Mamontov's Private Opera: The Search for Modernism in Russian Theater

Appendix A. Brief Chronology of Savva Mamontov’s Life and Career

291 1841 3 October: Savva Ivanovich Mamontov born in Yalutorovsk, Siberia, a second son of millionaire wine seller, first-guild merchant Ivan Fyodorovich Mamontov. 1848 The Mamontov family moves to Moscow. Savva is educated at home with a German tutor, later at private schools in Moscow and St. Petersburg. 1859 Savva enters Moscow University. 1862 Savva leaves the university at the insistence of his father, because of his involvement with the Sekretarev drama circle as well as his suspected sympathies for liberal student groups. He is sent to Baku and later to Iran on business. 1863 Savva is sent to Italy to study the silk trade. He neglects his duties in order to study bel canto singing and is recalled to Moscow by his father just as he is about to sign a contract with one of Milan’s opera houses. 1864 Mamontov returns to Moscow to work in his father’s business. He joins the Moscow Art Lovers Society. 1865 25 April: Mamontov marries his cousin Elizaveta Sapozhnikova, whom he had met in Italy and who shares his interest in the arts. The couple honeymoons in Rome where they befriend the members of the expatriate colony of Russian artists. 1868 Mamontov’s father dies; Savva takes over the family business, including a position as the majority stockholder and chairman of the board in the Moscow-Yaroslavl Railroad Company. 1870 March: Savva and Elizaveta Mamontov buy the Abramtsevo estate near Moscow from the Aksakov family. appendix a Brief Chronology of Savva Mamontov’s Life and Career 292 · appendix a 1873–75 Most of the Russian Romans return permanently to Russia; their close association with Mamontov continues, including prolonged stays at his Moscow mansion and at Abramtsevo; the beginning of the Mamontov Circle. 1877–79 “Mamontov Drama Nights,” regular gatherings of the Circle devoted to reading and discussing plays. All participants are required to prepare their assigned roles. 1878 The first theatrical production of the Mamontov Circle: a series of tableaux vivant—Demon and Tamara, Apotheosis of the Arts, Judith and Holofernes. 1879 The first staged production of the Mamontov Circle: act 2 of Apollon Maikov’s Dva Mira [Two Worlds]; sets and music by Vasily Polenov. 1882 Alexander Ostrovsky’s The Snow Maiden is staged by the Mamontov Circle; sets and costumes by Victor Vasnetsov. 1883 The first opera production of the Mamontov Circle: Gounod’s Faust (act 3); sets by Polenov, piano accompaniment by Professor Fitzengagen of the Moscow Conservatory; Mephis- topheles—Savva Mamontov. 1884 Mozart’s Don Giovanni is staged by the Mamontov Circle; Don Giovanni—Pyotr Melnikov, Zerlina—Alevtina Paskhalova. 1885 9 January: The first incarnation of the Moscow Private Opera opens under the name Krotkov’s Private Opera (with a mixed Russian-Italian cast, it would operate full-time through the end of 1886–87 season); the history of the MPO begins. February–March: The Meiningen Theater troupe tours St. Petersburg and Moscow. 1888–92 Mamontov’s opera company is known as the Moscow Italian Opera; it operates during Lent only, with performances in Italian and mainly touring foreigners in solo roles. Guest singers include Angelo Masini, Francesco Tamagno, Antonio Cotogni, Marcella Zembrich, Sigrid Arnoldson, Marie van Zandt, Antonio and Francesco d’Andrade, Maria Duran, Adelaide Borghi, Giuseppe Kaschmann, Jules Devoyod, and other leading European stars (some past their prime), as well as Nikolai Figner and Medea Mei-Figner from the Imperial Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg. 1892–93 Ippolit Pryanishnikov’s private operatic enterprise performs in Moscow; the company is bankrupted by the end of the season but is generally considered to have sparked Mamontov’s interest in reviving the MPO with a full-time Russian troupe. brief chronology of savva mamontov’s life and career · 293 1894 April: The First All-Russian Congress of Artists is held in Moscow, to coincide with the opening of the Tretyakov Gallery. The event is dedicated to building bridges between the older and the younger generation of artists. Mamontov supervises the art program, which includes a tableau vivant Aphrodite (text and stage direction by Mamontov, sets and music by Polenov; Agasandre—Stanislavsky), and the premiere of Anton Arensky’s opera Raphael. Mamontov and Polenov participate in the establishment of the Moscow Association of Artists. 1894–95 Claudia Winter’s opera company, tacitly sponsored by Mamontov, operates at the Panaev Theater in St. Petersburg. Singers include Feodor Chaliapin, Nadezhda Zabela, and Tatyana Lyubatovich; sets and costumes by...