Which is given to us by nature itself
- Each of us has our own, unlike the others, tone of voice. The musicians call this special, unique "coloring" of the voice by the French word "timbre". Repeat this word. (Timbre.) Timbre (from French timbre - "label, distinctive sign". E that special, unique "coloring" of the voice
- The pitch of the voice depends on the length of the vocal cords. Women and children have shorter ligaments than men, so their voices are always higher. You already know that musical instruments are divided into groups. So the singing voices are subdivided into male, female and children's voices. Let's take a closer look at each group.
(During the joint discussion, the table is filled in, and fragments of arias performed by different operatic voices are sutured - at the discretion of the teacher)
(The song of the Duke from the opera "Rigoletto" by G. Verdi in the Spanish version of I. Kozlovsky is played)
This aria was very popular. And when I.S. Kozlovsky played high notes, can you imagine what was happening in the hall?
What does singing mean? (who do we consider a singer or a master of singing? and what is needed for this?)
(In the form of a brainstorming session, the basic requirements for the ability to sing are identified)
there must be talent, hearing, voice;
in order to learn to sing, you must first learn to breathe correctly; correct breathing helps to keep the note for a long time;
the voice must be delivered, and the voice must be delivered:
Hold your breath correctly;
It is important to do the following exercises to stay healthy and prevent voice disorders.
Inhale through the nose to the abdomen (as if feeling its filling). Exhale through the small opening between the lips, tightening the abdominal muscles. Repeat 5-6 times.
For the development of acoustic and timbre properties of the voice, it is necessary to develop the muscles of the pharynx, tongue, to identify the resonating properties of the body (doing exercises).
Say A-E-O silently, trying to open the throat cavity wider, not the mouth. Repeat 10 times.
- Three types of male voices are distinguished by timbre and pitch: tenor, baritone and bass.
– Tenor altino (Counter tenor) - the highest of the male operatic voices. A man singing in a "female" voice. Until recently, it was relatively rare, now it is becoming more widespread. (Oleg Bezinskikh, Pavel Plavich)
(Sounds Aria Cherubino from the opera "The Marriage of Figaro" by W.A. Mozart
–– Many of you probably know the name of Alexander Gradsky. This is a famous Russian singer, poet and composer. For many years, his amazing voice has excited a large team of his admirers, and all his songs are an example of vocal skill. Alexander Gradsky (middle timbre between tenor-altino and characteristic tenor), Leonid Agutin, Pelageya, Dima Bilan (dramatic tenor ) (Sounds - "My friend plays the blues best")
- On 7 July 1991 in Rome, at the opening of the World Cup, three prominent tenors performed for the first time: Luciano Pavarotti, Jose Carreras and Placido Domingo. The recordings of the singers' performances have sold the record number in the history of classical music. (Voice recording sounds.)
- Muslim Magomayev is an Azerbaijani and Russian opera and pop singer and composer. He had an extraordinary, beautiful voice. His repertoire included more than 600 works. To this day, he remains an idol for many generations of people. (A recording of the singer's voice sounds.)
- Dmitry Hvorostovsky is an outstanding Russian and British musician and one of the best baritones of our time, whom the whole world knows. He sings at the best opera houses in the world. (A recording of the singer's voice sounds.)
– Freddie Mercury (1946 –1991 ) - British singer parsian origin Was Freddie died on November 24, 1991 from bronchial pneumonia, which developed against the background AIDS... One of the greatest rock singers and one of the greatest voices in the history of music. "
– Fyodor Shalyapin - an outstanding Russian opera singer. They wrote about him that in “Moscow - three miracles: Tsar Bell, Tsar Cannon and Tsar Bass - Fyodor Ivanovich Chaliapin.” Chaliapin was a versatile gifted person - he was fond of painting, graphics, sculpture, had a literary talent, starred in films.
– Paul Robson – american singer (bass), actor, human rights activist, polyglot. He sang songs and spoke more than 20 languages, including Russian. (The recording of the singer's voice sounds, the song "16 tons".)
– Soprano - the highest female voice.
There is lyrical, dramatic, coloratura.
– Galina Vishnevskaya – world famous Russian opera singer, theater director, teacher, actress. Her beautiful voice won over millions of people around the world. Galina Vishnevskaya sang on all the largest stages in the world. (Tchaikovsky's recording "Eugene Onegin" sounds, scene of Tatiana's letter)
– LoveKazarnovskaya - one of the most famous modern Russian opera stars, with a voice of amazing beauty, Lyric soprano ... All the world's major theaters and festivals are vying with each other to invite the singer.
– Maria Callas - Greek and American opera singer ( dramatic soprano), one of the greatest singers of the twentieth century. During her lifetime, enthusiastic spectators awarded her the title of "Divine".
– Mezzo-soprano - female singing voice, middle between soprano and contralto. Repeat this word. (Mezzo-soprano.)This voice has a deeper and richer sound than a high soprano.
– Elena Obraztsova Is a world famous Russian opera singer, actress, teacher. She is active in concert in Russia and around the world. (Rachmaninov's recording "Spring Waters" is played)
– Tamara Sinyavskaya - Russian opera singer (mezzo-soprano), teacher. An outstanding representative of the Russian vocal school with a unique, noble and strong voice. You heard her voice at the beginning of the lesson.
