Boris Christoff

Boris Christoff emerged in the twentieth century as a Bulgarian operatic bass renowned for his commanding portrayals of principal parts in operas by Verdi and Mussorgsky. He also appeared regularly on the recital stage and committed to disc numerous songs by Mussorgsky, Tchaikovsky, and additional composers of the Romantic period. Born in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, in 1914, he grew up with a Russian mother and a Bulgarian father who taught school and performed in a local church. From an early age Christoff displayed vocal promise, joining the choir of the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Sofia. Despite this evident aptitude, he enrolled in law studies at Sofia University. After completing his degree in the late 1930s he served as a magistrate while continuing to sing with the Gusla Chorus. His abilities came to wider attention in 1940 when he appeared as a soloist with that ensemble before King Boris of Bulgaria. Impressed by the performance, the monarch awarded him a scholarship to study with the distinguished baritone Riccardo Stracciari. In 1942 Christoff resigned his judicial post and journeyed to Rome for two years of lessons with Stracciari. He later pursued further training with Muratti in Salzburg, yet near the close of World War II he was interned in a Nazi labor camp. Freed in 1945, he returned to Italy, and the following year he made his operatic stage debut in Reggio di Calabria, taking the role of Colline in Puccini’s La bohème. In 1947 he portrayed Pimen in Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov for his first appearances in both Rome and at La Scala. His 1949 assumption of the title character at Covent Garden proved triumphantly received and thereafter ranked among his signature achievements. Throughout the 1950s European houses sought him frequently; he performed in Barcelona and Paris and undertook numerous parts at La Scala. His American bow arrived in 1956 when he sang the title role in Boris Godunov with the San Francisco Opera, an engagement that opened the way to subsequent seasons with the Chicago Lyric Opera between 1957 and 1963. Beyond his celebrated identification with Boris, he earned particular esteem for his command of Verdi’s bass characters, above all King Philip II in Don Carlo. A brain tumor necessitated a temporary withdrawal from the stage in 1964. Following treatment he resumed performing the next year, though at a reduced schedule that continued until his last major American appearance in 1980. That occasion marked his New York debut, even though he never undertook any fully staged opera there. He appeared only sporadically thereafter, delivering his final public recital in 1986 at the Accademia di Bulgaria in Rome. Christoff died in Rome in 1993 and was interred at the Central Sofia Cemetery in Bulgaria.