Sometimes on the way to a cherished goal, people give up, become disillusioned with life, and abandon what they have started. But the founder of the famous folk choir, Mitrofan Pyatnitsky, was not one of them. He endured numerous insults, mockery, neglect, broken love, and even time in a psychiatric hospital.

He likely inherited his love for singing from his father, a deacon of the parish church in the Voronezh province. There, young Pyatnitsky entered a theological school but did not study for long. One day, the school's supervisor, Father Ioann, found a collection of songs in his nightstand, purchased at the market. The teacher called these songs tavern songs and ordered the book to be burned. Driven to tears, the seminarian refused to do so. Then Father Ioann wrote a letter to his father asking him to punish his son for his free-thinking. When he returned home, Pyatnitsky told his father that he would no longer study at the school.

He took a job as a laborer in Voronezh and even worked at that very school. All those years, he was haunted by the dream of becoming an opera singer. However, his former mentor, Father Ioann, constantly insisted that he was talentless and should be content with little. Misfortune struck him when he was close to realizing his dream. One day, he saved a girl who was trying to drown herself in a local lake and fell in love with her. But soon he had to leave for an audition in Moscow. He was accepted into the conservatory and offered a place to study. Upon returning to Voronezh, he learned that his beloved had run away with her ex-boyfriend, the very one who had caused her to attempt to drown herself.

Mitrofan Efimovich lost his mind. He became afraid of people, locked himself in barns, and spent several days alone there. Ultimately, his behavior led to him spending several years in a psychiatric hospital. The dark period ended thanks to Shalyapin, who advised him not to pursue opera but to engage in what he did best: singing folk songs. Over time, Pyatnitsky created a choir that became a golden page in the history of Russia.