HSF) (high overtone group),
giving the timbre a pleasant sonority and flight, i.e.
halls, overcome the masking influence of musical
high overtones, close in frequency to high singing handicap
mante (high speech formant, VRF).
130 _____________________ V.P. Morozov____________________
3. Coincidence of frequency values of high formants (high
speech formant and high singing formant) in speech and
4. Physiological nature of the phenomenon in the light of developing av
torus resonant theory of vocal technique(Morozov, 1996,
1998, 20016) is that the resonators of the vocal apparatus
Chaliapin according to its natural properties (size, shape)
were structured and functioned in such a way that already in speech
vowels formed a high speech formant, close in
frequency to the high singing formant and the corresponding ti
5. As a result of this, Chaliapin did not have too much
rebuild the mechanism of formation of your speech voice, which
would get a good singing sound.
also the statements of such singing masters as Toti Dal Monte
knowledge of Chaliapin himself.
F. Chaliapin: “In my first years in art I studied with the teacher
bodies considered brilliant. They really did a lot
for my artistic taste and understanding. But the methods developed
tanned by their “system” did not take root in my throat. I discovered
suddenly it’s hard for me to sing. Then I returned to my methods, which
which I've used since I first discovered my voice, and -
achieved naturalness.
I can honestly say that the best is the one who is the singer himself
considers - or rather, feels - the most natural for himself. But
when the singer begins to feel that prolonged singing is tiring
his throat, it means that the wrong methods were used here, the wrong
strong teaching."
7. In general, objective studies have shown that the unique
artistic and performing talent of the great Chaliapin
combined with his equally unique vocal talent
8. Practical significance phenomenon is that the presence
shchi according to the frequency position of the high singing formant
indicators of natural vocal talent of this singer(cm.
next paragraph).
The art of resonant singing 131
Fyodor Ivanovich Chaliapin was a musician from capital letters: he drank, walked, rowded, was interested in girls. And today is his birthday.
Maria Mikulina
Despite the fact that the manager of the Moscow office of the Imperial Theaters, Sergei Trofimovich Obukhov, was going to work, he was in a good mood. He had just had a hearty breakfast, and his mustache obediently took the desired shape for his morning toilet. And the weather was excellent.
When Sergei Trofimovich entered the cool front door of his office, his mood, thanks to the playful glances of the ladies he met along the way, was even better than before. Smoothing his hair, the manager sedately walked through the suite of halls and overcame harsh flights of stairs until he finally reached his own reception room.
Send all the petitioners away before lunch, and in half an hour, come to me with notebooks, we will draw up a report.
The gray-haired secretary made an indefinite sound, which apparently meant the highest degree of submission. But as soon as the door closed behind the patron, he fixed his eyes on its varnished surface. And sure enough, in a matter of seconds a heartbreaking scream was heard from the door, and half a second later Sergei Trofimovich jumped out of the office as if scalded.
This!.. What is this!.. Save yourself!.. - without finishing, Sergei Trofimovich rushed headlong out of his own waiting room. The sound of his escape was drowned out by the mighty laughter that came from behind the huge closet. The secretary shook his head reproachfully.
It’s no good, Fyodor Ivanovich. What kind of childish joke is this, right?
Meanwhile, a figure emerged from behind the closet. A noble figure, I must admit. A tall, powerfully built man with blond hair, equally blond eyelashes and an open, laughing face.
What, did I come up with a good idea? - the hero asked after laughing.
Both turned their gaze to the open door of Obukhov’s office. There, right on the manager’s desk, a bomb was smoking and spitting sparks.
It was I who took the paint from Korovin, coated the watermelon and stuck the “nun” into it. What a beauty bomb I created!
You are a joker, Fyodor Ivanovich, but you can be punished for a joke. Let's see what Sergei Trofimovich tells you.
But when the trick was revealed, Sergei Trofimovich, who had already managed to return from his shameful flight to the street, only pursed his lips.
To you, Fyodor Ivanovich, everything is permissible...
