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

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

tenor and vocal teacher. Born a serf to Dmitri Nikolayevich

Sheremetev The House of Sheremetev (russian: Шереме́тевы) was one of the wealthiest and most influential noble families in Russia descending from Feodor Koshka who was of Old Prussian origin. History The family held many high commanding ran ...

, he studied music with

Camille Everardi Camille Everardi (1824–1899) was a Belgian operatic baritone who had an active international career during the 1850s through the 1870s. He particularly excelled in the works of Vincenzo Bellini and Gioachino Rossini. Several music critics of ...

at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory and sang at the

Bolshoy Theatre The Bolshoi Theatre ( rus, Большо́й теа́тр, r=Bol'shoy teatr, literally "Big Theater", p=bɐlʲˈʂoj tʲɪˈatər) is a historic theatre in Moscow, Russia, originally designed by architect Joseph Bové, which holds ballet and op ...

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

Eugene Onegin ''Eugene Onegin, A Novel in Verse'' ( pre-reform Russian: ; post-reform rus, Евгений Оне́гин, ромáн в стихáх, p=jɪvˈɡʲenʲɪj ɐˈnʲeɡʲɪn, r=Yevgeniy Onegin, roman v stikhakh) is a novel in verse written by A ...

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

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'' in 1884. He later taught singing in

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River with a population of approximately 1.5 million p ...

, where his most famous pupil was

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

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

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. 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 Russian music educators 19th-century male opera singers from the Russian Empire