Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky, 1870.

Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky (Russian: Моде́ст Петро́вич Му́соргский, Modest Petrovič Musorgskij) (March 21 [O. Russian ( transliteration:,) is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages Events 630 - Byzantine emperor Heraclius restores the True Cross to Jerusalem. S. March 9], 1839 – March 28 [O. Year 1839 ( MDCCCXXXIX) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Common Events 37 - Roman Emperor Caligula accepts the titles of the Principate, entitled to him by the Senate. S. March 16], 1881, age 42), one of the Russian composers known as the Five, was an innovator of Russian music. Year 1881 ( MDCCCLXXXI) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common The Five, also known as The Mighty Handful (Могучая кучка Moguchaya kuchka) refers to a circle of Composers who met in Saint Petersburg Russia is a large and extremely culturally diverse country with dozens of Ethnic groups each with their own forms of Music. He strove to achieve a uniquely Russian musical identity, often in deliberate defiance of the established conventions of Western music. Western music is the genres of Music originating in the Western world (Europe and its former colonies including Western classical music, American

Like his literary contemporary Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Mussorgsky depicts in his music "the insulted and the injured" with all their passion and pain. Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (Фёдор Миха́йлович Достое́вский, sometimes transliterated Dostoyevsky, Dostoievsky, He raises these characters to tragic heights until the grotesque and majestic coexist. Mussorgsky could accomplish this not simply out of compassion or guilt towards them, but because in his works he almost becomes them. Mussorgsky's music is vivid, confused, feverish and ultimately hypnotizing —again, like Dostoyevsky at his best. ^[1]

Many of his major works were inspired by Russian history, Russian folklore, and other nationalist themes, including the opera Boris Godunov, the orchestral tone poem Night on Bald Mountain, and the piano suite Pictures at an Exhibition. « » = Composer's Original Language Titles = Unfinished Composition Stage Works «Эдип в Афинах» Oedipus in Athens Early history Pre-Slavic inhabitants See also Steppe nomads, Scythians, Bosporan Kingdom, Khazaria In prehistoric times Slavic mythology is the Mythological aspect of the Religion that was practised by the ancient Slavs. The term nationalism can refer to an Ideology, a sentiment, a form of Culture, or a Social movement that focuses on the Nation Opera is an art form in which Singers and Musicians perform a Dramatic work (called an opera which combines a text (called a Libretto Boris Godunov ( Борис Годунов, original Orthography Борисъ Годуновъ, Borís Godunóv) is an Opera by A symphonic poem or tone poem is a piece of Orchestral Music in one movement in which some extramusical program provides a narrative or illustrative element A Night on the Bald Mountain usually refers to one of two compositions—either a seldom performed early (1867 ' musical picture ' by Modest Mussorgsky, In Music, a suite is an ordered set of Instrumental or Orchestral pieces normally performed in a Concert Pictures at an Exhibition (Картинки с выставки &ndash Воспоминание о Викторе Гартмане Kartinki s vystavki &ndash Vospominaniye However, while Mussorgsky's music can be vivid and nationalistic, it does not glorify the powerful and is at times (such as in The Field-Marshal) antimilitaristic. For this reason, it was perceived as being directed against the state and its composer "under suspicion. " He, like the others in The Russian Five, were considered dangerous extremists by the emperor and his court. The Five, also known as The Mighty Handful (Могучая кучка Moguchaya kuchka) refers to a circle of Composers who met in Saint Petersburg This may have been the reason Tsar Alexander III personally crossed off Boris Godounov from the list of proposed pieces for the imperial opera in 1888. Tsar csar and tzar redirect here For other uses see Tsar (disambiguation. Alexander III Alexandrovich ( 10 March 1845 – 1 November 1894) (Александр III Александрович reigned as Emperor ^[2]

For many years Mussorgsky's works were mainly known in versions revised or completed by other composers. Many of his most important compositions have recently come into their own in their original forms, and some of the original scores are now also available.

Life

Youth

Young Mussorgsky as a cadet in the Preobrazhensky Regiment of the Imperial Guard.

