An Ill-Bred Devil?

Having received the idolatrous praise of Chicago, Feodor Chaliapin, Russian giant, bestrode the stage of the Metropolitan Opera House, Manhattan, last week—first in the opera, Boris Godunov, made famous by him, and then as a ruffianly and ill-behaved Mephistopheles in Gounod's Faust.

As Mephistopheles, he was not the suave fiend intended by the composer. He had not the pretty wit and mocking contempt for silly humanity. He was simply Chaliapin — boisterous, funny, romping. But the Metropolitan resounded with cheers and the Russian baritone broke...

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