Because of what bass Chaliapin lost his best friend, writer Gorky

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

The life paths of Chaliapin and Gorky first crossed in Kazan. For the great singer, this city was a de facto homeland, and for a writer - a spiritual one. An amazing chain of coincidences began with Kazan, which led to the emergence of real friendship. This friendship, in turn, helped both geniuses to ascend to the pinnacle of fame.

First meeting and acquaintance after 12 years

Chaliapin's beautiful voice showed up in early childhood. At the age of nine, Fedya was already invited to sing in church choirs. When he was 15, he decided to try his hand at the Kazan Cathedral Choir. But to get there they had to go through a tough selection: dozens of applicants applied for one place. Alas, the future world famous bass did not manage to win the competition - just at that time his teenage voice "broke", turning into a baritone.

The performance of a certain young man turned out to be more successful, and he joined the ranks of the eminent choir. As Chaliapin later admitted, he remembered this painful fiasco for the rest of his life. And he simply hated a lanky nineteen-year-old rival with a characteristic "okay" dialect.

The further fate of Chaliapin as an artist was not easy, but, in the end, he was invited to perform bass parts in St. Petersburg. It was 1900, Chaliapin had just finished his speech and was in the dressing room when there was a knock on the door and Alexei Peshkov entered. As it turned out, having previously learned the biography of the singer, he saw in it a lot in common with his own biography, which prompted a personal acquaintance.

Peshkov was already 32 years old, and Chaliapin was 27 years old. Close communication began between them. Once Chaliapin told about his unsuccessful attempt to enter the Cathedral Choir. In response, Gorky admitted with a laugh that he himself was that rival. But after winning the competition, he sang in the choir for only two months, after which he was expelled due to a complete lack of singing abilities.

The nature of the relationship

When buying bread at a bakery, 16-year-old Chaliapin often saw a young worker kneading dough. Having moved from Kazan to Ufa and working as an artel worker at a railway station, Chaliapin repeatedly watched a laborer moving cars from one track to another. The stories about the life of ordinary people that appeared in print interested Chaliapin with their truthfulness, and he dreamed of meeting their author.

These and many other events took place long before Gorky and Chaliapin met, but they united them and subsequently gave the right to call each other childhood friends and even brothers. Photos and letters eloquently tell how the friendship between the writer and the poet developed. At first, the relationship was almost childish - they were childish, not embarrassed by others.

Gorky strove to attend Chaliapin's performances as often as possible. And Chaliapin did not miss a single publication of Gorky. By the time they met, both of them were already known in the Russian cultural environment, but their main creative achievements were still ahead and they went to them in every possible way supporting each other.

Gorky gave the highest marks to Chaliapin's talent and prompted him to write his autobiographical book Pages from My Life, helping in every possible way in the work on it. Chaliapin, on the other hand, devoted several essays to Gorky, published in France in 1908 and 1936 (after the death of the writer).

Strength tests

Like Gorky, Chaliapin maintained relations with representatives of the left circles who were in opposition to the imperial power. But in 1911, an incident occurred that called into question Chaliapin's commitment to revolutionary ideas. Speaking at the Mariinsky Palace, he, along with other artists, knelt before Nicholas II, which caused a storm of anger from his comrades-in-arms.

In personal correspondence, Gorky called this act "Kholuy", but nevertheless defended his friend. The situation was smoothed by his explanation that, being a creative person, Chaliapin acted emotionally and impulsively. Thanks to the efforts of Gorky, Chaliapin was not only forgiven for his act, but also after the revolution was included in the Commission for Art.

In the 20s of the last century, Shalyapin's talent received worldwide recognition. While touring abroad, he asked a priest to light up his new home. Near the church, he saw a beggar woman with children. To help those in need, he donated 5,000 francs to the priest. This act in Soviet Russia was regarded as assistance to the White Guard emigrants. But the friendship with Gorky still continued.

The last straw was Chaliapin's desire to receive royalties for the publication of his autobiography. Gorky's reaction was extremely harsh, and Chaliapin admitted that he had "lost his best friend." A symbolic reflection of the strong friendship is the renaming in 2018 of the Gorky Literary Museum into the Gorky and Chaliapin Museum.

Chaliapin and Gorky remain faithful friends in the memory of admirers.

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