CHALIAPIN FEODOR: (1873-1938) Russian opera singer, widely regarded as one of the finest bass singers of the 20th ...

CHALIAPIN FEODOR: (1873-1938) Russian opera singer, widely regarded as one of the finest bass singers of the 20th century. An oblong 8vo portion of a printed announcement for the first performance of Modest Mussorgsky's opera Boris Godunov at Teatro Alla Scala, Milan, Italy, on 14th January 1909, the cast list featuring Chaliapin in the title role, signed twice ('Shalyapin T' and 'Shalyapin') by the singer, in Cyrillic, to the upper border. The borders also feature a series of annotations in Chaliapin's hand including Mefistofele (twice) as well as repetitions of the figure 350 and year 1909. Lightly laid down to a 4to page removed from an album and with a neat vertical split to the centre and two areas of paper loss to the upper corners. About G Mussorgsky's masterpiece, Boris Godunov, was composed in Russia between 1868-73 and received its world premiere in Saint Petersburg on 27th January 1874. Chaliapin first performed the role of Boris on 7th December 1898 in Moscow and, in 1908, was a member of the cast for the opera's first performance outside of Russia at the Paris Opera on 19th May 1908. Arrigo Boito's opera Mefistofele premiered on 5th March 1868 at Teatro Alla Scala, Milan. In the early 20th century, revivals of the opera were associated particularly with Chaliapin and he sang the title role on the occasion of his first appearance outside Russia (at Teatro Alla Scala, Milan, on 16th March 1901) and also on his North American debut (at the Metropolitan Opera, New York, on 20th November 1907). Provenance: The present page originates from the personal autograph album of Marina Chaliapin (1912-2009), the daughter of Russian opera singer Feodor Chaliapin (1873-1938), widely regarded as one of the finest bass singers of the 20th century, and his mistress Marina Petsold (1882-1964) who became the singer's second wife in 1927. Chaliapin's daughter was married to Luigi Freddi (1895-1977) the Italian journalist and politician who edited the journal Il Popolo d'Italia and who was also hugely influential in Italian political cinema in the second half of the 1930s and beginning of the 1940s.