CHRISTOFF, BORIS (1918 - 1993)The Bulgarian bass Boris Christoff (1914-1993)
was born in Plovdiv. He sang in the celebrated Gusla
Choir before being helped by King Boris with funds to
study in Rome with Riccardo Stracciari, later studying in
Salzburg. His delayed début took place in a concert in
Rome in 1946, before stage appearance as Colline. He
was engaged by La Scala the following June as Pimen in
Boris Godunov, and in 1949 he sang the title-rôle at
Covent Garden where he would appear regularly for the
next quarter century. His Metropolitan début was
cancelled in 1950 because of his Bulgarian nationality
and it was a further six years before he sang in San
Francisco and later Chicago (1957-63). He sang at the
1949 Salzburg Festival under Karajan in Beethoven’s
Choral Symphony and the Verdi Requiem. His first stage
appearance there was in Don Carlo in 1960. Christoff
sang widely throughout Europe for over thirty years in
mainly Russian and Italian (especially in Verdi) parts in
addition to Hagen, Gurnemanz and King Marke. His
voice, though not large, was smooth, round and well
projected. He possessed great dramatic powers and was a
very compelling singing actor. His brother-in-law was
Tito Gobbi.
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