This is how the soloist of His Imperial Majesty Fyodor Ivanovich Chaliapin usually joked.
small well
Whether it was stuffy in the hut, or a fever in his head, little Fedya could not tell. He opened his eyes, but in the darkness only the shy light of the lamp guarding the corner could be seen. Fedya deftly put his hand under the padded jacket on which he slept and sighed with satisfaction. Here he is, dear. Harpsichord. What a strange thing! When, by a special decree of fate, he won the harpsichord, his parents strictly forbade him from approaching the expensive toy. And Fedya hoped to finally learn to make the same magical sounds with his hands as the daughter of the merchant Lisitsyn, who lived nearby and had a piano at her disposal. But where is it? The parents placed the harpsichord in a place of honor, and it stood there - beautiful and unapproachable. As soon as Fyodor touched the treasured treasure, he heard his mother’s cry or his father’s reprimand, who always in such cases for some reason called his son “hole.” But as soon as Fedya fell ill, it was decided to move him from the floor, where he usually slept, to the harpsichord. It was still impossible to play on it, but it was a good idea to sleep.
Fyodor's first musical instrument was the violin. The father succumbed to persuasion and bought a half-dead unit at the “push”. As soon as Fedya picked up the violin, he began to play diligently. A couple of minutes later the father said:
Well, well, if it takes a long time, I’ll hit you in the head with a violin!
You could trust Dad. He beat Fedya, his mother, and his little brother and sister a lot and from the heart. He drank and beat. However, in Sukonnaya Sloboda in Kazan, where Fedya was born in 1873, there was no other upbringing. Fyodor's father, Ivan Chaliapin, was considered something of a local curiosity. He was not an ordinary peasant, but a literate one. Every day he left early for work and there copied important papers. And although his eldest son Fedya visited several schools and even worked for a shoemaker and furrier, Ivan Chaliapin intended him to become a janitor. It was this profession that seemed to him the most paid and stable.
Fedor himself wanted to sing. He sang as long as he could remember. First with my mother. Then his aunt appeared in the house - the beautiful Anna with a wonderful voice, bought from a brothel. Fedya sang both at work and during rest. This activity acquired meaning when Chaliapin came to his first teacher, the regent of the local church choir. Soon, along with serving in an ordinary church, a temple of art appeared in the life of twelve-year-old Fedya.
In his memoirs “Pages from My Life,” Chaliapin described his first visit to the Kazan Theater: “Without taking my eyes off, I looked at the stage... literally with my mouth open. And suddenly, already during intermission, I noticed that drool was flowing from my mouth. This really confused me. I have to shut my mouth, I told myself. But when the curtain rose again, my lips, against my will, opened again.” Until this evening, the most striking spectacle in Fedya’s life was the farcical performances of the local premier Yashka Mamonov. Now it seemed to him that he had experienced a spectacle on a completely different level. It was a fatal moment: the guild of janitors lost Fedya Chaliapin forever.
Hungry Debuts
The rest of the events of this period of the first passion for theater somehow receded into the background. And falling in love with a schoolgirl who walked like a duck and was nicknamed Dulcinea of Tobolsk by Fyodor, and his first intimacy with a woman - the beautiful but half-crazed daughter of a neighbor's washerwoman. Fedya finished school and began wandering around various services, mainly in the writing department. Fedya’s unloved job was especially burdensome because singing became impossible due to his breaking voice.
He failed the audition for the Kazan Theater choir miserably, as well as with wheezing and squealing. Instead of Chaliapin, they took some lanky guy with a cursing voice. Having left his parents, Fedor sailed along the Volga on various ships and worked as a hookman. The work was not pleasant: “On the first day, the five-pound bags wore me down almost to the point of loss of consciousness. By evening, my neck was painfully aching, my lower back was hurting, my legs were aching, as if I had been beaten with shafts.” Fedya was resting in the Kazan Panayevsky Garden, where they played an operetta.
By this time his voice had completely recovered, turning into a convincing bass. One evening, one of the garden regulars told Fedya that the entrepreneur Semenov-Samarsky, former artist with a spectacular waxed mustache, gathers a choir for Ufa. The very next day Chaliapin rushed to the entrepreneur. He sat regally on a chair in his hotel room in a silk robe and with his face sprinkled with white powder. Fedya added a couple of years to himself, calling himself nineteen, and lied that he knew the parts of “The Barber of Seville” and “Carmen”. But to be sure they would hire him, he declared that he was ready to work without salary. Such ardor could not help but impress - Chaliapin was enrolled in the choir, assigned twenty rubles and even promised an advance. Fedor did not know what an advance was, but intuitively he really liked the word.
