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Boris Christoff
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.
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 he was tutored for two years in the core Italian bass repertoire by the great baritone of an earlier generation, Riccardo Stracciari.
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, which banned citizens of Eastern bloc countries from entering the country. The role was instead filled by the young Italian basso, Cesare Siepi. After the restrictions were loosened, Christoff made an operatic debut in the United States in 1956 at the San Francisco Opera. He refused any further invitations to the Metropolitan and never appeared there. After a brief absence from the scene due to brain tumour surgery in 1964, Christoff resumed his career.
In the 1970s Christoff on-stage performances became more infrequent. In St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Sofia he recorded bulgarian and russian religious chants, together with the choir of the cathedral and the conductor Angel Popkonstantinov. Boris Christoff took an active part in the very work of creating the record. In 1978, he again recorded in the same cathedral Liturgia Domestica by Alexander Grechaninov, with the participation of the Bulgarian Choir Chapel Svetoslav Obretenov and a small string ensemble from the Symphony Orchestra of the Bulgarian Radio and conductor Georgi Robev. This is the first recording in the world of the Domestic Liturgy, and for the first time an orchestra was included in its performance, albeit a small one.
He brought his career to an end with a final concert at the Accademia di Bulgaria in Rome on 22 June 1986. He died in Rome in 1993 and his body was returned to Bulgaria, lay in repose in St. Alexander Nevski Cathedral and was buried in section 46 of Sofia Central Cemetery.
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Boris Christoff
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.
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 he was tutored for two years in the core Italian bass repertoire by the great baritone of an earlier generation, Riccardo Stracciari.
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, which banned citizens of Eastern bloc countries from entering the country. The role was instead filled by the young Italian basso, Cesare Siepi. After the restrictions were loosened, Christoff made an operatic debut in the United States in 1956 at the San Francisco Opera. He refused any further invitations to the Metropolitan and never appeared there. After a brief absence from the scene due to brain tumour surgery in 1964, Christoff resumed his career.
In the 1970s Christoff on-stage performances became more infrequent. In St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Sofia he recorded bulgarian and russian religious chants, together with the choir of the cathedral and the conductor Angel Popkonstantinov. Boris Christoff took an active part in the very work of creating the record. In 1978, he again recorded in the same cathedral Liturgia Domestica by Alexander Grechaninov, with the participation of the Bulgarian Choir Chapel Svetoslav Obretenov and a small string ensemble from the Symphony Orchestra of the Bulgarian Radio and conductor Georgi Robev. This is the first recording in the world of the Domestic Liturgy, and for the first time an orchestra was included in its performance, albeit a small one.
He brought his career to an end with a final concert at the Accademia di Bulgaria in Rome on 22 June 1986. He died in Rome in 1993 and his body was returned to Bulgaria, lay in repose in St. Alexander Nevski Cathedral and was buried in section 46 of Sofia Central Cemetery.