Pechkovsky N.K., (1896-1966), singer

Categories / Art/Music, Theatre/Personalia
PECHKOVSKY Nikolay Konstantinovich (1896-1966, Leningrad), opera actor (lyric drama tenor), People's Artist of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (1939). Began on the stages of Moscow's dramatic theatres in 1910. In 1914 he started his career as a singer, as a pupil of L.D. Donskoy. In 1921 he joined the workshop of the Bolshoy Theatre directed by K. S. Stanislavsky, who had a great influence on the development of Pechkovsky's opera image. In 1922 he began on Moscow's opera stage. From 1924 until 1941 he was the leading soloist of the Leningrad Kirov Theatre Opera and Ballet. A great dramatic tension is typical of Pechkovsky's best-known roles: Hermann (The Queen of Spades by P. I. Tchaikovsky), Othello (Othello by G.Verdi), Jose (Carmen by G. Bizet), Canio (Clowns by R. Leoncavallo). In 1939 he became the head of the theatre department, where he staged a number of operas. In 1941, German forces took over the region in which he was living. In 1944, he was arrested by the Soviet authorities and spent 10 years in prison camps, to be released in 1954. In 1956 he returned to Leningrad, though he was not accepted to any theatre and worked independently at the Tsyurupa Recreation Centre. In 1966 he gave a few concerts in Moscow and Leningrad. He wrote Recollections of an Opera Singer (St. Petersburg, 1992). Between 1926 and 1941 he lived at 4 Lermontovsky Avenue (memorial plaque installed).

Reference: Сосудин Ю. Я. Незабываемые певцы. СПб., 2000.

E. V. Tretyakova. Bizet Georges
Donskoy Lavrenty Dmitrievich
Kirov (real name Kostrikov) Sergey Mironovich
Leoncavallo Ruggero
Pechkovsky Nikolay Konstantinovich
Stanislavsky Konstantin Sergeevich
Tchaikovsky Peter Ilyich
Tsyurupa Alexander Dmitrievich
Verdi Giuseppe
Lermontovsky Ave/Saint Petersburg, city, house 4
Сосудин Ю. Я. Незабываемые певцы. СПб., 2000 Mariinsky Theatre