Mussorgsky was born in Karevo in the province of Pskov, 400 kilometres south-south-east of Saint Petersburg. Pskov (Псков ancient Russian spelling Пльсковъ Pleskov) in Latvian Pleskava, in Estonian Pihkva, is an ancient city located in Saint Petersburg ( tr: Sankt-Peterburg,) is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River His wealthy and land-owning family, the noble family of Mussorgsky, is reputedly descended from the first Ruthenian ruler, Rurik, through the sovereign princes of Smolensk. Mussorgsky (Му́соргские the name of an old Russian noble family which is one of the branches of rich Boyar family of Monastyrev, descendants Ruthenia is a geographic and culturo-ethnic name applied to the parts of Eastern Europe populated by Eastern Slavic peoples, as well as to the past various Rurik or Riurik (Рюрик; Old East Norse: Rørik, meaning "famous ruler" c Smolensk (Смоленск is a city in western Russia, located on the Dnieper River, the administrative centre of Smolensk Oblast. At six, Modest began receiving piano lessons from his mother, herself a trained pianist. His progress was sufficiently rapid that three years later he was able to perform a John Field concerto and works by Franz Liszt for family and friends. John Field (26 July 1782 &ndash 23 January 1837 was an Irish Composer and Pianist. At 10, he and his brother were taken to Saint Petersburg to study at the elite Peterschule (St. Peter's School). While there, Modest studied the piano with the noted Anton Herke. In 1852, the 12-year-old Mussorgsky published a piano piece titled "Porte-enseigne Polka" at his father's expense.

Mussorgsky's parents planned the move to Saint Petersburg so that both their sons would renew the family tradition of military service. ^[3] To this end, Mussorgsky entered the Cadet School of the Guards at age 13. Sharp controversy has arisen over the educational attutudes at the time of both this institute and its director, a General Sutgof. ^[4] All agreed the Cadet School could be a brutal place, especially for new recruits. ^[5] More tellingly for Mussorgsky, it was likely where he began his eventual path to alcoholism. ^[5] According to a former student, singer and composer Nikolai Kompaneisky, Sutgof "was proud when a cadet returned from leave drunk with champagne. "^[6]

Music remained important to him however. Sutgof's daughter was also a pupil of Herke, and Mussorgsky was allowed to attend lessons with her. ^[4] His skills as a pianist made him much in demand by fellow-cadets; for them he would play dances interspersed with his own improvisations. Musical Improvisation is the creative activity of immediate Musical composition, which combines performance with communication of emotions and instrumental ^[7] In 1856 Mussorgsky–who had developed a strong interest in history and studied German philosophy–successfully graduated from the Cadet School. Again following family tradition and received a commission with the Preobrazhensky Regiment, the foremost regiment of the Russian Imperial Guard. ^[8]

Maturity

In October 1856 the 17-year-old Mussorgsky met the 22-year-old Alexander Borodin while both men served at a military hospital in Saint Petersburg. Alexander Porfiryevich Borodin (Александр Порфирьевич Бородин Aleksandr Porfir'evič Borodin) ( &ndash) was a Russian Composer The two were soon on good terms. ^[9] Borodin later remembered,

His little uniform was spic and span, close-fitting, his feet turned outwards, his hair smoothed down and greased, his nails perfectly cut, his hands well groomed like a lord's. His manners were elegant, aristocratic: his speech likewise, delivered through somewhat clenched teeth, interspersed with French phrases, rather precious. There was a touch—though very moderate—of foppishness. For the meanings of the acronym FOP see FOP (disambiguation. The fop (also known as a fribble, popinjay, fashion-monger His politeness and good manners were exceptional. The ladies made a fuss of him. He sat at the piano and, throwing up his hands coquettishly, played with extreme sweetness and grace (etc) extracts from Trovatore, Traviata, and so on, and around him buzzed in chorus: "Charmant, délicieux!" and suchlike. Il trovatore ( The Troubadour) is an Opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian Libretto by Leone Emanuele Bardare La traviata is an Opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian Libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. I met Modest Petrovich three or four times at Popov's in this way, both on duty and at the hospital. ^[10]

Alexander Dargomyzhsky

More portentious was Mussorgsky's introduction that winter to Alexander Dargomyzhsky, at that time the most important Russian nationalist composer after Mikhail Glinka. Alexander Sergeyevich Dargomyzhsky ( Александр Сергеевич Даргомыжский) ( February 14 1813 &ndash January 17 1869 Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka (Михаи́л Ива́нович Гли́нка ( –) was the first Russian composer to gain wide recognition inside his own country Dargomyzhsky was impressed with Mussorsky's pianism. As a result, Mussorgsky became a fixture at Dargomyzhsky's soirées. There, critic Vladimir Stasov later recalled, he began "his true musical life. Vladimir Vasilievich Stasov (Russian Владимир Васильевич Стасов January 14 1824 &ndash October 24 1906) son of "^[11]