–– Montserrat Caballe- Spanish opera singer. Experts believe that Caballe's repertoire is one of the most extensive among all soprano singers. She sings Italian, Spanish, German, French, Czech and Russian music. Her voice has both softness and unsurpassed strength. (Duet with Fredy Mercury Anthem "Barcelona")
– Contralto- the lowest female voice. Repeat this word. (Contralto.) This voice is quite rare and is particularly expressive.
– Beyonce - popular American singer (contralto)
– Lina Mkrtchyan (contralto) - a singer with a high musical culture and original interpretation of the works performed. Her warm, full-bodied voice has an exceptional range - from the lowest contralto to unexpectedly high soprano notes. The singer's repertoire includes over forty programs based on spiritual and chamber works. These are early music of the 13th-18th centuries, Western European sacred and opera music, Russian vocal classics, romantic and avant-garde cycles. Lina - the first Russian singer to perform Russian sacred music in Vatican. (Recording of the voice of the singer Ave Maria sounds. Bach-Gounod ..)
– Treble- In a group of human voices, treble is the highest voice of boys (Repeat this word. (Treble.)
Robertino Loretti - Italian singer, In the early 60s of the 20th century, as a teenager, he won worldwide fame thanks to his charming, angelic treble voice. (A recording of the singer's voice sounds.)
– Alto- a low children's singing voice. Repeat this word. (Alto.)
|
Male voices |
Female voices |
Children's voices |
|
Tenor - the brightest male voice; the performer is a handsome hero, a brilliant favorite of women. (I. Kozlovsky, S. Lemeshev, Placido Domingo, L.Pavarotti, Jose Carreras, Alexander Gradsky, Dima Bilan).
Bass
- a low male singing voice. Lowest of all voices, heavy, large, beautiful, smooth (F. Chaliapin)
|
|
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The uniqueness of Chaliapin's voice
It is widely believed that the secret of Shalyapin's influence on listeners lies in the unprecedented power and beauty of his melodious bass. This is not entirely true. Both the world and the Russian scene knew voices much more powerful than Shalyapinsky. And there were a lot of very beautiful basses. But there was no voice in the world that would be endowed with such a variety of timbres and colors. “The power of Shalyapin's voice,” writes the singer S. Levik, who has repeatedly appeared in performances with Chaliapin, “was not natural, but a consequence of his ability to distribute light and shadow ...” In other words, to change and diversify timbres. physiologically, Chaliapin's voice was not a phenomenon, but as an artistic phenomenon this voice is unique. "
Chaliapin subdued his voice to the limits of his capabilities. That is why he sounded more powerful, and more sonorous, and wider than that of other singers, who were naturally endowed with more powerful voices. And it was perceived as an unprecedented, inimitable, unique voice.
They talked about the school he went to in Tiflis with his first and, in fact, the only teacher D. Usatov. However, this cannot fully explain Chaliapin's vocal perfection, for he assimilated all the best that he had heard - the elements of all schools - and dissolved them in the "crucible of his singing" to such an extent that they were not even guessed in his execution.
Chaliapin could not have achieved this if he had not been endowed with the gift of a genius musician. This gift consists in the ability to convey not only a musical text, but its content. "Sheet music is a simple recording," Chaliapin said, "you need to make them music, as the composer wanted."
While preparing for his performance in the opera Demon, at the dress rehearsal, he turned to conductor Altani with a request to allow him to conduct his entire part from the stage. Altani handed him his wand, and Chaliapin sang, showing the orchestra what he wanted from him. When it reached the climax and the final aria, the orchestra members were so delighted that they played touche for Chaliapin.
Artists about Chaliapin
The wonderful conductor Fritz Stidri, who gave concerts in the Soviet Union in the 1920s and 1930s, said that a bad conductor shows what is indicated in the score, and a good one shows what the score gives him at his free artistic discretion. Chaliapin made extensive use of these possibilities inherent in the score.
Chaliapin cannot even be called in the usual sense a performer of the vocal part, because every time - to a greater or lesser extent - he was a co-creator of the composer. And here it is legitimate to compare him with such artists as, say, the great pianist Ferruccio Busoni, who brought his ideas to the interpretation of Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, xList, Chopin. Or with the violinist Eugene Ysaye. Or with the pianist Leopold Godowsky.
Musicologist L. Lebedinsky once compared the gramophone recording of one of Boris Godunov's scenes performed by Chaliapin with the musical text of Mussorgsky. And he found out how far Chaliapin had moved away from the direct transmission of this text. V. Meyerhold told the playwright A. Gladkov about this. “Chaliapin in the 'delirium' scene, - he recalled, - needed time for a wonderful acting improvisation: he played a whole piece here without singing, - but there was not enough music. Then he asked to repeat the so-called chime music ". Those who have heard and seen him in this role must admit that it turned out great. "" I do not think, - Meyerhold continued, Once I listened to Boris on the radio and caught the same chimes in the “delirium” scene. So it has become a tradition. This is how it always happens. First, you are an arrogant innovator, and then - the founder of tradition, whitened with gray hair. "
And, indeed, many of Shalyapin's discoveries became as canonical as Liszt's or Buson's editions of piano literature. This does not mean that every singer or pianist can invade the author's text. No and no! This can only be done by a brilliantly gifted artist who has won the creative right to do it!
