Nikolai Tcherepnin

The elder Nikolai moved in elite circles of artists including Fyodor Dostoyevsky and Modest Mussorgsky.

Young Nikolai's mother died when he was a baby, and when his father remarried, was replaced by an ambivalent stepmother.

As a child, Nikolai's father beat him regularly and enforced a general code of strict discipline.

His talents and high family status earned him a job as the orchestral teacher at the Court Chapel in 1899.

During his 13-year tenure (from 1909 onward as professor) he taught many notable students, including Sergei Prokofiev, Aleksandr Gauk, Yuri Shaporin[2] and Lazare Saminsky.

He conducted performances with the Ballets Russes in Berlin, Monte Carlo, Paris, Rome, and the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden in London.