Tchaikovsky
www.tchaikovsky-research.net

Prov Sadovskii (1818–1872)

Prov Sadovskii

Russian dramatic actor (b. 11/23 October 1818 in Livnii (near Orel'); d. 16/28 July 1872 in Moscow), born Prov Mikhailovich Ermilov (Пров Михайлович Ермилов, Prov Mihaylovič Ermilov, Prov Mikhaylovich Yermilov); known onstage as Prov Mikhailovich Sadovskii (Пров Михайлович Садовский, Prov Mihaylovič Sadovskij, Prov Mikhaylovich Sadovsky)

Raised by his maternal uncles, Grigorii and Dmitrii Sadovskii, who were well-known provincial actors, Prov Emilov adopted their surname for his stage debut in Tula, aged just fourteen. After performing in various provincial cities, he arrived in Moscow in 1838 and was soon hired by the Imperial Theatres, where he remained for the rest of his career,

He became one of the foremost interpreters of the plays of Aleksandr Ostrovskii, and became the patriarch of a three-generation theatrical dynasty based at the Maly Theatre.

Tchaikovsky knew Sadovskii through his acquaintance with Ostrovskii, in the mid 1860s, and he is known to have sought the actor's advice concerning the use of a folk-song in his Symphony No. 1 (1866).