Sergey Vasilyevich Chesnokov (russian: Сергей Васильевич Чесноков; 19 October 1820, in Moscow,

Imperial Russia The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the List of Russian monarchs, Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended th ...

– 18 February 1878, in Moscow, Imperial Russia) was a Russian stage actor better known under his stage name, Sergey Shumsky.

Career

A Shchepkin School graduate, Sergey Chesnokov made his stage debut as early as 1830, in the

Nikolai Khmelnitsky Nikolai Ivanovich Khmelnitsky (russian: Николай Иванович Хмельницкий, 22 .s. 11August 1789, Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire, - 20 .s. 8September 1845, Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire) was a Russian dramatist, literary ...

's vaudeville ''Actors Among Themselves'', playing a character called Shumsky. The dramatist

Fyodor Kokoshkin Fyodor Fyodorovich Kokoshkin russian: Фёдор Фёдорович Кокошкин; 1 May 1775, Moscow, Russian Empire — 21 September 1838, Moscow) was a Russian dramatist and playwright, Moscow government official and theatre entrepreneur, th ...

, who was the Imperial Theatres's Moscow department director at the time, praised the boy's performance and suggested that he should keep this surname to himself, as a stage name.Sergey Shumsky
ath the Russian Theatre Encyclopedia, p.735Sergey Shumsky
at the Russian Biographicl Dictionary. While still a student, Shumsky started to perform at the

Maly Theatre The Maly Theatre, or Mali Theatre, may refer to one of several different theatres: * The Maly Theatre (Moscow), also known as The State Academic Maly Theatre of Russia, in Moscow (founded in 1756 and given its own building in 1824) * The Maly Theat ...

where his appearance as Dobchinsky in Gogol's '' Revizor'' was noticed and lauded by Vissarion Belinsky, who wrote: "Shumsky, as Dobchinsky is brilliant... This air of good-natured provincial idiocy which he is apparently so good at assuming, cannot be praised enough." Кругосвет
/ref> In 1841, after the graduation, Shumsky was invited to the Maly Theatre where for the next six years he played more than sixty parts, notably in plays by

Dmitry Lensky Dmitry Timofeevich Lensky (russian: link=no, Дми́трий Тимофе́евич Ле́нский) real name D. T. Vorobyov (Moscow, 1805–1860), was a Russian comic actor and author of vaudevilles. Lensky debuted as an actor at the Maly ...

, Nikolai Gogol and Alexander Griboyedov.СЕРГЕЙ ВАСИЛЬЕВИЧ ШУМСКИЙ В РОЛИ ЧАЦКОГО
From "Remembering Moscow Theatre" by D.A.Koropchevsky. After a three-year stint at the Odessa Theatre he returned to the Maly to stay there for the rest of his life. During his forty years career as a stage actor Shumsky was engaged in more than 500 parts, some of them in Alexander Ostrovsky's plays, including Vikhorev (''

Stay in Your Own Sled ''Stay in Your Own Sled'' (russian: Не в свои сани не садись, an idiom meaning "Don't bite off more than you can chew,") is a play by Alexander Ostrovsky, written in 1852 and first published in the No.5 (March, book 1), 1853, iss ...

'', 1853), Zhadov ('' A Profitable Position'', 1863); Obroshenov (''Jokers'', 1864); Krutitsky (''

Enough Stupidity in Every Wise Man ''Enough Stupidity in Every Wise Man'' (russian: На всякого мудреца довольно простоты; translit. Na vsyakogo mudretsa dovolno prostoty) is a five- act comedy by Aleksandr Ostrovsky.Brockett and Hildy (2003, 3 ...

'', 1868), Dobrotvorsky (''

The Poor Bride ''The Poor Bride'' (russian: Бедная невеста, Romanized as Bednaya nevesta) is a play by Alexander Ostrovsky, written in 1851 and first published in the No.4, 1852 issue of ''Moskvityanin'' magazine. It was his first play to be staged ...

'', 1853), Schastlivtsev ('' The Forest'', 1871), Margaritov (''The Belated Love'', 1873), Groznov (''Truth Is Good, But Happiness' Better'', 1876). In the late 1860s Sumsky retired to start teaching drama at the Moscow Conservatory where in 1869 he produced the opera ''

A Life for the Tsar ''A Life for the Tsar'' ( rus, "Жизнь за царя", italic=yes, Zhizn za tsarya ) is a "patriotic-heroic tragic opera" in four acts with an epilogue by Mikhail Glinka. During the Soviet era the opera was known under the name ''Ivan Susanin' ...

'', by

Mikhail Glinka Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka ( rus, link=no, Михаил Иванович Глинка, Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka., mʲɪxɐˈil ɪˈvanəvʲɪdʑ ˈɡlʲinkə, Ru-Mikhail-Ivanovich-Glinka.ogg; ) was the first Russian composer to gain wide recogni ...

References

External links

Sergey Shumsky’s page
at the Maly Theatre site {{DEFAULTSORT:Shumsky, Sergey Russian male stage actors Male actors from Moscow 1820 births 1893 deaths 19th-century male actors from the Russian Empire