Tchaikovsky
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Aleksandr Mikhailovich Dodonov

Александр Михайлович Додонов

Russian dramatic tenor, born on 12/24 February 1837 in Saint Petersburg.

After studying under Felice Ronconi and Francesco Lamperti, Dodonov sang with the Italian Opera in Milan and Naples, then in Odessa and Kiev. From 1869 to 1891 Dodonov he was a soloistst at the Bol'shoi Theatre in Moscow, where he premiered a number of roles in Tchaikovsky's stage works: Frost (in The Snow Maiden), the Drunken Cossack in Mazepa (1884), the School Teacher in Cherevichki (1887), and the tenor solo in the Cantata for the Opening of the Polytechnic Exhibition (1872).

Dodonov published his Handbook to the correct interpretation of voice and leaning the art of singing [Руководство к правильной постановке голоса и изучению искусства пения] in 1891, and later became a professor at the Moscow Philharmonic College of Music and Drama.

Tchaikovsky dedicated his song The Corals (No. 2 of the Six Romances, Op. 28) to Aleksandr Dodonov, who died in Moscow on 18 January/1 February 1914, aged 76.