Tchaikovsky
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Ivan Mel'nikov (1832–1906)

Ivan Mel'nikov

Russian singer (baritone) (b. 21 February/4 March 1832 in Saint Petersburg; d. 25 June/8 July 1906 in Saint Petersburg), born Ivan Aleksandrovich Mel'nikov (Иван Александрович Мельников, Ivan Aleksandrovič Mel'nikov, Ivan Alexandrovich Mel'nikov).

After graduating from classes in business studies, Mel'nikov's involvement with his local church choir led him to take singing lessons with Gavriei Lomakin (1812–1885). Five years later, in 1866, he travelled to Italy for further training, and made his debut at the Mariinskii Theatre in Saint Petersburg in 1867 playing Ricardo in Bellini's Il Puritani. He remained one of the lead soloists at the Mariinskii until 1890, and premiered several roles in Tchaikovsky's operas—Viaz'minskii in The Oprichnik (1874), The Devil in Vakula the Smith (1876), Prince Nikita in The Enchantress (1877), and Tomskii in The Queen of Spades (1890). He also premiered the title roles in Musorgskii's Boris Godunov (1874) and Borodin's Prince Igor (1890).

From 1890 to 1892 Mel'nikov served as a director at the Mariinskii Theatre. In 1890, together with Fedor Bekker, he founded "Free Choral Classes" in Saint Petersburg, for which he commissioned Tchaikovsky to write Three Choruses (1891).

Tchaikovsky's works dedicated to Ivan Mel'nikov:

• I Never Spoke to Her—No. 5 of the Six Romances, Op. 25 (1875)
• Three Choruses, TH 87 (1891) — dedicated to Ivan Mel'nikov's Free Choral Class.