The famous Soviet cellist, professor of the Moscow Conservatory Viktor Kubatsky recalls how in 1920, during stage rehearsals at the Bolshoi Theater, a minute free from singing was given out, Chaliapin went to the fore and, covering his eyes from the sharp light with his palm, listened to the cello group playing. As the concertmaster of the group, Kubatsky suggested that Chaliapin was not happy with the sound and asked him this question.
“No,” Chaliapin answered. “I learn to sing from cellos.” \u200b\u200bOnly a very great musician could say that.
Chaliapin was deeply convinced that all the power of his singing lies in the accuracy of intonation, in the correct coloring of words and phrases. And he recalled how he felt it for the first time, when, in his youth, he was learning the role of Miller. He worked hard, and the image came out unnatural.
Dissatisfied with himself, he turned to the famous tragedian Mammoth Dalsky. Dalsky ordered not to sing, but to read to him from the book Pushkin's text. And when Chaliapin read it - with periods, commas, breaths - Dalsky drew attention to intonation. “You speak in the tone of a small shopkeeper,” he remarked, turning to Chaliapin, “and the miller is a sedate man, the owner of a mill and farmland.” I immediately understood the falsity of my intonation, blushed with shame, but at the same time was glad that Dalsky said a word that was in tune with my vague mood. phrases are all the power of singing. "
And many times in his memoirs, Chaliapin spoke of intonation, as a way to penetrate the essence of the role, into the depths of romances and songs that had not been revealed to anyone before. “I found their only intonation,” he writes about Mussorgsky's romances and songs. “The intonation of one phrase, correctly taken, turned a snake into a fierce tiger,” Shalyapin recalls another moment when Mamontov at a rehearsal of a Pskovite woman suggested what was missing him in the nature of Grozny. “The most spectacular aria sounds cold and protocol,” Chaliapin writes further, “if the intonation of the phrase is not developed in it, if the sound is not colored with the necessary shades of experience.”
And I must say that the sensitive musicians who listened to Chaliapin always noted the importance of intonation mastery in the overall impression of his brilliant performances. And they also noted a deep inner rhythm.
“It always seemed to me,” writes B. Asafiev, “that the sources of the Shalyapin rhythm, like his deeply realistic intonational singing, are rooted in the rhythm and imagery of Russian folk speech, which he mastered perfectly”.
And in this there was no disagreement among everyone who recalled Chaliapin's art as a synthesis of "voice gift", intonation, rhythm, word, stage plasticity. The most sensitive noted at the same time Chaliapin's amazing penetration into the structure of the Russian language, Chaliapin pronunciation, sense of the word inherent in him organically.
“Chaliapin's trick is in the word,” K. Stanislavsky argued. “Chaliapin could sing on consonants. I had to talk a lot with Chaliapin in America. He argued that it is possible to extract any word from a phrase without losing the necessary rhythmic stress in singing. ... ... Lacking the power of sound, for example, bass [V. R.] Petrov [he] made an incomparably greater impression thanks to the sonority of the phrase. "
Indeed, vocalists know that Chaliapin is able to color a syllable, "squeeze" and "stretch" it, without disturbing either the verbal or musical structure. And few of the Russian actors understood the verse as well as Chaliapin. When he sings Pushkin's Prophet with the somewhat chilly music of Rimsky-Korsakov, he amazes with his penetration into the biblical structure of Pushkin's speech, the solemnity and imagery of Pushkin's verse. chaliapin voice opera house
And the explanation of this amazing action lies first of all, as I think, in understanding the proportionality of all the elements, the importance of the vowel word, in the ability to convey the rhyme, to color every sound, every syllable in transmission ...
Chaliapin was able to convey the fusion of music with plasticity not only in Russian, but also in other languages. So, performing in Milan the part of Mephistopheles in Boito's opera in Italian, he amazed the Italian audience not only with his singing, not only playing, but also with his Italian pronunciation, which the great singer Angelo Masini called the Dante pronunciation.
“An amazing phenomenon in an artist,” wrote Mazini to the editorial office of one of the St. Petersburg newspapers, “for whom Italian is not his native language.” The French press has repeatedly noted Chaliapin's subtle mastery of French. However, even when Chaliapin sang abroad in -Russian, he shocked the most sophisticated audience.
In 1908, when Paris was preparing to see Boris for the first time, at the dress rehearsal, to which all the wonderful people of the French capital were invited, Chaliapin sang in a jacket (the costumes were not unpacked). Performing a hallucination scene after the words “What is this? There! ... In the corner ... Swaying! ... "he suddenly heard a terrible noise and, glancing sideways into the hall, saw that the audience had risen from their seats, and some even stood up on chairs to see what was there - - in the corner? Not knowing the language, the audience thought that Chaliapin saw something there and was suddenly frightened.
“Salvini!” - they shouted to Chaliapin in Milan after the success in Boito's opera, comparing him with one of the greatest tragic actors of the 19th century.
