She also appeared in four Metropolitan productions in 1998: Prince Igor, Ruslan and Lyudmila, Mazeppa and Betrothal in a Monastery.
The tragedies, Mazeppa, Catharine Howard, Amy Robsart and Der Gotze von Venedig, were very successful; and the historical novels, Im Banne des schwarzen Adlers (1875; 4th ed., 1884), Die Erbschaft des Blutes (1881), Die Tochter Rübezahls (1889), and Verkümmerte Existenzen (1892), enjoyed a high degree of popularity.
Mazeppa | Mazeppa (opera) | "Mazeppa" by Théodore Géricault | Mazeppa (Byron) |
The first notable occasion, was when American actress Adah Isaacs Menken wore one in 1861 in the play Mazeppa, based on Byron's "Mazeppa", in which she played a Polish man who was tied nude to the back of a wild horse by his enemies.
Other examples include The Bohemian G-yurl and the Unapproachable Pole (1877), Blue Beard (1882), Ariel (1883, by F. C. Burnand), Galatea, or Pygmalion Reversed (1883), Little Jack Sheppard (1885), Monte Cristo Jr (1886), Miss Esmeralda (1887), Mazeppa, Faust up to Date (1888), Ruy Blas and the Blasé Roué (1888), Carmen up to Data (1890), and Don Juan (1892, with lyrics by Adrian Ross).
She has also sung in many other key Russian operas: Tatiana in Eugene Onegin, Lisa in The Queen of Spades, Iolanta, Mazeppa, Ruslan and Lyudmila.
He conducted the first performance of the 1812 Overture (1882) and the first performances at the Bolshoi Theatre of his operas Mazeppa (1884), The Enchantress (1890), The Queen of Spades (1891) and Iolanta (1893).