1926 LIVE Russian FEODOR CHALIAPIN MEFISTOFELE COVENT GARDEN 1912 Milan NORMA 78

$

34

WEEK 1 of 3 weeks of great auctions,  until Dec 18.

Some great collectible HOLIDAY GIFTS for yourself your friends and family.

IMPORTANT:

Per US Postal Service, the following dates for Christmas shipping have been posted:

Parcel Post - Media Mail - December 15 2011

Priority Mail - December 21 2011.

If you would like to receive your parcel for Christmas, pls let me know by email.

PLS READ BELOW for INCREASED SHIPPING CHARGES due to Ebay Policy

I AM HAPPY COMBINE MULTIPLE SHIPMENTS.

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A series of great early Opera performances: From 1902 G&Ts to 40s wartime German records:

VICTOR DE LUXE RED VINYL PRESSING -

QUIETEST PRESSING AVAILABLE, of stunning quietness and amazing detail

RECORDED LIVE IN COVENT GARDEN

ARGUABLY the greatest Russian singer, and one of the greatest singer of all: FEODOR Chaliapin in the OTHER, even greater role:

BOITO's MEPHISTOPHELE : Act I Son Lo spirito qui nega - Ballata del fischio

recorded live in 1928 w chorus & orch at Covent Garden, cond Vincenzo Bellezza

/ 1912 MILAN NORMA: ITE SUL COLLE O DRUIDI 

Victor DE LUXE Red Vinyl pressing from original matrices 12" 78 rpm record

Condition:

EXCELLENT light scuffs

Feodor Ivanovich Chaliapin (Russian: ????? ????????? ????????, Fyodor Ivanovich Shalyapin; February 13 [O.S. February 1] 1873ûApril 12, 1938) was the most famous Russian opera singer of the 20th Century. Owing to his powerful and flexible bass voice, employed in conjunction with a mesmerizing stage presence and superb acting ability, he is considered one of the greatest performers in the history of opera. He is often credited with establishing the tradition of naturalistic acting in his chosen art form.

During the Russian phase of his career, Chaliapin was confronted with strong competition from two other great Russian basses, the black-voiced Lev Sibiriakov (1869-1942) and the more lyrical Vladimir Kastorsky (1871-1948). The fact that Chaliapin is far and away the best remembered of this distinguished trio is testament to the magnetic power of his performances on stage.

Biography
Feodor Chaliapin was born into a peasant family on February 1 (OS) 1873 in Kazan, in the wing of merchant Lisitzin's house on Rybnoryadskaya Street (now Pushkin Street) 10. This wing exists no longer, but the house with the yard where the wing was situated is still there. The next day, Candlemas Day (The Meeting of Our Lord), Feodor was baptized in Bogoyavlenskaya church on former Bolshaya Prolomnaya street (nowadays Bauman Street). His godparents were the neighbours: the shoemaker Nikolay Tonkov and 12-year-old girl Ludmilochka Kharitonova. The dwelling was expensive for his father, Ivan Yakovlevich, who served as a clerk in the Zemskaya Uprava (Land Council), and in 1878 the Chaliapin family moved to the village Ametyevo (also Ometyevo, or the Ometyev settlements, now a settlement within Kazan) behind the area of Sukonnaya Sloboda, and settled in a small house.

Feodor ChaliapinLargely self-taught, he began his career at Tbilisi and the Imperial Opera, St. Petersburg in 1894; he was then invited to sing at the Mamontov Private Opera (1896-1899). The Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow then engaged him, where he appeared regularly from 1899 until 1914. During the First World War, Chaliapin alo appeared regularly at the Zimin Private Opera in the Russian capital.

From 1901, Chaliapin began appearing the West, making a sensational debut at La Scala that year as the devil in a production of Boito's Mefistofele, under the baton of the 20th Century's most dynamic opera conductor, Arturo Toscanini. At the end of career, Toscanini observed that the Russian bass was the greatest operatic talent with whom he had ever worked. The singer's Metropolitan Opera debut in the 1907 season was disappointing due to the unprecedented frankness of his stage acting; but he returned to the Met in 1921 and sang there with immense success for eight seasons, the taste of New York audiences having grown more broad-minded in the meantime. In 1913, Chaliapin was introduced to London and Paris by the brilliant entrepreneur Sergei Diaghilev, at which point he began giving well-received solo recitals in which he sang traditional Russian folk songs as well as more serious fare. Among these songs are Along Peterskaya, which he recorded with a British-based Russian folk-instruments' orchestra, and the song which he made famous throughout the world: The Song of the Volga Boatmen.

Portrait by Boris Kustodiev.In 1926, Chaliapin toured Australia to acclaim.

In terms of his private life, Chaliapin's personal arrangements had been disrupted in the wake of the Russian Revolution of 1917. At first, he was treated as a revered artist of the newly-emerged Soviet Russia. However, the harsh realities of everyday life under the new regime, and the unstable psychological climate which became manifest during the ensuing Civil War, combined with, reportedly, the encroachment on some of his property by the Communist authorities [1], caused him to remain perpetually outside Russia after 1921. He still maintained, however, that he was not anti-Soviet. Chaliapin initially moved to Finland and later lived in France. Cosmopolitan Paris, with its significant Russian emigre population, became his base, and ultimately, the city of his death. He was renowned for his larger-than-life carousing during this period - but he never sacrificed his dedication to his art.