Chaliapin's art is a phenomenon that
whom we have never met before
cannot be explained and described in words!
Daily Telegraph (1925) 1
All theories begin and end with it
about singing and performing arts, and before
now there is no other singer around
whose name would sparkle such a nut
ol legends and legends, in aggregate
creating a legend about the artist. No equal
good to him, since such a combination of deep
poor artistic intelligence,
vivid and sincere feeling, endless
creative inquisitiveness, and most importantly -
God's spark of true genius and wonder-
personal charm is unique!
Prague newspaper "Narodni listy" (1932) "
2003 marks the 130th anniversary of the birth of the greatest of
singers - Fyodor Ivanovich Chaliapin. Truly brilliant ar-
tisty and vocal talent made his name immortal
nym in the history of Russian and world vocal culture. Largest-
great Italian singer, soloist of La Scala Giacomo Lauri
Volpi called Chaliapin “the Russian giant who overshadowed the great
whom Caruso ". “Chaliapin,” he wrote, “remains a lonely giant
volume ... He became a bass reference and his name has spread throughout the continents "
(Lauri-Volpi, 1972).
Outstanding Vocal Artists
As you know, Chaliapin himself in his printed works extremely
focusing primarily on the performing side of the singing
art (see fragments of his statements in Appendix 1).
contemporaries, as well as his ingenious acting skills.
In this regard, of particular interest to us are statements about
the world famous La Scala opera house and other major
1 Statements are given according to article: Malkov, 1998.
The art of resonant singing109
the most recent opera scenes. The names of these prominent singers are also
known all over the world: Toti Dal Monte, Beniamino Gigli, Tito
Skipa, Giacomo Lauri-Volpi, among them is the delightful
adeline Patti, the most important Italian diva of her time.
But let us preface their statements with the words of our outstanding
master of vocal art I.S. Kozlovsky.
Ivan Kozlovsky
“The name - Fedor Chaliapin - is not only not forgotten, but, on the contrary,
acquires, as it were, all new content. Everything takes on sound
louder and more and more meaningful ...
Chaliapin - and in his beauty, in the style of his folk, rest
talent, and in that irreparable drama, to which
la life 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 the fact that all his life he has heard and felt
the words spoken by Stasov: "Immeasurable joy!" These words - bla-
dedication to Chaliapin for his work, for his talent, for his work -
truly reflect the attitude towards Chaliapin not only progressive
russia, but the whole world ... ”(Kozlovsky, 1992).
Toti Dal Monte
“I have lived quite a long stage life, having given my
atru twenty five years old. The best singers were my partners
the world. But the most vivid and exciting memory was left by
cha with Chaliapin.
Oh, it was an artist of genius, unsurpassed in talent
opera artist! In all his roles, he was unique
rome, original and grandiose! Yes, it is grandiose! Such
the impression that he left in the role of Boris Godunov, I
where no more worried.
I must say that the Italian audience is perhaps the most demanding
in the world.<...> [Their] critics did not leave even the most
illustrious singers. But I don't remember a single word of reproach
expressed by someone to Chaliapin - everything he did
was so perfect, so bright and convincing that you never
raised doubts or objections.<...> There is no doubt that the art
in Chaliapin played a large role in raising the demanding
the Italian public to the opera artists.
stage talent. Chaliapin still had a deep mind. He was
110_____________________ V.P. Morozov ______________________
thinker in art, and this raised him even above the level of everything
the very best that was in his time on the opera stage.
If we talk about the manner of singing Chaliapin, then we must admit that
her adherence to the Italian school, at least in the field of emission
measures of the premises. I remember that in Cincinnati (America) we
they sang a performance in a theater with a capacity of nine thousand spectators, and
we were perfectly heard everywhere.
cheat. Vocal sound production does not tolerate any pressure
ma, violence - it should be completely light and free,
timbre. If set incorrectly, the sound is tense,
violent, the timbre fades, is erased, and the voice does not reach well
to the listener.
Chaliapin had, apparently, by nature correctly set
and consolidate this natural manner 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,
there was also something peculiar, which probably came from the Russian
language. After all, he was a real Russian man and kept
their own flavor and singing. Not only did it not spoil him,
but it gave special expressiveness, beauty and originality
his art. Of course, this flavor was best manifested in
parts of the Russian repertoire.
But if the vocal school of Chaliapin was close to the Italian one,
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 clerk in the administration of the zemstvo. And mother Evdokia Mikhailovna was a housewife.
As a child, little Fedya noticed a beautiful treble, thanks to which he was sent to the church choir as singers, where he received the basics of knowledge of musical literacy. In addition to singing in the temple, the father sent the boy to study with a shoemaker.
After completing several classes of primary education with honors, the young man goes to work as an assistant clerk. These years later Fyodor Chaliapin will remember as the most boring in his life, because he was deprived of the main thing in his life - singing, since at this time his voice was going through a period of withdrawal. So the career of the young archivist would have gone along the well-established career, if one day he had not come to the performance of the Kazan Opera House. The magic of art forever captured the heart of the young man, and he decides to change his activity.
