Josef Paleček

Josef Paleček was a Czech bass who created Rangoni in the complete 1874 revision of Boris Godunov at the Mariinsky Theatre. Trained as an organist, he joined Prague's Provisional Theatre in 1864, creating Kecal in Smetana's The Bartered Bride under the composer's own baton in 1866. Invited to the Mariinsky by Mily Balakirev in 1870, he became a leading bass-cantante, then turned from 1882 to stage direction, mounting the Mariinsky's own premiere of Tchaikovsky's Yevgeny Onegin in 1884 and the world premieres of The Queen of Spades in 1890 and Iolanta in 1892. He directed the Mariinsky itself from 1900 to 1915.