Tchaikovsky
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Prov Sadovskii

Prov Mikhailovich Sadovskii (Пров Михайлович Садовский) was a Russian dramatic actor, born Prov Ermilov (Ермилов) on 11/ 23 October 1818 at Livnii (near Orel').

Raised by his maternal uncles, Grigorii and Dmitrii Sadovskii, who were well-known provincial actors, Prov Emilov adopted their surname for his stage debut in Tula, aged just fourteen. After performing in various provincial cities, he arrived in Moscow in 1838 and was soon hired by the Imperial Theatres, where he remained for the rest of his career,

He became one of the foremost interpreters of the plays of Aleksandr Ostrovskii, and became the patriarch of a three-generation theatrical dynasty based at the Maly Theatre.

Tchaikovsky knew Sadovskii through his acquaintance with Aleksandr Ostrovskii in the mid 1860s, and he is known to have sought the actor's advice concerning the use of a folk-song in his Symphony No. 1 (1866).

Prov Sadovskii died on 16/28 July 1872 in Moscow, aged 53.