At the age of 16, Fyodor Chaliapin with an already formed bass audition for the opera house, but fails it miserably. After that, he turns to the drama collective of V. B. Serebryakov, in which he is hired as an extra.
Gradually, the young man began to assign vocal parts. A year later, Fyodor Chaliapin performed the part of Zaretsky from the opera Eugene Onegin. But in a dramatic entreprise, he did not stay long, and after a couple of months he got a job as a chorus player in the musical troupe of S. Ya. Semyonov-Samarsky, with which he left for Ufa.
As before, Chaliapin remains a talented self-taught, who, after several comically failed debuts, gains stage confidence. The young singer is invited to a wandering theater from Little Russia under the direction of G.I.Derkach, with whom he makes a number of his first trips around the country. The journey leads Shalyapin eventually to Tiflis (now Tbilisi).
In the capital of Georgia, the talented singer is noticed by vocal teacher Dmitry Usatov, formerly the famous tenor of the Bolshoi Theater. He takes a poor young man for full support and deals with him. In parallel with the lessons, Chaliapin works as a bass player at the local opera house.
Music
In 1894, Fyodor Chaliapin entered the service at the Imperial Theater of St. Petersburg, but the severity that reigns here quickly begins to weigh on him. By a happy coincidence, at one of the performances, a benefactor notices him and lures the singer to his theater. Possessing a special flair for talents, the patron discovers incredible potential in a young temperamental artist. He gives Fyodor Ivanovich complete freedom in his team.
Fedor Chaliapin - "Black Eyes"While working in the Mamontov troupe, Chaliapin revealed his vocal and artistic abilities. He covered all the famous bass parts of Russian operas such as Pskovityanka, Sadko, Mozart and Salieri, Rusalka, A Life for the Tsar, Boris Godunov and Khovanshchina. His performance of the role in "Faust" by Charles Gounod still remains a benchmark. Subsequently, he will recreate a similar image in the aria "Mephistopheles" at the Teatro alla Scala, thus earning success with the world public.
Since the beginning of the 20th century, Chaliapin reappears on the stage of the Mariinsky Theater, but already as a soloist. With the Moscow theater, he toured European countries, got on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera in New York, not to mention his regular trips to Moscow, to the Bolshoi Theater. Surrounded by the famous bass, you can see all the color of the creative elite of that time: I. Kuprin, Italian singers T. Ruffo and. A photo has been preserved where he was captured next to his close friend.
In 1905, Fyodor Chaliapin especially distinguished himself with his solo performances, in which he sang romances and the then famous folk songs "Dubinushka", "Along along Piterskaya" and others. The singer donated all funds from these concerts to the needs of the workers. Such concerts by the maestro turned into real political actions, which later earned Fyodor Ivanovich the honor of the Soviet regime. In addition, friendship with the first proletarian writer Maxim Gorky protected the Chaliapin family from ruin during the "Soviet terror".
Fyodor Chaliapin - "Along St. Petersburg"After the revolution, the new government appoints Fyodor Ivanovich as the head of the Mariinsky Theater and awards him the title of People's Artist of the RSFSR. But in his new capacity, the singer did not work for long, since with the very first foreign tours in 1922, he immigrated with his family abroad. He never appeared on the stage of the Soviet stage. 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 fond of painting and sculpture. He also starred in films. He got a role in the film of the same name by Alexander Ivanov-Gai, and he also took part in the filming of the film Don Quixote by German director Georg Wilhelm Pabst, where Chaliapin played the main role of the famous fighter against windmills.
Personal life
Chaliapin met his first wife when he was young, while working at the Mamontov theater. The girl's name was Iola Tornaghi, she was a ballerina of Italian descent. Despite the temperament and success with women, the young singer decided to tie the knot with this sophisticated woman.
Over the years of marriage, Iola gave birth to Fyodor Chaliapin six children. But even such a family did not keep Fyodor Ivanovich from cardinal changes in life.
While serving in the Imperial Theater, he often had to live in St. Petersburg, where he started a second family. First, Fyodor Ivanovich met with his second wife Maria Petzold in secret, since she was also married. But later they began to live together, and Mary gave birth to three more children.
The artist's double life continued until his departure to Europe. The prudent Chaliapin went on tour as part of the entire second family, and a couple of months later five children from his first marriage went to Paris to visit him.
Only his first wife, Iola Ignatievna, and his eldest daughter, Irina, remained in the USSR from Fedor's large family. These women became the guardians of the memory of the opera singer 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 Far East in the mid-30s. He gives over 50 solo concerts in cities in China and Japan. After that, returning to Paris, the artist felt unwell.
In 1937, doctors diagnosed him with a cancer of the blood: Chaliapin is still a year old.
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 Shalyapin's son, his remains were transferred to the grave at the Novodevichy cemetery in Moscow.
True, many historians consider the death of Fyodor Chaliapin rather strange. And the doctors unanimously asserted that leukemia with such a heroic physique and at this age is extremely rare. There is also evidence that after touring the Far East, the opera singer returned to Paris in a painful state and with a strange "decoration" on his forehead - a greenish lump. Doctors say that such neoplasms occur when poisoning with a radioactive isotope or phenol. Rovel Kashapov, a local historian from Kazan, wondered what happened to Chaliapin on tour.