Over the next two years at Dargomyzhsky's, Mussorgsky met several figures of importance in Russia's cultural life, among them Stasov, César Cui (a fellow officer), and Mili Balakirev. Vladimir Vasilievich Stasov (Russian Владимир Васильевич Стасов January 14 1824 &ndash October 24 1906) son of César Antonovich Cui ( Цезарь Антонович Кюи, Tsezar' Antonovič Kjui) ( - March 13, 1918) was a Russian of French Mily Alexeyevich Balakirev ( Милий Алексеевич Балакирев, Milij Alekseevič Balakirev) ( 2 January 1837 Balakirev had an especially strong impact. Within days he took it upon himself to help shape Mussorgsky's fate as a composer. He recalled to Stassov, "Because I am not a theorist, I could not teach him harmony (as, for instance Rimsky-Korsakov now teaches it . Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov ( Николай Андреевич Римский-Корсаков, Nikolaj Andreevič Rimskij-Korsakov) also Nikolay . . [but] I explained to him the form of compositions, and to do this we played through both Beethoven symphonies [as piano duets] and much else (Schumann, Schubert, Glinka, and others), analyzing the form. "^[12] Up to this point Mussorgsky had known nothing but piano music; his knowledge of more radical recent music was virtually non-existent. Balakirev started filling these gaps in Mussorgsky's knowledge. ^[13]

In 1858, within a few months of beginning his studies with Balakirev, Mussorgsky resigned his commission to devote himself entirely to music. ^[14] He also suffered a painful crisis at this time. This may have had a spiritual component (in a letter to Balakirev the young man referred to "mysticism and cynical thoughts about the Deity"), but its exact nature will probably never be known. In 1859, the 20-year-old gained valuable theatrical experience by assisting in a production of Glinka's opera A Life for the Tsar on the Glebovo estate of a former singer and her wealthy husband; he also met Lyadov and enjoyed a formative visit to Moscow –after which he professed a love of "everything Russian". Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka (Михаи́л Ива́нович Гли́нка ( –) was the first Russian composer to gain wide recognition inside his own country A Life for the Tsar ( Жизнь за царя, Zhizn' za tsarya) as it is known in English although its original name was Ivan Susanin ( Anatoly Konstantinovich Lyadov or Liadov (Анатолий Константинович Лядов ( May 11 (old style April 29) 1855 St Petersburg -

In spite of this epiphany, Mussorgsky's music still leaned more towards foreign models; a four-hand piano sonata which he produced in 1860 contains his only movement in sonata form. Sonata form is a Musical form that has been used widely since the early Classical period. Nor is any 'nationalistic' impulse easily discernible in the operas Oedipus in Athens, on which he worked between the ages of 19 and 22 (and then abandoned unfinished), or in the Intermezzo in modo classico for piano solo (revised and orchestrated in 1867). The latter was the only important piece he composed between December 1860 and August 1863: the reasons for this probably lie in the painful re-emergence of his subjective crisis in 1860 and the purely objective difficulties which resulted from the 'Emancipation of the Serfs' the following year –as a result of which the family was deprived of half its estate, and Mussorgsky had to spend a good deal of time in Karevo unsuccessfully attempting to stave off their looming impoverishment. Year 1860 ( MDCCLX) was a Leap year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Leap year starting Year 1863 ( MDCCCLXIII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common The Emancipation Reform of 1861 in Russia was the first and most important of liberal reforms affected during the reign of Alexander II of Russia.

Gustave Flaubert. Mussorgsky started an opera based on his Salammbô but did not finish it.

