🔍 MăreșteIn memoriam
Boris Christoff (Bulgarian: Борис Кирилов Христов, romanized: Boris Kirilov Hristov, IPA: [boˈris ˈkiriɫof ˈxristof]; 18 May 1914 – 28 June 1993) was a Bulgarian opera singer, widely considered one of the greatest basses of the 20th century.
Boris Christoff a adăugat o fotografie
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Boris Christoff (Bulgarian: Борис Кирилов Христов, romanized: Boris Kirilov Hristov, IPA: [boˈris ˈkiriɫof ˈxristof]; 18 May 1914 – 28 June 1993) was a Bulgarian opera singer, widely considered one of the greatest basses of the 20th century.
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Early life He was born in Plovdiv on 18 May 1914 to parents Kyryl Christov and Rayna Teodorova. His grand-father Hristo Sovichanov had been a famous cantor at Bitola (then in the Ottoman Empire). Where he was singing in the Bulgarian Exarchist church, during the service many other believers (Turks, Jews) gathered in front of the church entrance to listen to him. Being also a Bulgarian revolutionary, as well as his son Kyryl, after the defeat of the Ilinden–Preobrazhenie Uprising, they moved to Bulgaria. All three of Hristo's children were good singers, Kyryl (Boris Christoff's father) was a tenor, sang at secular and church choirs, sang also for Radio Sofia and for the Institute of Music at the BAS. Boris Christoff demonstrated early his singing talent and sang at the famous choir Gusla. In 1938 he graduated in law and started a career as a magistrate. He continued singing in his spare time in the Gusla Chorus in Sofia, achieving an enormous success as the chorus soloist in 1940; he was also singing at the choir of the St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, Sofia and the Academic Choir. Thanks to a government grant, Christoff left in May 1942 for Italy where…
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Performance career After two visits in Bulgaria in 1943, Boris Christoff went to Austria. He took lessons in Wien, Prague and Salzbourg and had several guest appearances and recitals in Wien and Dresden. In 1944 he was arrested and sent to a prison camp near Feldkirch. He was released from it in May 1945 by the French troops. The commanding colonel, having heard his singing, helped him go to Italy. Later, Boris Hristov made every effort to find this person ("He was my savior!"), but to no avail. His first concert in Italy was in December 1945 in Rome with the Symphony orchestra of the Santa Cecilia Academy of Music, and was dedicated to Bulgarian and Russian music. Christoff made his operatic debut as Colline in La bohème at Reggio Calabria on 12 March 1946. In following years Christoff appeared in a number of roles at Milan's La Scala, Venice's La Fenice, the Rome Opera, Covent Garden in London, the opera theatres in Naples, Barcelona, Lisbon, Rio de Janeiro, etc. In 1950 he was invited to sing at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City but was refused entry into the USA as a result of the McCarran Immigration Act,…
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Voice, repertoire, character Boris Christoff had an excellent voice with a distinctive dark tone. Although it was not as large as some other bass voices, he had no trouble making an impact in big spaces like the San Francisco Opera. Owing to his stage presence and dramatic temperament, he was a worthy heir to the grand tradition of Slavonic basses exemplified by Fyodor Stravinsky, Lev Sibiriakov, Vladimir Kastorsky, Feodor Chaliapin, Alexander Kipnis and Mark Reizen, among others. He sang mostly in Verdi and the Russian repertoire, and was also a refined performer of vocal chamber music. Among his most famous roles were those of Tsar Boris (Mussorgsky - Boris Godunov), Philip II (Verdi - Don Carlo), Mephistopheles (Gounod - Faust and Boito - Mefistofele), Ivan Susanin (Glinka - A Life for the Tsar), Zaccaria (Verdi - Nabucco), Tsar Ivan (Rimsky-Korsakov - Ivan the Terrible), Dosifei (Mussorgsky - Khovanshchina), Gomez da Silva (Verdi - Ernani), Fiesco (Verdi - Simon Boccanegra), Attila (Verdi - Attila), Padre Guardiano (Verdi - La forza del destino), Galitzky and Kontchak (Borodin - Prince Igor) and others. Christoff made studio recordings of eight operas (Don Carlo, Boris Godunov and Faust twice each) and numerous live recordings (radio…
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Recordings Many recordings are available. The following list contains just a few. His complete songs by Mussorgsky are available, produced by EMI. He recorded the Verdi Requiem 3 times, once under Tullio Serafin in Rome 1959, once with Herbert von Karajan and once with Bruno Bartoletti. Two recordings of Boris Godunov are available with Christoff singing three roles: Boris, Pimen, and Father Varlaam. Two performances in major Wagner roles are available, both sung in Italian: Gurnemanz in Parsifal conducted in Rome 1950 by Vittorio Gui, and Pogner the goldsmith in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, conducted (studio) by Lovro von Matačić in Torino 1962.
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People's artist of Bulgaria Doctor honoris causa of the Opera de Paris Comandante dos Cavaleiros dos Santos Apóstolos Pedro e Paulo (Brasil) Boris Christov is the recipient of numerous music awards, including the Grand Prix du Disque (1953) – the highest international award of the French Academy for Gramophone Recordings, Academie du Disque Français (1953, 1957), Academie Charles Cros (1953, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958), Edison Award (1964), Sonning Award (1969; Denmark) and others.
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Honors A rocky cliff forming Aytos Point on the coast of Bransfield Strait, eastern Livingston Island, Antarctica is named after him.
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Borischristoff.dir.bg Discography of opera recordings (Capon's Lists of Opera Recordings)
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http://www.boris-christoff.net Boris Christoff - Life and Creative Work (Film of Ludmil Trifonov) The Voice That Prays for Bulgaria (Film of BNT on 100 Years From His Birth) His page on the Stars of Bulgarian Opera site with mp3 audio clips of selected arias "Desert Island Discs, Boris Christoff". BBC Radio 4 -. 21 August 1979. "Boris Christoff as Boris Godunov", J. Warren Perry Photo Collection, University of Buffalo Digital Collections, State University of New York at Buffalo. Music Library, 1958 "The Song of the Volga Boatman" (YouTube)
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Gounod aria from FAUST (YouTube) Works by or about Boris Christoff at the Internet Archive