The man believes that Chaliapin was "removed" by the Soviet regime as unwanted. At one time, he refused to return to his homeland, plus everything, through an Orthodox priest, he provided material 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 question of returning.
Soon, the singer came into conflict with the authorities. His book "The Story of My Life" was published by foreign publishing houses, 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 hostile actions of the singer against the Soviet state.
And in 1932 he wrote the book "Mask and Soul" and published it in Paris. In it, Fyodor Ivanovich spoke out in a harsh form in relation to the ideology of Bolshevism, to Soviet power, and in particular to K.
Artist and singer Fyodor Chaliapin In the last years of his life, Chaliapin was extremely careful and did not let 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 to give a concert in Harbin, although initially it was not planned to perform there. Local historian Rovel Kashapov is sure that it was there that Dr. Vitenzon, who accompanied Chaliapin on this tour, was handed an aerosol can with a poisonous substance.
Fyodor Ivanovich's accompanist, Georges de Godzinsky, claims in his memoirs that before the performance Vitenzon examined the singer's throat and, despite the fact that he found it quite satisfactory, "sprinkled with menthol." Godzinsky said that further tours took place against the background of Shalyapin's deteriorating health.
February 2018 marks the 145th anniversary of the birth of the great Russian opera singer. In the house-museum of Chaliapin on Novinsky Boulevard in Moscow, where Fyodor Ivanovich lived with his family since 1910, admirers of his work widely celebrated his anniversary.
Arias
- A Life for the Tsar (Ivan Susanin): Susanin's Aria "Feel the Truth"
- Ruslan and Lyudmila: Rondo Farlaf “Oh, joy! I knew"
- Mermaid: Melnik's aria "Oh, that's all you young girls"
- Prince Igor: Igor's aria "No sleep, no rest"
- Prince Igor: Konchak's aria "Are you healthy, prince"
- Sadko: Song of the Varangian guest "About formidable rocks crushing with a roar of waves"
- Faust: Aria of Mephistopheles "Darkness Descended"
Fyodor Ivanovich Shalyapin was born on February 13, 1873 in Kazan, in the poor family of Ivan Yakovlevich Shalyapin, a peasant from the village of Syrtsovo, Vyatka province. Mother, Evdokia (Avdotya) Mikhailovna (nee Prozorova), originally from the village of Dudinskaya in the same province. Already in childhood, Fyodor had a beautiful voice (treble) and often sang along with his mother, "adjusting the voices." From the age of nine he sang in church choirs, tried to learn to play the violin, read a lot, but he was forced to work as an apprentice of a shoemaker, turner, carpenter, bookbinder, and copyist. At the age of twelve, he took part in the performances of the troupe that toured Kazan as an extra. An irrepressible craving for the theater led him to various acting troupes, with whom he wandered around the cities of the Volga region, the Caucasus, Central Asia, working now as a loader, now as a hook on the pier, often starving and sleeping on benches.
“... Apparently, even in the modest role of a chorus, I managed to show my natural musicality and not bad vocal means. When one of the troupe's baritones, suddenly, on the eve of the performance, for some reason refused the role of Stolnik in Moniuszko's opera Pebbles, and replaced him there was no one in the troupe, then the entrepreneur Semyonov-Samarsky asked me if I would agree to sing this part. Despite my extreme shyness, I agreed. It was too tempting: the first serious role in my life. I quickly learned the part and performed.
Despite the sad incident in this performance (I sat on the stage by the chair), Semyonov-Samarsky was nevertheless moved by both my singing and my conscientious desire to portray something like a Polish tycoon. He added five rubles to my salary and also began to entrust me with other roles. I still think superstitiously: a good sign for a newcomer in the first performance on stage in front of an audience to sit by a chair. Throughout my subsequent career, however, I kept a keen eye on the chair and was afraid not only to sit by, but also to sit in another's chair ...
In this first season of mine, I sang Fernando in "Troubadour" and Neizvestny in "Askold's Grave". The success finally strengthened my decision to devote myself to the theater. "
Then the young singer moved to Tiflis, where he took free singing lessons from the famous singer D. Usatov, and performed in amateur and student concerts. In 1894 he sang in performances held in the St. Petersburg suburban garden "Arcadia", then in the Panaevsky Theater. On 5 April 1895 he made his debut as Mephistopheles in the opera Faust by Charles Gounod at the Mariinsky Theater.
In 1896, Shalyapin was invited by S. 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 unforgettable images in Russian operas: Ivan the Terrible in N. Rimsky's "Pskovityanka" -Korsakov (1896); Dosifei in Khovanshchina by M. Mussorgsky (1897); Boris Godunov in the opera of the same name by M. Musorgsky (1898) and others. "One great artist has become more", - wrote V. Stasov about the twenty-five-year-old Shalyapin.