By this time, Mussorgsky had freed himself from the influence of Balakirev and was largely teaching himself. In 1863 he began another opera –Salammbô– on which he worked between 1863 and 1866 before losing interest in the project. Salammbô title '''''The Libyan''''' ( Russian: Саламбо) is an unfinished opera-project in 4 acts by the Russian composer Modest Year 1866 ( MDCCCLXVI) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common During this period he had returned to Saint Petersburg and was supporting himself as a low-grade civil-servant while living in a six-man 'commune'. In a heady artistic and intellectual atmosphere, he read and discussed a wide range of modern artistic and scientific ideas – including those of the provocative writer Chernyshevsky, known for the bold assertion that, in art, "form and content are opposites". Under such influences he came more and more to embrace the ideal of artistic 'realism' and all that it entailed, whether this concerned the responsibility to depict life 'as it is truly lived'; the preoccupation with the lower strata of society; or the rejection of repeating, symmetrical musical forms as insufficiently true to the unrepeating, unpredictable course of 'real life'.

'Real life' impacted particularly painfully on Mussorgsky in 1865, when his mother died; it was at this point that the composer had his first serious bout of either alcoholism or dipsomania. Year 1865 ( MDCCCLXV) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year Alcoholism is a term with multiple and sometimes conflicting definitions Dipsomania is a term which describes an uncontrollable craving for alcohol The 26-year-old was, however, on the point of writing his first 'realistic' songs (including 'Hopak' and 'Darling Savishna', both of them composed in 1866 and among his first 'real' publications the following year). Year 1866 ( MDCCCLXVI) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common 1867 was also the year in which he finished the original orchestral version of his A Night on the Bald Mountain (which, however, Balakirev criticised and refused to conduct, with the result that it was never performed during Mussorgsky's lifetime). Year 1867 ( MDCCCLXVII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year starting A Night on the Bald Mountain usually refers to one of two compositions—either a seldom performed early (1867 ' musical picture ' by Modest Mussorgsky,

Peak

Mussorgsky's career as a civil servant was by no means stable or secure: though he was assigned to various posts and even received a promotion in these early years, in 1867 he was declared 'supernumerary' –remaining 'in service', but receiving no wages. Decisive developments were occurring in his artistic life, however. Although it was in 1867 that Stasov first referred to the 'kučka' of Russian composers loosely grouped around Balakirev, Mussorgsky was by then ceasing to seek Balakirev's approval and was moving closer to the older Alexander Dargomyzhsky . The Five, also known as The Mighty Handful (Могучая кучка Moguchaya kuchka) refers to a circle of Composers who met in Saint Petersburg Alexander Sergeyevich Dargomyzhsky ( Александр Сергеевич Даргомыжский) ( February 14 1813 &ndash January 17 1869

Ivan Melnikov as the title character in Boris Godunov, 1874.

Since 1866 Dargomïzhsky had been working on his opera The Stone Guest, a version of the Don Juan story with a Pushkin text that he declared would be set "just as it stands, so that the inner truth of the text should not be distorted", and in a manner that abolished the 'unrealistic' division between aria and recitative in favour of a continuous mode of syllabic but lyrically heightened declamation somewhere between the two. The Stone Guest (Каменный гость Kamenny gost is a poetic Drama by Alexander Pushkin based on the Spanish legend of Don Juan Don Juan (Spanish or Don Giovanni (Italian is a legendary fictional Libertine whose story has been told many times by many authors This article is about the musical term "aria" For other meanings or uses of the word see Aria (disambiguation. Recitative /rɛsɪtə'tiv/ (also known by its Italian name "recitativo" (/retʃita'tivo/ is a style of delivery (much used in Operas Oratorios

Under the influence of this work (and the ideas of Georg Gottfried Gervinus, according to whom "the highest natural object of musical imitation is emotion, and the method of imitating emotion is to mimic speech"), Mussorgsky in 1868 rapidly set the first eleven scenes of Gogol's Zhenitba (The Marriage), with his priority being to render into music the natural accents and patterns of the play's naturalistic and deliberately humdrum dialogue. Georg Gottfried Gervinus ( May 20, 1805 &ndash March 18, 1871) was a German literary and political Historian. Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol (Никола́й Васи́льевич Го́голь Nikolai Vasilevich Gogol;; Микола Васильович Гоголь Zhenitba ( Женитьба, Zhenit'ba, Marriage) is an unfinished Opera begun in 1868 by Modest Mussorgsky to his own Libretto This work marked an extreme position in Mussorgsky's pursuit of naturalistic word-setting: he abandoned it unorchestrated after reaching the end of his 'Act 1', and though its characteristically 'Mussorgskyian' declamation is to be heard in all his later vocal music, the naturalistic mode of vocal writing more and more became merely one expressive element among many.

