Mikhail Lunacharsky

Mikhail Lunacharsky was a Russian bass-baritone who sang as an amateur while holding posts in the imperial ministries. He took a law degree at Moscow University and finished at the St Petersburg Conservatory in 1894 under Stanislav Gabel and Camillo Everardi, and helped found the Society of Musical Gatherings, which is how he came to sing the title role in the first performance of Rimsky-Korsakov's edition of Boris Godunov in 1896. His parts included Onegin, Don Giovanni and Salieri in Mozart and Salieri. Rimsky-Korsakov and Glazunov each dedicated a romance to him. He was the elder brother of Anatoly Lunacharsky.