The main mistakes of the series “Chaliapin”: the director of the museum named the mistakes

Exactly 85 years ago Fedor Ivanovich Chaliapin passed away. Tsar Bass died in Paris in 1938 from leukemia. The great Fyodor, as he was called abroad, was buried in the Batignolles cemetery. Years later, in 1984, the ashes were transferred to Moscow – to the Novodevichy cemetery. A little earlier, in the 1970s and 1980s, they began to talk about Chaliapin again in their homeland, not in an undertone, as after his departure for a protracted tour, but in full force. Today the glory of the Russian genius thunders, there are no less myths and disputes around his giant figure. There is another reason, because the year is an anniversary, in February Chaliapin is 150 years old from the date of birth. About how the posthumous history of the great bass is written and why experts are shocked by the new film about him, MK talked with Olga Krasnikova, director of the Chaliapin Dacha Museum in Kislovodsk.

Kislovodsk. A small Art Nouveau mansion with turrets, a balcony, colored stained-glass windows and skates on the roof. In this fabulous gingerbread house, Fyodor Chaliapin gave one of the most unforgettable concerts – at night under the moonlight he sang, and the whole city of Kislovodsk listened to his unsurpassed bass. Legends about that spontaneous performance were passed down through generations by word of mouth, as a result, in the late 1980s, the literary and musical museum “Chaliapin’s Dacha” was opened in the house of the 19th century. Every day the museum receives many visitors, but today there will be a full hall of them.

“This day of mourning will begin with the music of Rachmaninoff and the voice of Chaliapin,” says Krasnikova. – Then we will show the documentary film “The Great Chaliapin” directed by Yuri Aldokhin. Each excursion will end with the words of famous people who were told about Chaliapin at the funeral. After laying flowers at the monument, a concert-requiem “Offering to the Great Genius of the World” will take place, where excerpts from operas that correspond to this day will be performed. It so happened that several dates came together this year: 150 years since the birth, 85 years since the death and 35 years since the opening of our museum. This year is especially busy and important for us. Recently, a memorial plaque was opened for Rachmaninov, who liked to relax in the neighborhood in Essentuki and always came to Chaliapin’s concerts in Kislovodsk. And we are already preparing for our festival “Chaliapin Seasons”.

– In the house where the Chaliapin Museum is now located, he spent only one summer. What did it remember?

– Fedor Ivanovich arrived in Kislovodsk in the early summer of 1917 and left on August 27. On his last day here, he gives an incredible concert – a night. From the veranda of this house, built by the chief architect of the city, Emmanuil Khadzhaev, who turned 160 two years ago. He built more than 300 houses on the Caucasian Mineral Waters, one of them is ours, where Chaliapin rested with his two daughters and Maria Petzold. On August 27, Chaliapin gave a concert at the Philharmonic, and when he returned home, he heard applause from the street. I went out onto the veranda and saw that people gathered around the house who could not get to the concert, because the tickets were sold out instantly. People came hoping to see at least the image of a genius, this giant – Chaliapin was 196 cm tall. He went out onto the veranda and began to sing. More and more people were gathering. Rain is coming. But no one left, Chaliapin sang. “The moon shone brightly, and Chaliapin continued to sing,” the eyewitness’s memories survived. “As if in his heart and soul he felt that this was his last concert for the city of Kislovodsk.” He was heard on the other side of the city. When we shared these memories with the poet Andrei Dementiev, who for many years was the chairman of our board of trustees, he wrote beautiful poems. They ended with these words: “And the city near the house was dying from the voice sent down by God.”

— How did the museum appear decades after that concert?

– Chaliapin lived in Moscow with one family, in St. Petersburg with another, each of these houses is now a museum. In Kislovodsk, he could have had a house, but it did not work out. He has been here five times, thought about settling here and even bought a plot here. But in 1922 he left. After that night concert, everyone began to call this house Chaliapin’s dacha, forgetting that it once belonged to the merchant Ushakov, then to General Abrezov, from whom the singer rented a house for more than two months.

After leaving the USSR, they did not talk about Chaliapin, because in a foreign land he helped the children of emigrants, gave money and concerts for them. Although he always remained a citizen of his country – he sent money from performances to the Soviet authorities and wanted to return to Russia.

