Both the Figners were considered to be outstanding actors: their first appearance together in
Bizet's
Carmen, as Carmen and Don José, produced an ovation said to be unprecedented in the history of Russian opera. They were highly regarded by
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, who wrote the roles of Hermann and Liza in
The Queen of Spades for them. They created the roles in the world premiere of this opera, on 19 December 1890, after rehearsing under Tchaikovsky's personal supervision. Medea was in the early stages of pregnancy at the time. In 1891, when she was unable to continue to appear in
The Queen of Spades due to her condition, Nikolay refused to sing with a substitute soprano, and so the opera was removed from the program until Medea was able to return. The Figners also created the title soprano role and that of the tenor part of Count Vaudémont in Tchaikovsky's opera
Iolanta in 1892. Tchaikovsky dedicated his Six Romances, Op. 73 (1893) to Nikolay Figner. Nikolay spent time with Tchaikovsky in the days following the premiere of his
Symphony No. 6 Pathetique. Later, he visited Tchaikovsky's apartment during the composer's final illness. He returned there immediately after Tchaikovsky's death, helping
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov to lay out the body. By no means, however, did the Figners confine their joint operatic activities to the compositions of Tchaikovsky. For example, they created the main roles in
Eduard Nápravník's
Dubrovsky and
Francesca da Rimini. Other operas in which the Figners performed as a team included: Tchaikovsky's
Eugene Onegin (Nikolay's Lensky was said to have been surpassed only by
Leonid Sobinov's interpretation) and
The Oprichnik;
Gounod's
Faust and
Roméo et Juliette;
Auber's
Fra Diavolo; and the Russian premieres of
Mascagni's
Cavalleria rusticana,
Puccini's
Tosca and
Leoncavallo's
Pagliacci. Oddly, they never appeared in works written by Rimsky-Korsakov, who was the most prolific operatic composer in Tsarist Russia. It has been suggested that the reason for this gap in their repertoire was personal: they had asked Rimsky-Korsakov to write an opera for them, or to make some changes to his existing work
May Night, but the composer refused to oblige and this may have offended the Figners. ==Divorce, later lives and recorded legacy==