"Chaliapin – the Legend of the 20th Century" - this is the name of the exhibition unveiled at the Museum House of great Bulgarian basso Boris Christoff in Sofia. Unique materials from the funds of the Russian museums are presented there, preserving the memory of great opera singer Feodor Chaliapin. The exhibition peeps into the house, the dressing room and the atelier where Chaliapin loved to sculpt and paint. Many photos show the stage characters of the man which are hard to believe that belong to only one person.

The event also tells about the 1934 visit of Chaliapin to Bulgaria. Here is what Director of the Boris Christoff Museum Elena Dragostinova said in an interview for Radio Bulgaria:

“Chaliapin was invited to Bulgaria by the Russian emigrants and those were eager to welcome him. He even asked what had happened here at the station, seeing the huge crowd waiting for him. When he found out that they were to welcome him, he remained touched and astonished.”

In the course of 16 days, Chaliapin had 5 shows with the Sofia Opera House which was fully packed. The amazed crowd watched him in his three top roles – Boris Godunov, Knyaz Galicky and Khan Konchak from Borodin's opera Prince Igor. On the last day of his visit Chaliapin had a charity show for the poor children of Sofia and at the end he received the St. Alexander I order.

In an interview for the Zora newspaper on 9 October 1934, Chaliapin was thrilled to admit: “This is my first visit to Bulgaria and I even feel somehow embarrassed that I haven’t done that before. I felt like in the house of a relative whom I had never seen, but had heard a lot about from my close family.”

Chaliapin loved good food, it was not a secret and he opted for taverns, Elena Dragostinova says and adds:

“After each show Chaliapin loved to sit in a common place named Shirokata Mehana (the Broad Tavern) on 12 Positano Str. It is now gone. A second show would follow here – the man would sing with great pleasure for all the visitors. The tavern was famous for its tasty cuisine and old-time recipes. It welcomed writers and artists, lawyers and scholars as permanent guests, but also the common folk. All those would go there as early as lunchtime, waiting for the appearance of Chaliapin in the evening.”

Even 80 years after that visit there is new evidence on it coming out:

“On the day of the exhibition’s unveiling an elderly person called me. His name is Traicho Traikov and he is the heir of the Broad Tavern’s owner. He told me he had kept a unique photo and later on he brought it to the Museum of Boris Hristov. Chaliapin is surrounded in this photo by journalists, actors and incredible persons like Petar Zolotovich and his wife – famous opera singers. There are two unknown faces in the picture and we hope those will be recognized now, after its publication. Now the photograph will be preserved with the gallery of our museum.”

In order to meet Chaliapin, great Bulgarian basso Boris Christoff, then only 20 years old, joined his shows as an extra. However, the director’s staging put Chrisoff quite aside, so he could only listen to the great voice, but without seeing anything. Still, Christoff wrote in his memories that even this chance to have a closer encounter with Chaliapin was enough for him.

It is known that Chaliapin had his artistic plans on Bulgaria – for instance, the building of his own opera school. However, those plans were not meant to be.

The exhibition will be on till December 22.

English version: Zhivko Stanchev