"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 boheme, and Khovanshchina, among others; launched the career of Feodor Chaliapin; gave Sergei Rachmaninov his first conducting job; and employed Vasily Polenov, Victor Vasnetsov, Valentin Serov, Konstantin Korovin, and Mikhail Vrubel as set designers. 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 "Drawing on a wealth of unpublished primary sources, and drawing evidence from art and theater history, as well as musicology, Olga Haldey paints a fascinating portrait of Savva Mamontov, railway tycoon turned artiste, and his pioneering opera company. The boldness of Mamontov's directing experiments, coupled with his desire to acquaint any willing young artist with his methods, irrevocably affected both the aesthetics and the careers of Konstantin Stanislavsky and Vsevolod Meyerhold. Russia preeminent stage directors of the early twentieth century. More than this, Haldey argues that the Moscow Private Opera offered an artistic and organizational model for Sergei Diaghilev's iconic Ballets Russes. By guiding young Diaghilev into the world of theater and sharing his ideal of synthesis of the arts and collaborative creativity, Savva Mamontov exerted a profound influence on the world of art in the twentieth century."--Jacket.