Background
Osip Petrov was born in Yelisavetgrad (now Kirovohrad) in Ukraine, then part of Russia.
Osip Petrov was born in Yelisavetgrad (now Kirovohrad) in Ukraine, then part of Russia.
He started his career by singing in a church chorus. Petrov then worked in Russian provincial theaters (including Poltava, where he worked together with Mikhail Shchepkin). From 1830 until his death in 1878 he worked for the Mariinsky Theatre, Street St. Petersburg.
His career was one triumph after another, and he created a number of important roles in Russian operas, by composers such as Dargomyzhsky, Glinka, Mussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Anton Rubinstein, Tchaikovsky and others
His 50th anniversary as a singer was the cause for national celebration. On 21 April 1876, on the stage of the Maryinsky Theatre, he was presented with a gold medal, the personal gift of Tsar Alexander World War II Messages from all over Russia were read out.
Then he was presented with a wreath made of 100 gold leaves studded with diamonds, one leaf for each of the 100 operas in which he had sung. Tchaikovsky wrote a Cantata (Hymn) on the Occasion of the Celebration of the 50th Jubilee of the Singer Osip Afanasievich Petrov, for tenor, chorus and orchestra, with words by Nikolay Nekrasov.
This was performed at the Street St. Petersburg Conservatory on 6 May 1876, under the conductor Karl Davydov.
Petrov"s 52-year career continued until the night before he died. He created the following roles:
Susanin in Catterino Cavos"s Ivan Susanin
Leporello in Dargomyzhsky"s The Stone Guest
Susanin in Glinka"s A Life for the Tsar
Ruslan in Glinka"s Ruslan and Lyudmila
Varlaam in Mussorgsky"s Boris Godunov
Ivan the Terrible in Rimsky-Korsakov"s The Maid of Pskov
Prince Gudal in Anton Rubinstein"s The Demon
Oziya in Serov"s Judith
Prince Vladimir in Serov"s Rogneda
Kochubey in Tchaikovsky"s Mazeppa
Neizvestnyi (The Unknown Manitoba) in Verstovsky"s Askold"s Grave.