Many years later. At the dacha during this time there was everything – a dining room, carpentry workshops, then communal apartments. Years later, local art critic, writer and composer Boris Rosenfeld, who turns 90 this year, told the editor-in-chief of the Crocodile magazine Manuil Semenov, who was vacationing here, about Chaliapin’s dacha. And he promised to help, despite the fact that they still tried not to mention the name of Chaliapin. The magazine published two articles, after which it was decided to open a museum in this building. Since 1988, our museum began to receive the first visitors. And now every day a full house of people. 50-60 thousand people come every year.

– What is the most talked about now – in the anniversary year?

– They talk a lot about the film “Chaliapin” – they are outraged. One of the reviews is called “The lampoon on Chaliapin.” He is shown there as a boor, which Chaliapin never was. Great gift for 150th birthday! What is the episode where the historian Vasily Klyuchevsky talks about Boris Godunov, and Chaliapin interrupts him with the words: “When are we going to rehearse?” In his book “The Mask and the Soul,” Fedor Ivanovich writes: “Preparing for the role of Boris, I turned to our famous historian Klyuchevsky for guidance and advice. I remember how wonderfully he spoke to me about Boris, his era … Vasily Osipovich is a subtle artist of the word, endowed with a huge historical imagination. This is Chaliapin, and there Chaliapin, played by the actor Gorbatov, is rude to everyone, all the time he is dissatisfied with life. He wasn’t like that!

– Many people who are not deeply familiar with the biography of Fedor Ivanovich will think that this is how it all happened. Are there many mistakes in the film?

– Enough. Judge for yourself. Could Chaliapin’s father play with his grandchildren of 8-10 years old if he died in 1901, when the eldest daughter was only a year old, and the first-born Igor died at the age of five? In the movies, he does not get to his mother’s funeral, because he has a concert. In fact, he was in another city, and he did not have money to come, although Chaliapin tried to borrow it.

Chaliapin got into the theater very young and fell in love with the stage. Even his smell was enchanting. At first he sang in the church choir, was fascinated by fair performances. My father forced me to make boots, he was not interested. For the first time he appeared on the stage at Semyonov-Samarsky’s – in Moniuszko’s opera “Pebbles” he played a small role. And at the age of 17 he leaves for Tiflis on tour. Then he played first in one street theater, then in another, until he got to Dmitry Usatov, who taught him to sing and fed him. Fedor Ivanovich was then forever hungry, without money.

Fedor Ivanovich was an attentive student, he always respected both Dmitry Usatov and Mammoth Dalsky, who later helped him in St. Petersburg. I could cry if something didn’t work out. He had a big heart. For example, once he gave a concert in Kislovodsk, and before that he went to the hospital to see wounded soldiers. When it turned out that they wanted to listen to him, but could not get to the performance, Chaliapin raised the musicians from the orchestra pit and put the soldiers there.

– The departure of Fyodor Chaliapin from Russia is another controversial moment of the film. How was it really?

– Chaliapin’s daughter from the second family, Marina, fell ill, and he turned to Lunacharsky for permission to travel for treatment. The girl was diagnosed with tuberculosis. He was given permission to tour, and he took the St. Petersburg family with him, Marina began to be treated in Finland. Chaliapin signed a contract abroad. Then came the contracts. Marina recovered and lived to be 98 years old. Chaliapin tried to return, but something always interfered, and the times were difficult. He took some of the children from the first family to himself – Iola remained in Russia with her daughter Irina, who sometimes came to Paris to her father. True, Irina was not released to the funeral in 1938. But Fedor Ivanovich was still preparing for the 100th anniversary of the Bolshoi Theater, he wanted to come and sing here. Then the disease became attached to him. Until recently, he continued to sing Russian operas – Susanin, Boris Godunov, Ivan the Terrible. Rachmaninoff was the last of the friends whom Chaliapin saw before his death. The composer visited him on 10 April. By the way, in the film they swore, but in life they were very friends – from the very beginning, when Savva Mamontov introduced them to each other. Chaliapin recalled that when he performed with Rachmaninoff, he said “I don’t sing, but we sing.” That is, he played the piano so that his voice came from the keys and fingers.

— And what about the relationship with the artists who painted it?

– They were friendly – with Korovin, Serov, Kustodiev, Repin. They made scenery for performances, and Chaliapin always listened to them. Once, when he was 26 years old, he first went out to play Susanin and forgot to make up his hands. The artists who were sitting in the front row told him that Susanin is old, but your hands are young. He was terribly distressed and since then did not forget to make up his hands. So we, the people of Chaliapin, believe that this is an outrageous film and that another film should be made. Fedor Ivanovich is a genius comparable to Pushkin, he deserves a decent attitude.