The first book of the dilogy of the famous writer Viktor Petelin introduces us to the great singer at the time of the formation of his creative genius, from his debut on stage to the brilliantly embodied images of Ivan the Terrible and Boris Godunov. The author perfectly recreates the socio-political atmosphere of Russia at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries and the life of its creative intelligentsia. Fyodor Chaliapin appears surrounded by relatives and friends, among whom are remarkable cultural figures of that time: Savva Mamontov, Vasily Klyuchevsky, Mikhail Vrubel, Vladimir Stasov, Leonid Andreev, Vladimir Gilyarovsky. Perhaps only in this fertile environment could the seed of Russian genius ripen. V. Petelin’s book is not only a documentary narrative, but also a fascinating biographical novel.