Communication in the Mamontov theater with the best Russian artists (V. Polenov, V. and A. Vasnetsov, I. Levitan, V. Serov, M. Vrubel, K. Korovin and others) gave the singer powerful incentives for creativity: their decorations and costumes helped in creating a convincing stage image. The singer prepared a number of operatic roles in the theater with the then novice conductor and composer Sergei Rachmaninov. Creative friendship united two great artists until the end of their lives. Rachmaninov dedicated several romances to the singer, including "Fate" (poems by A. Apukhtin), "You knew him" (poems by F. Tyutchev).
The singer's deeply national art admired his contemporaries. “In Russian art, Chaliapin is an era like Pushkin,” wrote M. Gorky. Relying on the best traditions of the national vocal school, Chaliapin opened a new era in the national musical theater. He was able to surprisingly organically combine the two most important principles of operatic art - dramatic and musical, - to subordinate his tragic gift, unique stage plastics and deep musicality to a single artistic concept.
Since September 24, 1899, Chaliapin has been the leading soloist of the Bolshoi and at the same time the Mariinsky Theaters, with triumphant success he toured abroad. In 1901, at La Scala in Milan, he sings with great success the part of Mephistopheles in the opera of the same name by A. Boito with E. Caruso, conducted by A. Toscanini. The world fame of the Russian singer was confirmed by tours in Rome (1904), Monte Carlo (1905), Orange (France, 1905), Berlin (1907), New York (1908), Paris (1908), London (1913/14). The divine beauty of Chaliapin's voice conquered listeners of all countries. His high bass, delivered by nature, with a velvety, soft timbre, sounded full-blooded, powerful and possessed a rich palette of vocal intonations. The effect of artistic transformation amazed the listeners - there is not only the external appearance, but also the deep inner content, which was conveyed by the singer's vocal speech. In creating capacious and scenic expressive images, the singer is helped by his extraordinary versatility: he is both a sculptor and an artist, writes poetry and prose. Such a versatile talent of the great artist reminds the masters of the Renaissance - it is no coincidence that his contemporaries compared his opera heroes with Michelangelo's titans. Chaliapin's art crossed national borders and influenced the development of the world opera house. Many Western conductors, artists and singers could repeat the words of the Italian conductor and composer D. Gavadzeni: “Chaliapin's innovation in the field of the dramatic truth of operatic art had a strong impact on the Italian theater ... The dramatic art of the great Russian artist left a deep and lasting mark not only in the field of performance Russian operas by Italian singers, but in general, in the whole style of their vocal and stage interpretation, including works by Verdi ... "
“Chaliapin was attracted by the characters of strong people, seized by ideas and passion, experiencing a deep spiritual drama, as well as vivid hilarious images,” notes D.N. Lebedev. or excruciating mental discord and remorse experienced by Boris Godunov.
In sympathy for human suffering, high humanism is manifested - an inalienable property of progressive Russian art, based on nationality, on the purity and depth of feelings. The strength of his talent, the secret of his persuasiveness, intelligibility to everyone, even to an inexperienced person, is rooted in this nationality, which filled all of Chaliapin's being and all of his work. "
Shalyapin is categorically against pretended emotionality: “Any music always expresses feelings in one way or another, and where there are feelings, mechanical transmission leaves the impression of a terrible monotony. An effective aria sounds cold and protocol, if the intonation of the phrase is not developed in it, if the sound is not colored with the necessary shades of experience. Western music also needs this intonation ... which I recognized as obligatory for the transmission of Russian music, although there is less psychological vibration in it than in Russian ”.
Chaliapin is characterized by bright, eventful concert activity. The audience was invariably delighted with his performance of the romances Melnik, The Old Corporal, The Titular Counselor by Dargomyzhsky, The Seminarist, Trepak by Mussorgsky, Doubt by Glinka, The Prophet by Rimsky-Korsakov, The Nightingale by Tchaikovsky, The Double Schubert, “I’m not angry,” “In my sleep, I cried bitterly” by Schumann.
Here is what the remarkable Russian musicologist Academician B. Asafiev wrote about this side of the singer's creative activity:
“Chaliapin sang truly chamber music, sometimes so intently, so deeply that it seemed that he had nothing in common with the theater and never resorted to the emphasis required by the scene on accessories and visibility of expression. Perfect calmness and restraint took possession of him. For example, I remember Schumann's “In a Dream I Cried Bitterly” - one sound, a voice in silence, a modest, hidden emotion - but the performer seems to be absent, and there is no such large, cheerful, generous humor, affectionate, clear person. A lonely voice sounds - and everything is in the voice: all the depth and fullness of the human heart ... The face is motionless, the eyes are utterly expressive, but in a special way, not like, say, Mephistopheles in the famous scene with students or in a sarcastic serenade: there they burned spitefully, with a mockery, and here are the eyes of a person who sensed the element of grief, but realized that only in the harsh discipline of the mind and heart - in the rhythm of all its manifestations - a person gains power over passions and sufferings. "
The press loved to calculate the artist's fees, supporting the myth of fabulous wealth, of Shalyapin's greed. What if this myth is refuted by posters and programs of many charity concerts, the famous performances of the singer in Kiev, Kharkov and Petrograd in front of a huge working audience? The annoying rumor, newspaper rumors and gossip more than once forced the artist to take up the pen, refute sensations and speculation, and clarify the facts of his own biography. Useless!
