Conductor Edward Naprvnik. Photo: Vili Onikul. For its first few decades, the Mariinsky remained under the shadow of the Bolshoi Kammeny, not only because the Bolshoi was home of the ballet, but also because the demand for Italian opera persisted. In its early years, the Mariinsky's music director was Konstantin Liadov. He would preside over the musical life of the Mariinsky until replaced by his assistant, Eduard Nápravnik, in 1868. Nápravnik would bring the theatre to a zenith during the course of his tenure as chief conductor, which lasted almost 50 years, nearly until his death in 1916. During this time, he became the most powerful figure in the musical life of the city and conducted some 4000 performances of operas that ranged from Gluck's Orfee et Euridice to Wagner's Ring, and he was in charge of eighty premieres, half of which were of Russian operas. Among these were Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov; Rimsky Korsakov's The Maid of Pskov, May Night and The Snow Maiden; Tchaikovsky's The Maid of Orleans (which was dedicated to Napravnik), The Queen of Spades, and Iolanthe. The all Russian seasons of the Mariinsky gradually grew in prominence and influence. The time was ripe for advancing the cause of Russian opera after the lead taken by Glinka, Dargomizhsky, and Alexander Serov (whose operas, although once enormously popular, are today not often produced in Russia or anywhere else). Suddenly, significant new works from composers of the ilk of Tchaikovsky and Russia's Mighty Five (the name given to Rimsky Korsakov and his friends Mussorgsky, Cesar Cui, Alexander Borodin and Mily Balakirev) flooded the stage, operas that took and held the spotlight in a string of successes that helped create the first fully formed Russian school of Opera. Feodor Chaliapin as Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov  photo: Vili Onikul Fedor Stravinsky as Grandfather Frost in Rimsky-Korsakov's May night. photo: Vili Onikul. Alexander III ascended the throne in 1881. Following the assassination of his father. Alexander was found of arts and personally approved the repertoire for the opera and ballet, often making significant changes. He did not miss a single dress rehearsal. The new Czar committed a vast amount of funds to the Mariinsky and to others of the Imperial theatres. The year after Alexander came to power, Igor Stravinsky was born. His father, Feodor, was a leading bass at the Mariinksy and the composer grew up in an apartment building opposite the Mariinsky's stage door. He had his first operatic experiences there. Stravinsky remembered in his memoirs the most popular non Russian operas of the day to be The Merry wives of Windsor (In which he saw his own father perform), Manon, The Bartered Bride, Der Freischutz, Carmen, Cavalleria Rusticana, Pagliaci and Most of Wagner's mature operas. " The livelier and more exciting Operas were the works of the Russian school. Glinka's operas above all, but also Dargomizhsky's Rimsky's, Tchaikovsky's, Borodin's and Mussorgsky's. I heard Boris many times of course. Next to its popularity was Prince Igor. The Tchaikovsky Operas I remember most clearly were Eugen Oneguin, The Golden Slippers, and The Queen of Spades" This period, the era of the ascendancy of Russian opera, was also a time of extraordinary singers at the Mariinsky. Among the most prominent were its basses, headed by Feodor Stravinsky. He had joined the theater in 1876 and remained there until his death in 1902, singing 1235 performances of sixty four serious and comic roles. It has been said that after his first seasons at the Mariinsky, (1894-96) Chaliapin chose to be active in Moscow because he did not wish to compete with Stravinsky. Whether this is true or not, he did not rejoin the Mariinsky until 1918 when he became the leading bass. It is difficult today to imagine the almost godlike status of Chaliapin in the world of opera. It has been said that had he been czar instead of Nicholas II, there would have been no revolution. He dominated his age like a colossus and is considered to be one of twentieth-century opera's three most influential figures, along with Caruso and Callas. But great basses were not the sum total of the Mariinsky's roster. It had its share of outstanding tenors: Leonid Sobibov, and ideal Lensky, Ershov a heroic tenor and an outstanding Siegfried and Nikolai Figner, the friend of Tchaikovsky and operatic King of St Petersburg. As for the Sopranos. Igor Stravinsky recalls among others in his memoirs "Felia litvinne, who sang a surprisingly brilliant Brünnhilde, surprising because she had such a tiny mouth; and Maria Kuznetsova, a dramatic soprano who was very appetising to look at as well as to hear". Lenoid Sobinov as Lensky in Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin. photo: Vili Onikul.