Dimitri Andreevich Usatov (February 22, 1847 - August 23, 1913) was a

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

tenor and vocal teacher. Born a serf to Dmitri Nikolayevich

Sheremetev The House of Sheremetev () was one of the wealthiest and most influential Russian noble families, descending from Feodor Koshka. History The family held many high commanding ranks in the Russian military, governorships and eventually the ra ...

, he studied music with Camille Everardi at the

Saint Petersburg Conservatory The N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov Saint Petersburg State Conservatory () (formerly known as the Petrograd Conservatory and Leningrad Conservatory) is a school of music in Saint Petersburg, Russia. In 2004, the conservatory had around 275 faculty member ...

and sang at the

Bolshoy Theatre The Bolshoi Theatre ( rus, Большо́й теа́тр, r=Bol'shoy teatr, p=bɐlʲˈʂoj tʲɪˈat(ə)r, t=Grand Theater) is a historic opera house in Moscow, Russia, originally designed by architect Joseph Bové. Before the October Revolutio ...

from 1880 to 1889. There he sang the role of Lensky in ''

Eugene Onegin ''Eugene Onegin, A Novel in Verse'' (, Reforms of Russian orthography, pre-reform Russian: Евгеній Онѣгинъ, романъ въ стихахъ, ) is a novel in verse written by Alexander Pushkin. ''Onegin'' is considered a classic of ...

'' in 1881 and the role of Andrei in ''

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'' in 1884. He later taught singing in

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, where his most famous pupil was

Feodor Chaliapin Feodor Ivanovich Chaliapin ( rus, Фёдор Ива́нович Шаля́пин, Fyodor Ivanovich Shalyapin, ˈfʲɵdər ɨˈvanəvʲɪtɕ ʂɐˈlʲapʲɪn}; 12 April 1938) was a Russian opera singer. Possessing a deep and expressive bass voic ...

, whom he not only trained, but fed, clothed and supported. Usatov had a good relationship with the composer

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer during the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music made a lasting impression internationally. Tchaikovsky wrote some of the most popula ...

. In addition to the operas already mentioned, he performed songs by Tchaikovsky for the Russian Music Society in 1877, 1880 and 1882. At Usatov's request, Tchaikovsky orchestrated the song ''

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'' from his Opus 54, "16 Children's Songs." In 1884, Tchaikovsky dedicated a song from his Opus 57, "Six Songs," to Usatov. Usatov moved to

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in 1902 and died there in 1913. In gratitude for his training and support, Chaliapin supported Usatov's widow financially until her death.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Usatov, Dmitri 1847 births 1913 deaths Russian operatic tenors 19th-century male opera singers from the Russian Empire Tenors from the Russian Empire Music educators from the Russian Empire Saint Petersburg Conservatory alumni