At this time Minkus was also working as professor of violin at the newly established Moscow Conservatory. It was for the private performances at the Yusupov palace that Minkus composed what appears to be his first score for ballet, the mythological "L′Union de Thétis et Pélée" ("The Union of Thetis and Peleus"), first performed in 1857. During his association with the Imperial Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, Minkus composed another score for ballet, the one-act "Deux jours en Venise" ("Two Days In Venice"), produced in 1862. In late 1862 Minkus was called upon to compose an additional "entr'acte" featuring a solo for violin that was inserted into Adolphe Adam's score for Jean Coralli's ballet "Orfa". The ballet was staged for the Imperial Bolshoi Theatre of Moscow by Arthur Saint-Léon, who at that time was one of the most celebrated Ballet Masters in Europe. Since 1860 Saint-Léon was engaged as "Premier Maître de Ballet" of the St. Petersburg Imperial Theatres, a position which also required him to stage the occasional work for the Moscow ballet troupe. It was Saint-Léon who commissioned Minkus's first score for a full-length "Grand Ballet", the three-act "La Flamme d′amour, ou La Salamandre" ("The Flame of Love, or The Salamander"), which the Ballet Master produced especially for the renowned Russian "Prima ballerina" Marfa Muravieva. The premiere on was a great success for the ballet company of the Bolshoi Theatre. Saint-Léon subsequently mounted the work in St. Petersburg for the Imperial Ballet in an elaborated staging for the benefit performance of Muravieva under the title "Fiametta, ou L′amour du Diable" ("Fiametta, or The Love of the Devil"). This version was first performed on at the Imperial Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre. Minkus later accompanied Saint-Léon to mount this work in a new staging for the ballerina Muravieva at the Théâtre Impérial de l'Opéra in Paris. For this staging the ballet's title was changed again as "Néméa, ou L′Amour vengé" ("Néméa, or The Avenged Love").