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Feodor Chaliapin Sr. was born on February 13, 1873, in Omet Tawi, near Kazan, Russia. His early years were marked by hardship, hunger, and humiliation. Between the ages of 10 and 16, he worked various jobs at river ports and restaurants, and also tried acting with several Russian provincial theater troupes. In 1890, Chaliapin joined the choir at the Semenov-Samarsky private theater in Ufa, where he began performing solo parts. In 1891, he toured Russia with the Dergach Opera. The following year, he settled in Tiflis (now Tbilisi), after finding a skilled teacher, Usatov, who provided him with a year of free professional opera training. During 1892–1893, he also sang at the St. Aleksandr Nevsky Cathedral in Tbilisi.
Chaliapin launched his opera career at the Tbilisi Opera in 1893. On February 4, 1894, he held his final benefit performance, a triumphant event attended by Tbilisi’s elite, having performed a total of 72 opera shows there. Later in 1894, upon Usatov's recommendation, he moved to Moscow. While working at the Mamontov Opera and the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, Chaliapin also regularly performed at the Imperial Mariinsky Opera in St. Petersburg. In 1901, he debuted at La Scala as Mefistofele in Jules Massenet's Faust, conducted by Arturo Toscanini. His most renowned roles included Boris Godunov in Modest Mussorgsky’s opera of the same name, and Ivan the Terrible in Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s Maid of Pskov.
In 1896, Mamontov introduced Chaliapin to Iola Tornagi, a young Italian ballerina who had come to Moscow to pursue a stage career. She gave up dancing to dedicate herself to family life with Chaliapin. Their marriage was a source of happiness for him. They settled in Moscow and had six children. Their first son died at age four, deeply affecting Chaliapin. Their son Boris Chaliapin became a noted painter, while another son, Feodor Chaliapin Jr., achieved fame as a film actor. Iola Tornagi lived in Soviet Russia until 1959, when, during Nikita Khrushchev’s "Thaw," she was permitted to leave and reunite with her son Feodor Jr. in Rome.
In 1906, Chaliapin entered a civil union with Maria Valentinovna Petzhold in St. Petersburg. She bore him three daughters, in addition to two children from a previous relationship. Unable to obtain a divorce from his first wife, Chaliapin could not legally marry Maria. He even petitioned Tsar Nicholas II to register his three daughters under his surname, but the request was denied. For many years, he divided his time between his two families, living alternately in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Eventually, he left Russia permanently with Maria and their daughters.
Chaliapin’s emigration from Russia in 1922 was a painful experience. The Soviet government stripped him of all titles and honors. He settled in Paris, where he performed at the Paris Opera and gave numerous private concerts for Sergei Diaghilev. His singing and acting were widely acclaimed. Between 1900 and 1938, he made many sound recordings, with the 1913 renditions of the Russian folk songs "Vdol po Piterskoi" and "The Song of the Volga Boatmen" among the most famous. The only sound film capturing his acting style is Don Quixote (1933). He worked under impresario Sol Hurok and sang for eight seasons at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, achieving immense success.
Chaliapin collaborated with Maxim Gorky, who wrote and edited his memoirs, published in 1933. He revolutionized opera by combining serious acting with exceptional singing. Chaliapin Sr. was widely regarded as the finest basso of the first half of the 20th century. In the late 1930s, he suffered from leukemia and kidney disease. Feodor Chaliapin Sr. passed away on April 12, 1938, in Paris. He was buried at the Novodevichy Monastery Cemetery in Moscow.
