Tchaikovsky
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Iosif Setov

Russian tenor, director, teacher and impresario (b. 1826 in Moscow; d. 26 December 1893/7 January 1894 in Kiev ), born Josef Sethofer, known later as Iosif Iakovlevich Setov (Иосиф Яковлевич Сетов, Iosif Jakovlevič Setov, Iosif Yakovlevich Setov).

Setov was an operatic artist at the Imperial Theatres in Saint Petersburg (1855–64), and then at the Bol'shoi Theatre in Moscow (1864–68), and he was also a singing instructor at the Moscow Conservatory from 1866 until 1868, where he was a colleague of Tchaikovsky. From 1874 he managed the Kiev Opera, which Tchaikovksy considered to rank second only to the Russian opera in Saint Petersburg, and which the composer reviewed at length in TH 298 (1874).

Tchaikovsky's correspondence with Iosif Setov:

• 3 letters have survived from Tchaikovsky to Iosif Setov, dating from 1874 to 1892.