During the First World War, Shalyapin's touring trips stopped. The singer opened two hospitals for the wounded soldiers at his own expense, but did not advertise his "good deeds". Lawyer M.F. Volkenstein, who had been managing the singer's financial affairs for many years, recalled: "If only they knew how much Chaliapin's money passed through my hands to help those who needed it!"
After the October Revolution of 1917, Fyodor Ivanovich was involved in the creative reorganization of the former imperial theaters, was an elected member of the directorates of the Bolshoi and Mariinsky Theaters, in 1918 he directed the artistic part of the latter. In the same year he was the first of the art workers to be awarded the title of People's Artist of the Republic. The singer strove to get away from politics, in the book of his memoirs he wrote: “If I was anything in life, then only an actor and a singer, I was completely devoted to my vocation. But least of all I was a politician. "
Outwardly, it might seem that Chaliapin's life is prosperous and creatively rich. He is invited to perform at official concerts, he performs a lot for the general public, he is awarded honorary titles, asked to lead the work of various kinds of art juries, theater councils. But there and then there are sharp calls to "socialize Chaliapin", "to put his talent in the service of the people", often doubts about the "class devotion" of the singer are expressed. Someone demands the obligatory involvement of his family in the performance of labor duties, someone speaks with direct threats to the former artist of the imperial theaters ... “I saw more and more clearly that no one needed what I could do, that there was no point in my work” , - the artist admitted.
Of course, Chaliapin could defend himself against the tyranny of zealous functionaries by making a personal request to Lunacharsky, Peters, Dzerzhinsky, Zinoviev. But it is humiliating for an artist to be in constant dependence on the orders of even such high-ranking officials of the administrative-party hierarchy. In addition, they often did not guarantee complete social protection and certainly did not instill confidence in the future.
In the spring of 1922, Chaliapin did not return from a foreign tour, although for some time he continued to consider his failure to return temporary. The home environment played a significant role in the incident. Caring for children, the fear of leaving them without a livelihood forced Fyodor Ivanovich to agree to endless tours. The eldest daughter Irina remained to live in Moscow with her husband and mother, Paula Ignatievna Tornagi-Chaliapina. Other children from the first marriage - Lydia, Boris, Fedor, Tatiana - and children from the second marriage - Marina, Martha, Dassia and the children of Maria Valentinovna (second wife), Eduard and Stella, lived with them in Paris. Chaliapin was especially proud of his son Boris, who, according to N. Benois, achieved "great success as a landscape and portrait painter." Fyodor Ivanovich willingly posed for his son; Boris's portraits and sketches of his father "are invaluable monuments to the great artist ...".
In a foreign land, the singer enjoyed constant success, touring almost all countries of the world - in England, America, Canada, China, Japan, and the Hawaiian Islands. Since 1930, Shalyapin has appeared in the Russian Opera troupe, whose performances were famous for the high level of staging culture. The operas "Mermaid", "Boris Godunov", "Prince Igor" were especially successful in Paris. In 1935, Chaliapin was elected a member of the Royal Academy of Music (together with A. Toscanini) and awarded an academician diploma. Chaliapin's repertoire included about 70 parts. In operas by Russian composers, he created images of Melnik ("Mermaid"), Ivan Susanin ("Ivan Susanin"), Boris Godunov and Varlaam ("Boris Godunov"), Ivan the Terrible ("Pskovityanka"), unsurpassed in strength and truth in life. ... Among the best roles in Western European opera are Mephistopheles (Faust and Mephistopheles), Don Basilio (The Barber of Seville), Leporello (Don Juan), Don Quixote (Don Quixote). Chaliapin was just as great in chamber vocal performance. Here he introduced an element of theatricality and created a kind of "romance theater". His repertoire included up to four hundred songs, romances and works of chamber vocal music of other genres. The masterpieces of the performing arts include "The Flea", "Forgotten", "Trepak" by Mussorgsky, "Night Review" by Glinka, "The Prophet" by Rimsky-Korsakov, "Two Grenadiers" by R. Schumann, "The Double" by F. Schubert, as well as the Russians folk songs "Farewell, joy", "They do not order Masha to walk for the river", "From behind the island to the rod".
In the 20-30s he made about three hundred gramophone records. “I love gramophone records ... - Fyodor Ivanovich admitted. “I am excited and creatively excited by the idea that the microphone does not symbolize any particular audience, but millions of listeners.” The singer was very picky about recordings, among his favorites was the recording of Massenet's "Elegy", Russian folk songs, which he included in the programs of his concerts throughout his creative life. According to Asafiev's recollection, “the great singer’s wide, powerful, inescapable breath saturated the melody, and it was heard that there was no limit to the fields and steppes of our Motherland”.
On August 24, 1927, the Council of People's Commissars adopted a resolution to deprive Chaliapin of the title of People's Artist. Gorky did not believe in the possibility of removing the title of People's Artist from Chaliapin, about which rumors had spread already in the spring of 1927: “The title of People's Artist given to you by the Council of People's Commissars, only by the Council of People's Commissars, can be canceled, which he did not do, and, of course, it did not will do ". However, in reality everything happened differently, not at all as Gorky had assumed ...
