Nikolai Chesnokov
also Nikolai Yakovlevich Chesnokov, I. Ya. Chesnokov, Чесноков, Николай Яковлевич
Nikolai Chesnokov was a Russian lyric tenor who sang Khrushchov at the 1928 Leningrad premiere of the original 1869 Boris Godunov while still a student. He had entered the Petrograd Conservatory in 1921, under Ivan Ershov, Ioakim Tartakov and Nikolai Bolshakov, and from 1926 was taking small parts at the State Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet and singing for the Philharmonic. He graduated in 1931 and went to the Maly Opera Theatre, staying until 1958 and singing some eighty-five roles, the Holy Fool in Boris Godunov among them. He taught at the Theatre Institute from 1958.
Creations
- Khrushchov — Boris Godunov (Original version, 1869)
Written from
- St Petersburg Philharmonia (n.d.) Николай Чесноков. (Accessed: 1 September 2026).
- Wikipedia (2026) Чесноков, Николай Яковлевич. (Accessed: 1 September 2026).
- Aleksandrova, V. A. (2022) История изучения наследия М.П. Мусоргского в авторских версиях (конец XIX – первая треть XX века). Candidate's dissertation, State Institute for Art Studies, Moscow, vol. 1, p. 140. (Accessed: 1 September 2026). Its cast list for 16 February 1928 transcribes the premiere playbill (RGALI, f. 2743, op. 1, ed. khr. 228, l. 50) and gives the Khrushchov as И. Я. Чесноков, a Conservatory student. This singer is Н. Я., and was a Conservatory student taking small parts at the house from 1926. No И. Я. Чесноков has been traced.