Vasily Vasilyevich Samoylov (; 25 January 1813 — 8 April 1887) was a Russian
stage actor
An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...
, associated with
Alexandrinsky Theatre
The Alexandrinsky Theatre () or National Drama Theatre of Russia is a theatre in Saint Petersburg, Russia.
The Alexandrinsky Theatre was built for the Imperial troupe of Petersburg (Imperial troupe was founded in 1756).
Since 1832, the theatre ...
in Saint Petersburg. Initially an
opera singer
Opera is a form of Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a lib ...
, he was also an artist whose several albums of paintings include the gallery of stage self-portraits, amounting to a visual autobiography.В.В. Самойлов at the Russian Online encyclopedia Krugosvet
Biography
Samoylov was born into an artistic family of the opera singers Vasily Samoylov (1782—1839) and Sofya Chernikova (1787-1854) and was educated first at the Mining Engineering Corps (since 1829) and then the Forestry College (1832). He was about to start a military career when his father suggested that he should make a debut as an opera singer which he did in 1834 in Alexandrinka, taking up the leading part in
Étienne Méhul
Étienne Nicolas Méhul (; 22 June 1763 – 18 October 1817) was a French composer of the late Classical period (music), classical and early Romantic period (music), romantic periods. He was known as "the most important opera composer in France ...
's ''
Joseph
Joseph is a common male name, derived from the Hebrew (). "Joseph" is used, along with " Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the modern-day Nordic count ...
''.
After three years of opera singing he moved to this theatre's drama troupe and enjoyed his breakthrough in 1839, in the leading part of ''Makar Alekseyevich Gubkin'' by
Fyodor Koni
Fyodor Alexeyevich Koni (; 21 March 1809 in Moscow, Russian Empire – 6 February 1879 in Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire) was a Russian dramatist, theatre critic and literary historian, editor and memoirist. Lawyer, author and politician Anatoly ...
. Several more creditable performances followed, including Prisypochka (''Petersburg Flats'', by Fyodor Koni), Almaviva (''
The Marriage of Figaro
''The Marriage of Figaro'' (, ), K. 492, is a ''commedia per musica'' (opera buffa) in four acts composed in 1786 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with an Italian libretto written by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It premiered at the Burgtheater in Vienn ...
'' by
Pierre Beaumarchais
Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais (; 24 January 1732 – 18 May 1799) was a French playwright and diplomat during the Age of Enlightenment. Best known for his three #Figaro plays, Figaro plays, at various times in his life he was also a watc ...
), Mitya (''The Death of Lyapunov'' by
Stepan Gedeonov
Stepan Alexandrovich Gedeonov (, 13 June 1816, Saint Petersburg, Imperial Russia — 17 September 1878, Saint Petersburg, Imperial Russia) was a Russian art scholar, playwright, critic and historian, the director of the Hermitage Museum (in 1863- ...
Nikolai Gogol
Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol; ; (; () was a Russian novelist, short story writer, and playwright of Ukrainian origin.
Gogol used the Grotesque#In literature, grotesque in his writings, for example, in his works "The Nose (Gogol short story), ...
), Chyuzhbinin (''Talisman'' by Grigory Kugushev) The Old Man (''Love and Friendship'', by Adelaida Taltseva), among others. His best-remembered one was the 1846 performance as Puzyrechkin in Kondraty Efimovich's play ''The Retired Theatre Musician and the Princess'', staged as his benefit.Василий Васильевич Самойлов at www.biografija.ru
As the new Russian drama started to producing more and more worthy home-grown material, he continued to excel in the plays by
Alexander Ostrovsky
Alexander Nikolayevich Ostrovsky (; ) was a Russian playwright, generally considered the greatest representative of the Russian realistic period. The author of 47 original plays, Ostrovsky "almost single-handedly created a Russian national repe ...
,
Ivan Turgenev
Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev ( ; rus, links=no, Иван Сергеевич ТургеневIn Turgenev's day, his name was written ., p=ɪˈvan sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ tʊrˈɡʲenʲɪf; – ) was a Russian novelist, short story writer, poe ...
,
Alexei Potekhin
Alexei Antipovitch Potekhin (1829–1908) () was a Russian dramatist and novelist.
Biography
He was born at Kineshma, in Kostroma, studied at Jaroslav, and settled in Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and la ...
,
Alexey Pisemsky
Aleksey Feofilaktovich Pisemsky () () was a Russian novelist and dramatist who was regarded as an equal of Ivan Turgenev and Fyodor Dostoyevsky in the late 1850s, but whose reputation suffered a spectacular decline after his fall-out with ''Sovre ...
,
Alexander Sukhovo-Kobylin
Aleksandr Vasilyevich Sukhovo-Kobylin () (, Moscow – , Beaulieu-sur-Mer, France) was a Russian philosopher and playwright, chiefly known for his satirical plays criticizing Russian imperial bureaucracy. His sister Evgenia Tur was a popular nove ...
,
Pyotr Boborykin
Pyotr Dmitryevich Boborykin (; – 12 August 1921) was a Russian writer, playwright, and journalist.
Biography
Boborykin was born into the family of a landowner. He studied at Kazan State University and the Dorpat University, but he never c ...
Nikolai Chayev
Nikolai Alexandrovich Chayev (; 8 May 1824 – 16 November 1914) was a Russian writer, poet, and playwright.Viktor Krylov,
Alexander Palm
Alexander Ivanovich Palm (Александр Иванович Пальм, – ) was a Russian poetry, Russian poet, novelist and playwright, who also used the pseudonym P. Alminsky. A member of the Petrashevsky Circle, Palm in 1847 was arrested, ...
,
Dmitry Averkiyev
Dmitry Vasilyevich Averkiyev (, (October 12, 1836, in Yekaterinodar, Russian Empire – January 20, 1905, in Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire) was a Russian playwright, theatre critic, novelist, publicist and translator. He is the author of the ...
,
Vladimir Sollogub
Count Vladimir Alexandrovich Sollogub (; ; 20 August 1813 – 17 June 1882) was a minor Russian writer, author of novelettes, essays, plays, and memoirs.
Born in Saint Petersburg, his paternal grandfather was a Polish aristocrat, and he grew up i ...
. For his last ten years on stage Samoylov was the indisputable star of the Imperial Theatre in Saint Petersburg; his benefits included some grand productions like ''
King Lear
''The Tragedy of King Lear'', often shortened to ''King Lear'', is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare. It is loosely based on the mythological Leir of Britain. King Lear, in preparation for his old age, divides his ...
'' and ''
Hamlet
''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...
'' by
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
Russkaya Starina
''Russkaia Starina'' (, , ) was a Russian history journal published monthly in St. Petersburg by amateur historian Mikhail Semevsky and his successors between 1870 and 1916. Its authors included Ivan Zabelin, Dmitry Ilovaysky, Nikolai Karlovi ...