In Ufa, Fedor showed himself with best side. He helped absolutely everyone: fellow choir members, soloists, stagehands. Served, brought, served. Seeing such zeal, Semenov-Samarsky appointed Chaliapin as a senior extra. And at Christmas time it was decided to stage the opera “Pebble”. The performer of the role of Stolnik with the characteristic surname Scenarius behaved defiantly during rehearsals and eventually got so tired of Semenov-Samarsky that on the eve of the premiere he entrusted the role to Fyodor Chaliapin. It was both exciting and scary. “I almost ran home, in a hurry to teach,” the singer recalled. “And he spent the whole night fiddling with the notes, preventing his roommate from sleeping.” The performance was a great success. The audience especially applauded when Chaliapin sat down past his chair with a roar on stage.
The next few months Fedor did not have much luck. He replaced the troupe of Semenov-Samarsky with the troupe of a certain Dergach, then fell into the clutches of the adventurer Lassalle, who staged several disastrous performances in Baku and disappeared into thin air. Chaliapin heard that Semenov-Samarsky was recruiting a new troupe in Tiflis, and rushed there. But there was no entrepreneur in Tiflis, and the money had long since run out.
Chaliapin was used to fasting for two days, but here his forced fast lasted three to four days. Hunger brought him to the point of clouding his mind: Fyodor decided to commit suicide - go to a gun store, ask for a revolver and shoot himself.
When Chaliapin, emaciated and in tattered clothes, had already taken hold of the handle (of the door, not the revolver), they called out to him. The hospitable Italian Ponte, familiar to Fedor from the Semenov-Samarsky troupe, grabbed the suicide under the arms and brought him home, where his wife fed Chaliapin pasta. Ponte allowed the young man to live with him as long as he liked. After eating and sleeping, Fyodor found a small income - he sang for two rubles in the garden.
First fur coat
Not only professional, but also personal life was improving. Chaliapin quickly gained fame as a lover of ladies, and completely different ones. His heroic energy was enough for both the maids and their mistresses. Fortunately, he was lucky with his appearance: a tall, slender blond of enormous strength. And strength was very useful: Chaliapin constantly got into fights - either because of his connections with other women, or because of his own hot temper.
There, in Tiflis, Chaliapin met his first serious teacher - former soloist Imperial Theaters of Professor Dmitry Andreevich Usatov. An elderly, dapper man, always surrounded by barking pugs, agreed to listen to Fyodor. He said, “Well, let’s shout.” Sitting down at the piano, Usatov listened attentively to Chaliapin. “But when I, having struck a high note, began to hold the fermata, the professor, stopping playing, painfully poked me in the side with his finger.” To Fedor’s timid question whether he could study music, Usatov firmly answered: “It should!” And he awarded a stipend of ten rubles from his own pocket.
Usatov taught Chaliapin not only singing. He sat me down at his luxurious table, where there was not just one spoon, but several utensils, and they served strange dishes like a green liquid with an egg floating in it. One day the professor told his student: “Listen, Chaliapin, you smell bad. Excuse me, but you need to know this. My wife will give you underwear and socks - get yourself in order!”
It was Usatov who took Chaliapin to the Tiflis Opera House, where the student of the respected professor quickly began to be entrusted with the main bass parts. Chaliapin shone in as many as twelve roles, of which the audience most loved the parts of the Miller in “The Mermaid” and Tonio in “Pagliacci.” Having finished the 1894 season, Chaliapin set off to conquer St. Petersburg.
Fyodor checked into the Palais Royal hotel, bought a sable fur coat, began visiting restaurants, and made bohemian friends. The artist Konstantin Korovin, who wrote a book about his friendship with Chaliapin, recalled that when he first saw Fedor on stage in an oversized Mephistopheles costume, he was struck by the timbre of the singer’s voice - “extraordinary beauty and some kind of formidable power.” Chaliapin also met Alyosha Peshkov, better known as Maxim Gorky. Fedor and Alexey quickly became close and long years were best friends. During another gathering, Peshkov told how he was accepted into the choir of the Kazan Theater. “So it was you!” - Fyodor roared, remembering the lanky boy with a dialect who passed him at the audition.
