The Moscow Private Opera, founded, sponsored, and directed by Savva Mamontov (1841--1918), was one of Russia's most important theatrical institutions at the dawn of the age of modernism. It presented the Moscow premieres of Lohengrin, La Boh?me, and Khovanshchina, among others; launched the career of Feodor Chaliapin; gave Sergei Rachmaninov his first conducting job; employed Vasily Polenov, Victor Vasnetsov, Valentin Serov, Konstantin Korovin, and Mikhail Vrubel as set designers; and served as a model for Diaghilev's Ballets Russes. Part commercial enterprise, part experimental studio, Mamontov's company revolutionized opera directing and design, and trained a generation of opera singers. Drawing on a wealth of unpublished primary sources and evidence from art and theater history, Olga Haldey paints a fascinating portrait of a railway tycoon turned artiste and his pioneering opera company.
Author(s): Olga Haldey
Series: Russian Music Studies
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Year: 2010
Language: English
Pages: 412
Contents......Page 8
Acknowledgments......Page 10
Note on Transliteration and Translation......Page 12
List of Abbreviations......Page 14
Introduction......Page 18
1 The Silver Age and the Legacy of the 1860s......Page 32
2 Serving the Beautiful......Page 52
3 Echoes of Abramtsevo......Page 85
4 Visual Impressions......Page 105
5 Opera as Drama......Page 187
6 From Meiningen to Mey......Page 228
7 Politics, Repertory, and the Market......Page 265
8 Faces of the Enterprise......Page 318
Appendix A. Brief Chronology of Savva Mamontov’s Life and Career......Page 348
Appendix B. Selected Premieres and Revivals at the Moscow Private Opera......Page 352
Notes......Page 354
Works Cited......Page 396
Plate Section
......Page 147
Index......Page 402