Fyodor Komissarzhevsky as The Pretender in Boris Godunov.

A few months after abandoning Zhenitba, the 29-year-old Mussorgsky was encouraged to write an opera on the story of Boris Godunov. Zhenitba ( Женитьба, Zhenit'ba, Marriage) is an unfinished Opera begun in 1868 by Modest Mussorgsky to his own Libretto Boris Fyodorovich Godunov (Бори́с Фёдорович Годуно́в (c This he did, assembling and shaping a text from Pushkin's play and Karamzin's history. Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin ( Никола́й Миха́йлович Карамзи́н) (December 1 1766 – June 3 1826 a Russian author credited He completed the large-scale score the following year while living with friends and working for the Forestry Department. In 1871, however, the finished opera was rejected for theatrical performance, apparently because of its lack of any 'prima donna' role. Year 1871 ( MDCCCLXXI) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Originally used in Opera companies " prima donna " is Italian for "first lady" Mussorgsky set to work producing a revised and enlarged 'second version'. During the next year, which he spent sharing rooms with Rimsky-Korsakov, he made changes that actually went far beyond those requested by the theatre. Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov ( Николай Андреевич Римский-Корсаков, Nikolaj Andreevič Rimskij-Korsakov) also Nikolay In this version the opera was accepted, probably in May 1872, and three excerpts were staged at the Mariinsky Theatre in 1873. The Mariinsky Theatre ( Мариинский театр, also spelled Maryinsky Theatre is a historic theatre of Opera and Ballet in (It is often asserted that in 1872 the opera was rejected a second time, but no specific evidence for this exists. )

By the time of the first production of Boris Godunov in February 1874, Mussorgsky had taken part in the ill-fated Mlada project (in the course of which he had made a choral version of his A Night on the Bald Mountain) and had begun Khovanshchina. Boris Godunov ( Борис Годунов, original Orthography Борисъ Годуновъ, Borís Godunóv) is an Opera by Year 1874 ( MDCCCLXXIV) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Mlada ( Млада, the name of a main character was a project originally envisioned as a ballet to be composed by Alexander Serov and choreographed by Marius A Night on the Bald Mountain usually refers to one of two compositions—either a seldom performed early (1867 ' musical picture ' by Modest Mussorgsky, For the 1960 Soviet film based on this opera see Khovanshchina (film. Though far from being a critical success - and in spite of receiving only a dozen or so performances - the popular reaction in favour of Boris made this the peak of Mussorgsky's career.

Decline

Detail from Ilya Repin's celebrated portrait of Mussorgsky, painted in the hospital from March 2-5, 1881, only a few days before the composer's death. Ilya Yefimovich Repin (Илья́ Ефи́мович Ре́пин Ілля Юхимович Рєпін ( Chuhuiv, Russian Empire (now in Ukraine

From this peak a pattern of decline becomes increasingly apparent. Already the Balakirev circle was disintegrating. Mussorgsky was especially bitter about this. He wrote to Vladimir Stasov, "[T]he mighty Koocha has degenerated into soulless traitors. Vladimir Vasilievich Stasov (Russian Владимир Васильевич Стасов January 14 1824 &ndash October 24 1906) son of "^[15] In drifting away from his old friends, Mussorgsky had been seen to fall victim to 'fits of madness' that could well have been alcoholism-related. His friend Viktor Hartmann had died, and his relative and recent room-mate Arseny Golenishchev-Kutuzov (who furnished the poems for the song-cycle Sunless and would go on to provide those for the Songs and Dances of Death) had moved away to get married. Viktor Alexandrovich Hartmann ( Russian: Виктор Александрович Гартман 5 May 1834, St Petersburg - 4 August Arseny Arkadyevich Golenishchev-Kutuzov (Арсений Аркадьевич Голенищев-Кутузов (1848 - 1913 is a Russian Poet known in part for writing Sunless ( Без солнца, Bez Solntsa, literally Without Sun) is a Song cycle by Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky, written in 1874 Songs and Dances of Death ( Песни и пляски смерти, Pesni i plyaski smerti) is a Song cycle for voice (usually bass or Bass-baritone