There was no shortage of basses and bureaucrats at the Mariinsky Theater. Due to the abundance of the former, Chaliapin hardly appeared on stage often; the latter did not give him creative freedom. The Mariinsky Theater deeply disappointed Chaliapin.
The Making of a Genius
Or the Mamontov Theater, where the singer sang in the off-season! Savva Mamontov, a millionaire and philanthropist, did not refuse Chaliapin anything - neither roles nor money. Mamontov invited Fedor to Moscow, promising a huge salary and freedom of creativity. Gray autumn Petersburg and the censorship of the Imperial Theaters after the splendor of the Mamontov Theater were killing. In addition, the Mamontov troupe had a very curious ballerina - a slightly sad and extremely mysterious Italian with the melodious name of Iola Tornaghi.
Despite his extensive experience with women, 23-year-old Chaliapin was smitten by such exoticism. He sat down next to Tornaghi and fervently repeated to her the only Italian words he knew: “Allegro, andante, religioso, moderato!” The choice between theaters was made. Mamontov paid a penalty to the Mariinsky Theater - a gigantic sum of 3,600 rubles. Fedor was worth it: the Moscow public flocked to the powerful voice of the handsome Chaliapin. And in the summer of 1898, in the village of Gagino, Chaliapin and Tornagi got married. Heavy rain prevented the newlyweds and their friends from going to celebrate after the wedding, and the merry company drank all the Cahors in the priest's house.
Marital happiness did not prevent Chaliapin from continuing to live life to the fullest: shining on stage, drinking heavily, having affairs. Fedor’s success in Moscow sobered up the leadership Mariinsky Theater, and it began to fight for the return of the bass, this time as the lead soloist. When, before appearing as Susanin at the Mariinsky Theater, Chaliapin threw red boots to the cloakroom attendant and ordered him to bring bast shoes, the order was carried out without complaint.
Chaliapin received huge amounts of money. But it was always not enough for him, which is why many acquaintances reproached the soloist for stinginess. Friends, knowing this trait of Fedor, made fun of him. They persuaded the waiter in the restaurant to add a pig to the bill and then with serious faces they proved to Chaliapin, who was sweating with excitement, that yes, there was a pig: “You ate it yourself, Fedya. Do not remember?" The waiter could not stand the singer’s excited look and, taking pity on him, exclaimed: “They are the ones who are joking, Fyodor Ivanovich!”
Hungry childhood and youth taught Chaliapin to hold on to every ruble. To be fair, it must be said that he took this money for business. There was no person at the Mariinsky Theater who took his work more seriously. He, in particular, announced that the unwritten law of the theater to rehearse from eleven in the morning until one in the afternoon, and not a minute more, is nonsense. If necessary, you should rehearse all day. He quarreled with the choir, with the conductor, with the stagehands, demanding maximum performance from everyone. With this, of course, Chaliapin could not help but irritate people. But each of his roles was a success, be it Dosifei in Khovanshchina or Salieri in Mozart and Salieri.
Once before the performance of the singer in the image of Boris Godunov, I went into his dressing room Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich. Already favored by the attention of the public and the authorities, Chaliapin continued to put on make-up. When asked by the Grand Duke whether Fyodor Ivanovich was teaching any new parts, Chaliapin, sighing, replied: “No time, your highness... I have a French girl, your highness, and what a one!” Laughing, the Grand Duke asked how long ago this French woman had happened to him. “The other day...” the soloist answered dreamily. A minute later, getting ready to go out, Chaliapin whispered to another ballet dancer: “If I weren’t married... You are so beautiful!” And then, instantly taking on the appearance of a doomed king, he stepped onto the stage with the words: “Cheer, mind you, child! I’m not your villain..."
