Feodor chaliapin steak
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I thought it might be interesting to begin a series examining a singer each month. Some will be famous while others more obscure. To inaugurate this series I have chosen the Russian bass Feodor Chaliapin (1873-1938). Before all the ruckus concerning the interpretive art of Maria Callas, there was Chaliapin. One could write a book on his recorded interpretations and I, for one, would love every word of it.
Chaliapin was a contemporary of Caruso, and his recorded legacy is just as vast. Beginning in 1898 (six privately made wax cylinders have survived) and continuing 38 years, until 1936, Chaliapin recorded over 450 sides during 84 recording sessions. Probably the most striking thing about this huge legacy is the fact that not one of them is uninteresting. As Keith Hardwick of EMI once noted, Chaliapin rarely, if ever, made a bad recording.
Feodor Chaliapin was born on February 13, 1873 (new calendar) in the Russian town of Kazan, into a poor, abusive household. His formative education consisted of four years of parochial school, after which he was apprenticed by his father to a
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Feodor Chaliapin, in full Feodor Ivanovich Chaliapin, Feodor Chaliapin also spelled Fyodor Shalyapin (born February 1 [February 13, New Style], 1873, near Kazan, Russia—died April 12, 1938, Paris, France), Russian operatic basso profundo whose vivid declamation, great resonance, and dynamic acting made him the best-known singer-actor of his time.
Chaliapin was born to a poor family. He worked as an apprentice to a shoemaker, a sales clerk, a carpenter, and a lowly clerk in a district court before joining, at age 17, a local operetta company. Two years later he went to study in Tiflis (now Tbilisi, Georgia), and in 1896 he became a member of the private Mamontov opera company, where he mastered the Russian, French, and Italian roles that made him famous. In 1895 he debuted at the Imperial Mariinsky Theatre as Mephistopheles in Charles Gounod’s Faust. In 1901 he sang at La Scala under Arturo Toscanini, alongside Enrico Caruso.
Chaliapin’s interpretation of the title role in Modest Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov was his most famous. His other major dramatic parts included Philip II i
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Chaliapin, Fedor Ivanovich
Decades after his death, Fedor Chaliapin (1873–1938) is still considered Russia's greatest opera singer. The dynamism of Chaliapin's acting perfectly complemented his voice, which, being a bass, was best suited for the role of the "villain." In this Chaliapin, who for the most part was self-taught, created such memorable characters on stage as Mephistopheles, Ivan the Terrible, Boris Godonov, and Holofernes.
Fedor Ivanovich Chaliapin (also spelled Fyodor and Feodor—Shalyapin, Shaliapin, and Chaliapine) was born in Kazan in eastern European Russia on February 13, 1873. He was the son of a clerk, and as a young man was apprenticed to first a cobbler then a lathe turner. He also worked as a copyist, though he had very little formal education. Simultaneous to this Chaliapin sang in the church choir and served as an extra in various local theatrical performances. In 1890 Chaliapin made his professional debut when he joined the chorus of the opera company in Ufa. He also sang bit parts such as Stolnik in Moniuszko's Halka. In 1891 he joined a Ukrainia
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