While alcoholism was Mussorgsky's personal weakness, it was also a behavior pattern considered typical for those of Mussorgsky's generation who wanted to oppose the establishment and protest through extreme forms of behavior. ^[16] One contemporary notes, "an intense worship of Bacchus was considered to be almost obligatory for a writer of that period. It was a showing off, a 'pose,' for the best people of the [eighteen-]sixties. " Another writes, "Talented people in Russia who love the simple folk cannot but drink. "^[17] Mussorgsky spent day and night in a Saint Petersburg tavern of low repute, the Maly Yaroslavets, accompanied by bohemian dropouts like himself. He and his fellow drinkers idealized their alcoholism, perhaps seeing it as ethical and aesthetic opposition. This bravado, however, led to little more than isolation and eventual self-destruction. ^[18]

For a time, however, Mussorgsky was able to maintain his creative output: his compositions from 1874 include Sunless, the Khovanschina Prelude, and the piano suite Pictures at an Exhibition (in memory of Hartmann); he also began work on another opera based on Gogol, Sorochintsy Fair (for which he produced another choral version of A Night on Bald Mountain). Pictures at an Exhibition (Картинки с выставки &ndash Воспоминание о Викторе Гартмане Kartinki s vystavki &ndash Vospominaniye A Night on the Bald Mountain usually refers to one of two compositions—either a seldom performed early (1867 ' musical picture ' by Modest Mussorgsky,

Grave of Modest Mussorgsky in the Tikhvin Cemetery of the Aleksandr Nevsky Monastery in Saint Petersburg. Tikhvin Cemetery (Тихвинское кладбище is located at the Alexander Nevsky Monastery, in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Alexander Nevsky Lavra or Alexander Nevsky Monastery was founded by Peter the Great in 1710 at the eastern end of the Nevsky Prospekt in

In the years that followed, Mussorgsky's decline became increasingly steep. Although now part of a new circle of eminent personages that included singers, medical men and actors, he was increasingly unable to resist drinking, and a succession of deaths among his closest associates caused him great pain. At times, however, his alcoholism would seem to be in check, and among the most powerful works composed during his last 6 years are the four Songs and Dances of Death. His civil service career was made more precarious by his frequent 'illnesses' and absences, and he was fortunate to obtain a transfer to a post (in the Office of Government Control) where his music-loving superior treated him with great leniency –in 1879 even allowing him to spend 3 months touring 12 cities as a singer's accompanist.

The decline could not be halted, however. In 1880 he was finally dismissed from government service. Aware of his destitution, one group of friends organised a stipend designed to support the completion of Khovanschina; another group organised a similar fund to pay him to complete Sorochintsy Fair. Sadly, however, neither work was completed (although Khovanschina, in piano score with only two numbers uncomposed, came close to being finished).

In early 1881 a desperate Mussorgsky declared to a friend that there was 'nothing left but begging', and suffered four seizures in rapid succession. Though he was found a comfortable room in a good hospital –and for several weeks even appeared to be rallying– the situation was hopeless. Repin painted the famous portrait in what were to be the last days of the composer's life: a week after his 42nd birthday, he was dead. Ilya Yefimovich Repin (Илья́ Ефи́мович Ре́пин Ілля Юхимович Рєпін ( Chuhuiv, Russian Empire (now in Ukraine He was interred at the Tikhvin Cemetery of the Alexander Nevsky Monastery in Saint Petersburg. Tikhvin Cemetery (Тихвинское кладбище is located at the Alexander Nevsky Monastery, in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Alexander Nevsky Lavra or Alexander Nevsky Monastery was founded by Peter the Great in 1710 at the eastern end of the Nevsky Prospekt in Saint Petersburg ( tr: Sankt-Peterburg,) is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River

Works

Main article: List of works by Modest Mussorgsky

Statue of Mussorgsky near his native village. « » = Composer's Original Language Titles = Unfinished Composition Stage Works «Эдип в Афинах» Oedipus in Athens