Boutist, brawler, idol
Frequent trips abroad brought a shine to Fedor. But still insufficient. Once, sitting next to Vrubel at a dinner party, Chaliapin ordered red wine to be poured for the fish. Vrubel winced, poured a white one for his neighbor and said: “In England you would never have been made a lord. You must be able to eat and drink, and not be a cow. It’s unpleasant to sit next to you.” If Chaliapin did not immediately attack Vrubel, it was only because he was in awe of respected people of art. But he gladly got into fights with ordinary people and almost always emerged victorious thanks to his enormous strength.
One day, in front of Korovin, the crowd, seeing Chaliapin, decided to rock their idol. “Two people ran up and grabbed Chaliapin - one across, the other by the legs,” Korovin recalled. - Chaliapin dodged, grabbed some guy who ran up to him and, lifting him up, threw him into the crowd. The guy grunted when he hit the pavement.” Chaliapin got into fights both voluntarily and under duress, both sober and drunk. More, of course, drunk. “Since childhood, the tavern has been for me a place where people are always more interesting, more fun and freer than at home,” admitted Chaliapin.
With the advent of fame, visiting taverns became difficult: unfamiliar fans of Chaliapin’s talent were eager to kiss this talent. Chaliapin, of course, refused - “at least under the pretext that he (who wants to kiss - Ed.) is not a woman.” The petitioner, who considered himself insulted, demanded satisfaction. A fight ensued. St. Petersburg, Moscow, and then foreign newspapers tirelessly reprinted scandalous stories about Fyodor Ivanovich. There were also truthful ones among them. In the Hermitage restaurant, Chaliapin removed the pot from his friend, ordered the sexton to bring eggs and a spirit lamp, and fried scrambled eggs in a steaming pot in front of the aristocratic public. Another time, together with Korovin, he played a prank on their mutual friend - the architect Mazyrin, nicknamed Anchutka. Mazyrin came to stay in the village of Korovin, where Chaliapin was already vacationing, and began to tell his friends about his latest passion - spiritualism. And then Chaliapin and Korovin decided to persuade the peasant Gerasim to set fire to dry alcohol at night behind the mound, near the dacha, wrap himself in a sheet and swing from side to side. At midnight, Chaliapin and Korovin volunteered to show Anchutka what they said was a bad mound. When the meeting approached the mound, a white luminous ghost appeared behind it, towards which Chaliapin fearlessly went. This episode made a tremendous impression on Anchutka. He immediately wrote to the Swiss Society of Mediums that Fyodor Chaliapin was their man. The news went around all the newspapers, a brochure “The Mysterious Case of F.I. Chaliapin” was even published, which was immediately sold out. When Chaliapin and Korovin, exhausted from laughter, revealed the truth to Anchutka, he was mortally offended by them. The war and the subsequent revolution put an end to this cheerful life.
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 Vyatka province, he was engaged in work unusual for a peasant - he served as a clerk 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 basics of knowledge 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 by Kazansky 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.
Fyodor Chaliapin - "Black Eyes"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 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 Soviet power. In addition, friendship with the first proletarian writer Maxim Gorky protected Chaliapin’s family from ruin during the “Soviet terror.”
Fyodor Chaliapin - "Along along Piterskaya"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's more on stage Soviet scene didn't show up. After years soviet government deprived 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.
From big family Fedora remained in the USSR only with 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 a blood cancer: Chaliapin had a year to live.
Died great bass 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 Far East The opera singer 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, through an Orthodox priest, he 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.
Artist and singer Fyodor Chaliapin 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"
Fyodor Chaliapin had a beautiful voice since childhood.
"... I remember being five years old. On a dark autumn evening I was sitting on the floor of the miller - Tikhon Karpovich, in the village of Ometova, near Kazan, behind the Sukonnaya Sloboda. The miller's wife, Kirillovna, my mother, two or three neighbors were spinning yarn in a dimly lit room, illuminated by the uneven, dim light of a splinter.
The splinter is stuck into an iron holder - a light; the burning coals fall into a tub of water, and hiss and sigh, and shadows crawl along the walls, as if someone invisible is hanging black muslin. The rain is noisy outside the windows; the wind sighs in the chimney..."
