Because the name is transliterated from the Russian there are alternative spellings: nowadays the tendency is to use Feodor (or Fyodor) Chaliapin: however I have stuck with the spelling used on the HMV 78s. Chaliapine was the foremost Russian bass of his era. Much more than any other singer of the time he had considerable abilities as an actor (though not a subtle one: Ravel complained of his 'sinister laughs and cavernous shudders' in 1913): the characterizations of all his roles were sharply differentiated and almost burst out of his recordings (and the photographs) - Pimen, Boris, Vaarlam (Boris Godounov), Galitsky, Konchak (Prince Igor), Don Quixote (Massenet), and both Boito's and Gounod's Mefistopheles: indeed in Faust he brought a whole extra sardonic layer to Gounod's rather shallow pantomime Devil. His voice was powerful and flexible - indeed he could sing baritone roles - and his presence on stage overpowering. He was also a master of makeup, as the page of photographs I have assembled shows clearly. (Mouse over the list for notes on each record).
AH, I AM SUFFOCATING (CLOCK SCENE)
('BORIS GOUDONOV')
(Moussourgsky) conducted
by M. Steimann.
HMV DB1532 recorded 6 June 1931
PIMEN'S MONOLOGUE ('BORIS GOUDONOV')
(Moussourgsky)
HMV 2-022018 recorded 1923
IN THE TOWN OF KASAN (VARLAAM'S
SONG) ('BORIS GOUDONOV')
(Moussourgsky)
HMV DA891 recorded 16 March 1927
LE VEAU D'OR ('FAUST')
(Gounod) with Cozette (tenor); orchestra conducted by
Henri Busser.
HMV DB1437 recorded 1931
HOW GOES IT PRINCE? (KONTCHAK'S ARIA)
('PRINCE IGOR')
(Borodin); orchestra conducted by
Albert Coates.
HMV DB1104 recorded 1928
ARIA OF THE MILLER ('ROUSSALKA')
(Dargomwizhsky); orchestra conducted by M. Steimann
HMV DB1530 recorded 1931
SON LO SPIRITO CHE NEGA ('MEFISTOFELE')
(Boito); live performance at Covent Garden, 31 May
1926, conducted by Vincenzo Bellezza.
HMV DB942
RECITATIVE & EVOCATION ('ROBERTO IL
DIAVOLO')
(Meyerbeer)
HMV 052387 recorded 1912
LA CALUNNIA È UN VENTICELLO ('IL
BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA')
(Rossini) conducted by
Eugene Goossens.
HMV DB932 recorded May 1926
MADAMINA! (LEPORELLO'S ARIA) ('DON
GIOVANNI')
(Mozart); conducted by John Barbirolli
HMV DA994 (2 sides) recorded June 1928
There are two more Chaliapine recordings on my 'Operatic Vocals' site