Mussorgsky's works, while strikingly novel, are stylistically Romantic and draw heavily on Russian musical themes. Romantic Music is a Musicological term referring to a particular period theory compositional practice and canon in European music history from about 1815 to 1910 He has been the inspiration for many Russian composers, including most notably Dmitri Shostakovich (in his late symphonies) and Sergei Prokofiev (in his operas). Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich ( Russian: ru Дмитрий Дмитриевич Шостакович ( &ndash 9 August 1975 was a Russian Composer Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev (Серге́й Серге́евич Проко́фьев Sergéj Sergéjevič Prokófjev) ( - 5 March 1953 was a Russian composer who In 1868/9 he composed the opera Boris Godunov, about the life of the Russian tsar, but it was rejected by the Mariinsky Opera. Boris Godunov ( Борис Годунов, original Orthography Борисъ Годуновъ, Borís Godunóv) is an Opera by Tsar csar and tzar redirect here For other uses see Tsar (disambiguation. The Mariinsky Theatre ( Мариинский театр, also spelled Maryinsky Theatre is a historic theatre of Opera and Ballet in Mussorgsky thus edited the work, making a final version in 1874. The early version is considered darker and more concise than the later version, but also more crude. Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov re-orchestrated the opera in 1896 and revised it in 1908. Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov ( Николай Андреевич Римский-Корсаков, Nikolaj Andreevič Rimskij-Korsakov) also Nikolay The opera has also been revised by other composers, notably Shostakovich, who made two versions, one for film and one for stage.

Khovanshchina a more obscure opera, was unfinished and unperformed when Mussorgsky died, but it was completed by Rimsky-Korsakov and received its premier in 1886 in Saint Petersburg. For the 1960 Soviet film based on this opera see Khovanshchina (film. Saint Petersburg ( tr: Sankt-Peterburg,) is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River This opera, too, was revised by Shostakovich. Another opera, Sorochintsy Fair, was left incomplete at his death, though a famous dance movement, the Gopak, is drawn therefrom.

One of Mussorgsky's wildest and most barbaric pieces (as the contemporary critics put it) is the orchestral work St. John's Night on the Bald Mountain, which was made famous in the US by its appearance in Disney's Fantasia. A Night on the Bald Mountain usually refers to one of two compositions—either a seldom performed early (1867 ' musical picture ' by Modest Mussorgsky, Walt Disney Pictures refers to several different entities associated with The Walt Disney Company: Walt Disney Pictures, the film banner was established Fantasia is a 1940 Animated film produced by Walt Disney, and is the third film in the Walt Disney Animated Classics.

His most imaginative and frequently performed work is the cycle of piano pieces describing paintings in sound called Pictures at an Exhibition. The piano is a Musical instrument played by means of a keyboard that produces sound by striking steel strings with Felt covered hammers Pictures at an Exhibition (Картинки с выставки &ndash Воспоминание о Викторе Гартмане Kartinki s vystavki &ndash Vospominaniye This composition, best known through an orchestral arrangement by Maurice Ravel, was written in commemoration of his friend, the architect Viktor Hartmann. Viktor Alexandrovich Hartmann ( Russian: Виктор Александрович Гартман 5 May 1834, St Petersburg - 4 August This piece also was made more famous than it already was by the British progressive rock trio Emerson, Lake & Palmer in their 1971 album of the same name, Pictures at an Exhibition. Emerson Lake & Palmer ( ELP) were an English Progressive rock supergroup. Pictures at an Exhibition is an album by British Progressive rock band Emerson Lake & Palmer, released in 1971 as a live album and re-released Among his other works are a number of songs, including three song cycles: The Nursery (1872), Sunless (1874) and Songs and Dances of Death (1877). A song is a Musical composition. Songs contain vocal parts that are performed 'sung' and generally feature Words ( Lyrics) commonly followed Song cycles in classical music The first generally accepted example of a song cycle is Ludwig van Beethoven 's An die ferne Geliebte (1816 The Nursery ( Детская, Detskaya, literally Children's '' is a Song cycle by Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky, composed between 1868 and Year 1872 ( MDCCCLXXII) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Leap year Sunless ( Без солнца, Bez Solntsa, literally Without Sun) is a Song cycle by Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky, written in 1874 Year 1874 ( MDCCCLXXIV) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Songs and Dances of Death ( Песни и пляски смерти, Pesni i plyaski smerti) is a Song cycle for voice (usually bass or Bass-baritone Year 1877 ( MDCCCLXXVII) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common

Gallery

1865

1874

1876

1876

Quotes

By Mussorgsky

From a letter to Vladimir Stasov

"Life, wherever it reveals itself; truth, no matter how bitter; bold, sincere speech with people–these are my leaven, these are what I want, this is where I am afraid of missing the mark. Vladimir Vasilievich Stasov (Russian Владимир Васильевич Стасов January 14 1824 &ndash October 24 1906) son of "