More than once I caught myself thinking that in order for a child to grow into a genius, something romantic must be present in his childhood - living fire, living wind, living water, folk legends, fairy tales, the light of the moon slowly pouring through the window, and the wandering of shadows...
In general, a feeling of mystery, when the heart skips a beat, the soul trembles or soars, and the consciousness tries to penetrate into the core of a phenomenon or feeling and try to unravel it... in order to then offer its vision of the world to others.
And it doesn’t matter who the genius is - a musician, poet, artist, scientist.
This is exactly the kind of childhood that Fyodor Chaliapin had, despite the poverty of his family.
Fyodor Ivanovich Chaliapin was born on February 13, 1873 in Kazan into the family of a minor official. His father served as an archivist in the district zemstvo government. And the mother was a day laborer.
The family lived very poorly, and Chaliapin himself recalled his childhood as half-starved. The bright boy never dreamed of a gymnasium. Very early, his parents sent him to learn the craft from a shoemaker, and then from a turner. But then the father still managed to get his son into the 6th city four-year school, from which Fedya graduated with a diploma of commendation.
After which his father got him a job as a scribe, first in the district zemstvo government, then with a moneylender, and then in the court chamber.
But Chaliapin did not like being a clerk at all, so he did not stay in any one place for long.
Fyodor Chaliapin had a beautiful voice since childhood.
A neighbor taught him the basics musical notation, and Chaliapin began to sing in the suburban church choir.
People liked the young singer’s singing, and they began to invite him to sing not only in other churches, but also at weddings, funerals, and then he was accepted into the bishop’s choir in the Spassky Monastery. But after my voice began to break, I had to give up singing for a while. In 1890, Chaliapin’s voice returned in the form of a wonderful baritone, and he was accepted into the Ufa opera troupe of Semenov-Samarinsky.
The debut piece performed by Chaliapin on stage was the choral part in comic opera"Singer from Palermo" The young man coped so well with the roles entrusted to him that soon Chaliapin began to be assigned solo roles.
After the end of the season, Chaliapin joined Derkach's Little Russian traveling troupe. He traveled with her to the cities of the Urals and the Volga region, and then ended up in Central Asia.
In 1892, in Baku, Chaliapin joined the French opera and operetta troupe of Lassalle and performed in several performances. But the troupe broke up.
Left without money, Chaliapin barely made it to Tiflis and did odd jobs until he got a job as a scribe in the administration of the Transcaucasian Railway.
Fedor was lucky - he was noticed by the famous Tiflis singing teacher Usatov, who, seeing enormous talent in the young man, began to study with him for free and even secured a small scholarship for his student.
At dinners at the teacher's house, Fedya learned good manners, which would be useful to him in the future. Chaliapin retained sincere gratitude and love for his teacher in his heart throughout his life.
Fedor performed in concerts organized by the Tiflis Music circle, and then in 1893 he was invited by the Tiflis Opera House, and he began performing on the professional stage. His repertoire expanded to 12 roles from various operas.
The audience was delighted with young singer, he sang especially stunningly in the role of the Miller from “The Mermaid” and Tonio from “Pagliacci”
In 1894, having corrected his financial situation, Chaliapin went to Moscow, hoping to get into the Bolshoi Theater. But, alas, he did not succeed, and he got a job in Petrosyan’s opera troupe, which was recruited for the St. Petersburg Arcadia Theater in Novaya Derevnya.
This is how Chaliapin ended up in the capital Russian Empire, but, unfortunately, two months later the Petrosyan Theater went bankrupt, and Chaliapin joined the partnership of opera singers of the Panayevsky Theater there in St. Petersburg. He was soon noticed, and in 1895 the management of the Mariinsky Theater signed a contract with him for 3 years.
At first, Chaliapin sang in supporting roles, but in April 1896 he sang the part of the Miller in “Rusalka”, replacing the sick bass, the public and critics were delighted, they began to write about him in newspapers - and Chaliapin became famous.
In the summer he received an invitation to perform at the Nizhny Novgorod fair in a private opera troupe the famous Russian millionaire and philanthropist Savva Mamontov, who planned to create a purely Russian opera house and, to achieve this goal, invited the best singers and musicians from the capital.