Chaliapin's attachment to Paris did not prevent him, however, from pursuing an international operatic and concert career in England, America and further afield. His most famous part was the title role of Boris Godunov (excerpts of which he recorded 1929-31 and earlier). But he is remembered also for his impersonations of Ivan the Terrible in Rimsky-Korsakov's Maid of Pskov, Mephistopheles in Gounod's Faust, Massenet's Don Quichotte, King Philip in Giuseppe Verdi's Don Carlos and Bertram in Meyerbeer's Robert le Diable. Owing to his irresistable advocacy, Russian operas such as Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov and Khovanshchina, Glinka's Ivan Susanin, Borodin's Prince Igor and Rimsky-Korsakov's The Tsar's Bride became well known in the West. He made one sound film for the director G.W. Pabst, namely, the 1933 film version of Adventures of Don Quixote. Rather than going out in one version with subtitles, the film was made in three different versions - French, English, and German, as was sometimes the prevailing custom. Chaliapin starred in all three versions, each of which used the same script, sets and costumes, but different supporting casts. The English and the French versions are the most often seen, and both were released in May 2006 on a DVD. Pabst's film was not a version of the Massenet opera but a dramatic adaptation of Cervantes' novel, with music and songs provided by Jacques Ibert.

Chaliapin's last stage performance took place at the Monte Carlo Opera in 1937, as Boris.

Grave of Chaliapin in Novodevichy CemeteryIn 1932, Chaliapin published a memoir, Man and Mask: Forty Years in the Life of a Singer, prepared in collaboration with Maxim Gorky. He died the following year of leukaemia, aged 65, in Paris, where he was interred. In 1984, his remains were transferred from Paris to Moscow with elaborate ceremony. They were re-buried in the Novodevichy Cemetery.

One of his sons, Feodor Chaliapin, Jr. (1905-1992), had a notable career in Western motion pictures as a character actor. Another son, Boris Chaliapin, was a well-known artist, having painted the portraits used on 414 covers of the mass-circulation news magazine TIME between 1942 and 1970.[1]

[edit] Recordings
Chaliapin recorded prolifically for His Master's Voice, beginning with acoustical recordings at the dawn of the 20th Century and continuing through the electrical (microphone) era. Some of his performances at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in London were recorded live in the 1920s, including a vividly memorable version of the "Death of Boris" from Boris Godunov. His last disc, made in Tokyo in 1936, was of the famous The Song of the Volga Boatmen.

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The Grade (Excellent to Fair, I don't give Mint) refers to the WEAR of the record. Any other defects are stated separately, when prefaced with "HOWEVER" or "BUT" they will be significant.

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This is WEEK 1 of THREE consecutive weeks of auctions.

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However, if you are interested in lowering you shipping cost, pls send me a message, and I may be able to arrange for better rates !!!

Here a quick breakdown of my costs, you see that due to the new Ebay policy you will pay anywhere from $.50 to $.80 in additional Ebay fees on the first record

US Domestic Shipping:

Here is a guideline for US Media Mail Shipping:

Prices below are for regular 78 rpm records. Up to about 5 records, I will ship Edison Discs for the same rates. Albums from Album Sets count as 1 record. Above that and for international shipments, it will be actual weight plus a small packing charge (1-3$ depending on size of shipment)

1 record: 4.75$

2 records: 5.75$

5 records: 7.50$

10 records: 9.50$

MANY MORE RECORDS: Don't worry. I safely ship 40 - 50 pounds of records double boxed in moving boxes, and even then Media Mail will probably not exceed 30$.

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International Buyers:

All'attenzione degli acquirenti italiani:

ATTENTION TO ITALIAN BUYERS:

Due to rare problems with delivery in ITALY, I will NOT GUARANTEE delivery of parcels sent by US Postal Service First Class and Priority Mail. If you prefer secure delivery, I will be happy to quote you either Registered Mail or shipment by FEDEX

I am very happy to ship records worldwide.

Prices below are for regular 78 rpm records. For Edison Discs in  international shipments, it will charge for the actual weight plus a small packing charge (1-2$) - for small quantities, it will not be much different from the charge for regular 78s.

Pls contact me for a shipping estimate, or send me an invoice request after close of auction.

Be aware that US Postal Rates can be high. Here are some examples.

Your best bet is the Large Priority box, everything that fits into a 12"x12"x5 1/2" box up to 20 pounds ships for 60$ (35$ Canada) worldwide.

However, I can get competitive rates from FedEx and the US Postal service for any kind of parcel weight

Africa, Eastern Asia and Japan as well as Europe

1 record = 2 lbs $25 - $28

4 lbs = $37

20 lbs or all that fits into a 12"x12"x 5 1/2" box ((12" albums won't fit)= $60

I may be able to get some better FedEx rates.
Pls email with your address for an estimate.

Canada

1 record = 2 lbs $ 11 - $13

4 lbs = 22$
20 lbs or all that fits into a 12"x12"x 5 1/2" (12" albums won't fit)= $38
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