From an autobiographical sketch:

"Art is a means of communicating with people, and not an aim in itself. This guiding principle has defined the whole of his [i. e. , my] creative activity. Proceeding from the conviction that human speech is strictly controlled by musical laws (Virchow, Gervinus), he considers the function of art to be the reproduction in musical sounds not merely of feelings, but first and foremost of human speech. Rudolf Ludwig Karl Virchow ( 13 October 1821 &ndash 5 September 1902) was a German doctor, anthropologist, public health Georg Gottfried Gervinus ( May 20, 1805 &ndash March 18, 1871) was a German literary and political Historian. "

About Mussorgsky

An early (1863) opinion by Stasov, later Mussorgsky's staunchest supporter, in a letter to Balakirev:

"I have no use whatever for Mussorgsky. All in him is flabby and dull. He is, I think, a perfect idiot. Were he left to his own devices and no longer under your strict supervision, he would soon run to seed as all the others have done. There is nothing in him. "

Balakirev's reply to the above assessment:

"Yes, Mussorgsky is little short of an idiot. "

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, on Mussorgsky's manuscripts:

"They were very defective, teeming with clumsy, disconnected harmonies, shocking part-writing, amazingly illogical modulations or intolerably long stretches without ever a modulation, and bad scoring. Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov ( Николай Андреевич Римский-Корсаков, Nikolaj Andreevič Rimskij-Korsakov) also Nikolay . . . what is needed is an edition for practical and artistic purposes, suitable for performances and for those who wish to admire Mussorgsky's genius, not to study his idiosyncrasies and sins against art. "

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, in a letter to his patroness, Nadezhda von Meck:

"Mussorgsky you very rightly call a hopeless case. Nadezhda Filaretovna von Meck (Надежда Филаретовна фон Мекк ( -) was the wealthy Russian widow of a Russian railway tycoon Karl von Meck In talent he is perhaps superior to all the [other members of The Five], but his nature is narrow-minded, devoid of any urge towards self-perfection, blindly believing in the ridiculous theories of his circle and in his own genius. In addition, he has a certain base side to his nature which likes coarseness, uncouthness, roughness. . . . He flaunts . . . his illiteracy, takes pride in his ignorance, mucks along anyhow, blindly believing in the infallibility of his genius. Yet he has flashes of talent which are, moreover, not devoid of originality.

Anatoly Lyadov:

"It is easy enough to correct Mussorgsky's irregularities. Anatoly Konstantinovich Lyadov or Liadov (Анатолий Константинович Лядов ( May 11 (old style April 29) 1855 St Petersburg - The only trouble is that when this is done, the character and originality of the music are done away with, and the composer's individuality vanishes. "

Edward Dannreuther, in an early (1905) edition of The Oxford History of Music:

"Mussorgsky, in his vocal efforts, appears willfully eccentric. Edward Dannreuther ( 4 November 1844 &ndash 12 February 1905) was a German pianist and writer on music resident from 1863 in His style impresses the Western ear as barbarously ugly. "

Gerald Abraham, musicologist, an authority on Mussorgsky:

"As a musical translator of words and all that can be expressed in words, of psychological states, and even physical movement, he is unsurpassed; as an absolute musician he was hopelessly limited, with remarkably little ability to construct pure music or even a purely musical texture. Gerald Ernest Heal Abraham, CBE, FBA ( 9 March 1904 - 18 March 1988) was an English musicologist he was President "

Media

See Pictures at an Exhibition for an orchestral version of the work. Pictures at an Exhibition (Картинки с выставки &ndash Воспоминание о Викторе Гартмане Kartinki s vystavki &ndash Vospominaniye

References

Sources

• Brown, David, Mussorgsky: His Life and Works (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2002). ISBN 0-19-816587-0.

External links

• Mussorgsky's Complete Piano WorksFree Public Domain Scores in PDF
• www.kreusch-sheet-music.net – Free Scores by Mussorgsky
• Free scores by Modest Mussorgsky in the Werner Icking Music Archive (WIMA)
• Mussorgsky was listed in the International Music Score Library Project
• Tableaux d'une exposition Transcription pour contrebasse seule par Mauricio ROMERO
• Turgenev and Mussorgsky (with music samples)