Born:
March 21, 1839; Karevo, Russian Empire
Died:
March 28, 1881; Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire
Nationality:
Russian
Occupation: Composer
Modest Mussorgsky was a Russian composer who was born on March 21, 1839 and died on March 28, 1881. He was one of the group of five composers (Mily Balakirev, César Cui, Modest Mussorgsky, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Alexander Borodin) known as "The Five.”
 |
| The Five |
He was an innovator of Russian music in the Romantic era and tried to
establish a unique Russian musical identity, often challenging the established
conventions of Western music.
Many of his works were inspired by
Russian history, Russian folklore and other Russian-related themes, such as the
opera "Boris Godunov", the orchestral tone poem "Night on Bald
Mountain" and the piano suite "Pictures at an Exhibition".
 |
| Young Mussorgsky |
Over the years, Mussorgsky's works were primarily known as versions revised or completed by other composers, and many of them posthumously appeared as original forms. He has inspired many Russian composers, including Dmitri Shostakovich and Sergei Prokofiev.
 |
| Modest Mussorgsky (c.1870) |
His opera "Boris
Godunov", about the life of the Russian tsar, was initially rejected by
the Mariinsky Opera, and thus Mussorgsky edited it and made a final version in
1874. Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov revised this piece in 1908, and in particular
Shostakovich revised it into two versions for film and stage.
 |
The death of Boris in the Faceted Palace from the premiere production (1874) |
His opera "Khovanshchina" was unfinished and unperformed at the time of Mussorgsky's death, but Rimsky-Korsakov completed it and premiered in Saint Petersburg in 1886.
 |
| Scene design for Khovanshchina (1897) |
His
another opera, "The Fair at Sorochyntsi" was left unfinished due to
his death, but the "Hopak" included in this piece is frequently
performed.
 |
| Hopak by Military Ukrainian Dance Ensemble |
Mussorgsky's most imaginative and
frequently performed work is the "Pictures at an Exhibition", a piano
suite describing paintings in sound. Best known through an orchestral arrangement
by Maurice Ravel, this piece was written in commemoration of his friend, the
architect and painter Viktor Hartmann.
 |
| Monument, Karevo, Pskov Oblast |
Mussorgsky's orchestral work "Night on Bald Mountain" gained broad popularity when it was featured in Walt Disney’s animated film “Fantasia” in 1940.
 |
| "Fantasia" Movie Poster |
Thank you.
 |
| Grave of Modest Mussorgsky |
No comments:
Post a Comment