Vial’tseva made herself famous across the Russian Empire through her singing and recording career. She had over 300 songs to her credit and traveled extensively on national concert tours with various operetta companies. Vial’tseva signed a contract with Moscow Solodovnikov theater and would go on to perform in many operas. She quickly became one of the highest-paid artists in Russia, receiving up to twenty-thousand rubles per show. After recording her first gramophone record, Vial'tseva became known as the "Incomparable One."

In 1904, Vial’tseva became romantically involved with Russian National Guard Officer, Vasily Biskupsky. Their relationship allowed her to gain influence in high society and military circles in an era when the officer corps was deeply tied to the nobility. When he was injured in the Russo-Japanese War, she canceled all her shows to go see him, traveling to the east and holding concerts to raise money for soldiers and their families.

When she died in 1913, around 150,000 people attended her funeral. Funerals for well-known figures were often accompanied by large public demonstrations at this time. Newspapers advertised her death and funeral film all across the Russian Empire. Vial’tseva’s celebrity was known across Europe as well, and the common laborers present at her funeral are a testament to her cross class appeal. Many who attended her funeral had never seen her but most had heard her voice thanks to the gramophone. It enabled her to become famous farther than she ever traveled, and film would share her funeral with people across Russia in much the same way. 

Funerals films were commonly produced for members of the royal family, cultural figures, civic leaders, religious and state dignitaries, military leaders, as well as other prominent citizens. Funerals were a popular subject for films because they were an important way for people of all classes to show their support for the deceased. Between 1907 and 1916 there were 125 documentary films produced in Russia that feature either funerals, processions, requiems, or other death related topics. Within this category, there were 102 distinct films featuring named individuals. Only 10 were for prominent women, the majority being actresses or other cultural figures like Vial’tseva.

Vial’tseva’s funeral film is tied to the development of cinema and film technology at the time. New film technologies such as the cinématographe, kinetoscope, and vitascope were on display for the first time in Russia at the 1896 Annual All-Russia Fair and Industrial Exposition. Along with the support of Tsar Nicholas II, these new technologies made it possible for a film industry to quickly developed in Russia. In 1909, only 19 native films were produced in Russia, but by 1913 this number rose to 129.

Vial’tseva’s funeral film was created by one of the biggest movie studios of the time, the Khanzhonkov movie studio. In 1907, Aleksandr Khanzhonkov and his wife founded the movie studio, the first of its kind in Russia. Despite being born to a wealthy upper class Russian family, Khanzhonkov differed from many other early Russian film entrepreneurs in that he “did not quite fit into the old deteriorating caste system” and his business “exemplified the most up-to-date business practices of Russia’s early cinema entrepreneurs.”  This new approach made his studio thrive and by 1910 it had become one of the biggest and most successful in Russia.

Khanzhonkov Studios produced over 100 movies between 1909 and 1919 including Russia's first feature-length film The Defense of Sevastopol, which debuted in Livinda Palace at a personal showing for Tsar Nicholas II. It was the first film in the world to be shot with two cameras and later won Khanzhonkov an imperial decoration from the Tsar for cultural services. Like many other early movie producers, Khanzhonkov was criticized by Russian theatre enthusiasts for catering to the “primitive tastes of the crowd” and was so famously decadent that the term Khanzhonkovism was later used to refer to the over the top filmmaking styles of the 1920s.  Khanzhonkov was also one of the first movie producers to understand the use of star power, and avidly promoted the stars of early Russian film including director Evgenii Bauer, ballet dancer Vera Karalli, and actress Vera Kholodnaia.

Despite his prolific moviemaking career, we were unable to find any other funeral films by Khanzhonkov studios available online. Instead, the studio was focused on slightly longer movie genres, such as romance and melodrama, that were popular at the time. At the time of Vial’tseva’s death, the Khanzhonkov movie studio was at the height of its influence and prestige, having just debuted its groundbreaking film The Defense of Sevastopol two years earlier. Vial'tseva traveled extensively throughout Russia for her career and her image was circulated even further, therefore it was likely that there would be a demand to witness her funeral throughout the nation. This meant that there was enough commercial interest in recording her funeral for a studio as well known as Khanzhonkov’s to produce this film.