was a private operatic enterprise, a company established in 1885 by Russian industrialist and philanthropistSavva Mamontov, who staged the operas, conducted the orchestra, trained the actors, taught them singing and paid all the expenses.
The company
At first the company was organised in Abramtsevo Estate located north of Moscow.
Later years
In Moscow the opera was located in the house at the Bolshaya Dmitrovskaya street, known as "Solodovnikov Theatre", built in 1894–1895 by Russiant merchant and music lover Gavrila Solodovnikov (1826–1901). Later the house was burned down and the Private Opera moved into the theatre "Paradis" («Парадиз»), at 19/13, Bolshaya Nikitskaya Street (present-day Mayakovsky Theater).
The repertoire included many operas by foreign composers as well as the following works by Russian composers:
In late 1890s, Mamontov consolidated a large lot of land in central Moscow, across from Theatre Square, for building a large civic center with his opera hall and a luxury hotel. He appointed William Walcot as lead architect, however, in 1899 Mamontov was unjustly arrested and put on trial for embezzlement connected with building of the Yaroslavl railway. The project, known as Hotel Metropol, was completed without theater by Petersburg Insurance Company.
Meanwhile, from 1899 until 1904 the company existed without Mamontov, and changed its name to "Private Opera Society" (Tovarishchestvo chastnoi opery).
Haldey, Olga (2010). Mamontov's Private Opera : the search for modernism in Russian theater . Bloomington: Indiana University Press. ISBN978-0-253-35468-6.
