Nikolai Sheremetev
| The coat of arms of Count Sheremetev | |
|---|---|
| Information | |
| Shield | Or in chief on a torteaux surrounded by a wreath of laurel a royal crown and two crosses pattée argent in pale and in base between a boyar's hat fesswise and a crescent charged with a representation of a man's face argent a sword and spear crossed in saltire proper, the whole ensigned by the coronet of a Count of the Russian Empire. |
| Crest and mantle | Issuant from the coronet of rank an oak tree proper between two mullets of six points argent, the mantling Or doubled gules. |
| Supporters | Two lions salient guardant Or the dexter one holding in his interior paw a sceptre and in his mouth a laurel branch proper the sinister one holding in his interior paw a globus cruciger and in his mouth an olive branch proper upon a grassy compartment proper |
| Motto | Deus conservat omnia, Latin for "God preserves all". |
Nikolai Petrovich Sheremetev (Russian: Никола́й Петро́вич Шереметев) (28 June 1751 - 2 January 1809 O.S., 9 July 1751 - 14 January 1809 N.S.) was a Russian count, the son of Petr Borisovich Sheremetev, notable grandee of the epoch of empresses Anna Ivanovna, Elizabeth Petrovna, and Catherine II. He was also the grandson of Boris Petrovich Sheremetev.
His father P. B. Sheremetev was passionate about the theatre and transferred this passion to his son. N. P. Sheremetev spent his early youth at court. From the age of 13 to 14 he started to act in private theatricals of his father, and then "on the big court theatre". In 1765 he played the role of the god Hymen in the mythological ballet Acis and Galathea, in which his childhood comrade, the future Paul I, had distinguished himself.
Having a special passion for music, Nikolai Petrovich masterfully played the cello. From 1769 to 1773 he traveled abroad: he attended lectures in Leiden University in the Netherlands, traveled across England, Germany, and Switzerland, took music lessons, and got acquainted with theatre life. In France he took a great interest in opéra comique.
Returning to Moscow and receiving the post of director of the Moscow bank for noblemen, Sheremetev started to reconstruct his father's theatre: he engaged in special education of serf children, "certain to theatre" (Russian letters, foreign languages, music, singing, dance, diction, refined manners). Feeling extraordinary talent in one of his students, Parasha Kovaleva (Praskovya Ivanovna Kovaleva), he gave her more and more attention, preparing for her star career as the future "Praskovya Zhemchugova", whom he married in 1801.
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