In the fall, Mamontov invited Chaliapin to leave the Mariinsky Theater and move to his opera, which was about to begin performing in Moscow.
The salary that Fedor Ivanovich Mamontov offered was three times higher than his salary by official stage, and Chaliapin agreed.
According to Chaliapin’s recollections, Mamontov told him:
- “Fedenka, you can do whatever you want in this theater! If you need costumes, tell me, and there will be costumes. If you need to stage new opera, let's stage an opera!"
Chaliapin's debut role in Moscow was the role of Susanin in Glinka's opera. His performance as Mephistopheles in Faust brought him no less success. And after performing the role of Ivan the Terrible in Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Woman of Pskov,” fame simply fell upon Chaliapin.
And, one might say, she never left him, no matter what roles he performed - Dosifai in Mussorgsky's Khovanshchina, the Varangian Guest in Rimsky-Korsakov's Sadko, Holofernes in Judith, Salieri in Mozart and Salieri. They say that Chaliapin's performance of the role of Boris Godunov in the opera "Boris Godunov" by Mussorgsky was especially stunning.
Critics wrote that with the appearance of Godunov’s role in the repertoire, Chaliapin was recognized as the first opera singer Russia.
The directors of the imperial theaters, sparing no expense, competed for the right to get Chaliapin on their stage. In 1899, Chaliapin signed a three-year contract with the Bolshoi Theater.
In the summer of 1898, Fyodor Ivanovich married an artist of the Mamontov Theater, Italian dancer Iola Tarnaghi.
Chaliapin was known not only in Russia, but also abroad. In 1900, he received an invitation from the La Scala Theater in Milan to perform the role of Mephistopheles in Boyoto's opera of the same name. In preparation for this tour, Chaliapin studied Italian and carefully thought out the image and costume of Mephistopheles.
His performance took place on March 16, 1901, the audience was shocked, and the enthusiastic applause did not stop. The next morning Chaliapin woke up as a world celebrity. And after that he made foreign tours almost every year.
In 1908, Diaghilev brought to Paris a whole opera performance— “Boris Godunov” with Chaliapin in the title role. In 1910 French composer Massenet wrote the opera Don Quixote especially for Chaliapin.
Chaliapin greeted the revolution favorably. In April 1918 he returned to the Mariinsky Theater.
In November 1918, by resolution of the Council of People's Commissars, he was awarded the title of People's Artist. In 1919, Chaliapin joined the theater's management and practically became its artistic director.
Until 1920, he sang only in Russia, fighting against numerous “ball groups” who demanded that opera be thrown overboard as a bourgeois relic of the past.
In 1920, Chaliapin resumed his foreign tours, which were a stunning success.
In April 1922, Chaliapin came to St. Petersburg for a short time. And then he emigrated to France and settled in his apartment in Paris.
In 1927, the Soviet government deprived Fyodor Ivanovich of the title of People's Artist.
Meanwhile, Chaliapin toured around the world, and in 1932 he starred in the sound film “Don Quixote,” which was watched by millions of viewers in many countries around the world and which became a notable phenomenon in cinema.
Chaliapin's world fame grew every year. People were ready to buy tickets at exorbitant prices just to hear and see Fyodor Ivanovich.
But in 1936, Chaliapin’s health began to deteriorate; in 1937, he was diagnosed with heart and lung disease. Fyodor Ivanovich became noticeably decrepit, and in 1938 he died of leukemia.
Chaliapin dreamed of being buried in his homeland. 46 years after his death, the ashes of the great singer were transported to Moscow and on October 29, 1984 they were buried at the Novodevichy cemetery.
Natalia Antonova
Chaliapin's art is a phenomenon
someone we've never met before, him
cannot be explained or described in words!
Daily Telegraph (1925)1
All theories begin and end with him
about singing and performing arts, and before
there is no other singer around right now
whose name such an oracle would sparkle
ol legends and tales, in total
creating a legend about the artist. No equal
good for him, since such a combination of profound
side artistic intelligence, go-
ardent and sincere feeling, endless
creative inquisitiveness, and most importantly -
God's spark of genuine genius and astonishment
personal charm - unique!
Prague newspaper "Narodni listy" (1932)"
2003 marks the 130th anniversary of the birth of the greatest of
singers - Fyodor Ivanovich Chaliapin. Truly brilliant art
istic and vocal talent made his name immortal
significant in the history of Russian and world vocal culture. Larger-
shiy Italian singer, La Scala soloist Giacomo Lauri-
Volpi called Chaliapin “a Russian giant who overshadowed the great
whom Caruso." “Chaliapin,” he wrote, “remains a lonely giant
Tom... He became the standard bass and his name spread across the continents"
(Lauri-Volpi, 1972).
Outstanding masters of vocal art
As is known, Chaliapin himself in his printed works is extremely
focusing primarily on the performing side of singing
art (see fragments of his statements in Appendix 1).
contemporaries, as well as his brilliant acting skills.
In this regard, of particular interest to us are statements about
the world famous opera house La Scala and other major
1 Statements are given according to the article: Malkov, 1998.
The art of resonant singing 109
the greatest opera scenes. The names of these outstanding singers are also
known all over the world: Toti Dal Monte, Beniamino Gigli, Tito
Skipa, Giacomo Lauri-Volpi, and the delightful
the greatest of the Italian prima donnas of her time, Adelina Patti.
But let us preface their statements with the words of our outstanding
masters of vocal art I.S. Kozlovsky.
Ivan Kozlovsky
“The name - Fyodor Chaliapin - is not only not forgotten, but, on the contrary,
takes on, as it were, all new content. Everything takes on sound
louder and filled with ever greater meaning...
Chaliapin - and in his beauty, in his folk style, peace
sparkling talent, and in that irreparable drama to which he condemned
la life of this great, moreover, brilliant talent - today
is comprehended by our consciousness that has grown over the years...
Indeed, it is difficult to imagine a more tragic figure,
than Chaliapin, despite all that all his life he heard and felt
words spoken by Stasov: “Immeasurable joy!” These words - blah -
gratitude to Chaliapin for his work, for his talent, for his creativity -
truly reflect the attitude towards Chaliapin not only of progressive
no Russia, but also the whole world..." (Kozlovsky, 1992).
Toti Dal Monte
“I lived quite a long stage life, giving
Atr is twenty-five years old. My partners were best singers
peace. But the most vivid and exciting memory was the meeting
Cha with Chaliapin.
Oh, he was a brilliant artist, unsurpassed in talent
artist opera stage! In all his roles he was unique
Rome, original and grandiose! Yes, exactly grandiose! Such
the impression he left in the role of Boris Godunov, I
where I didn’t worry anymore.
It must be said that Italian viewers are perhaps the most demanding
vative in the world.<...>Even the most
famous singers. But I don't remember a single word of reproach,
expressed by someone to Chaliapin - everything he did,
it was so perfect, so bright and convincing that you would never
raised doubts or objections.<...>There is no doubt that art
in Chaliapin played a big role in increasing the demanding
the Italian public's affection for opera artists.
stage talent. Chaliapin still had a deep mind. He was
110_____________________ V.P. Morozov______________________________
a thinker in art, and this raised him even above the level of everything
the best that happened in his time on the opera stage.
If we talk about Chaliapin’s singing style, then we must admit that
her anger towards Italian school, at least in the field of emissions
indoor measures. I remember that in Cincinnati (America) we
they sang the play in a theater that could seat nine thousand spectators, and
We could be heard perfectly everywhere.
cheat Vocal sound formation does not tolerate any stress
ma, violence - it should be completely light and free,
timbre If the setting is incorrect, the sound will be tense,
violent, the timbre disappears, is erased, and the voice does not reach well
to the listener.
Chaliapin apparently had a naturally correct
and consolidate this natural style of singing, which brought her closer
to the Italian school, based on the principles of the natural,
natural sound production. True, in Chaliapin’s singing one hears
there was also something peculiar that probably came from the Russian
language. After all, he was a real Russian man and kept
his own native flavor in singing. Not only did it not spoil him,
but gave special expressiveness, beauty and originality
his art. Of course, this coloring was best manifested in
parts of the Russian repertoire.
But if vocal school Chaliapin was close to Italian,