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In-Depth Information
Mussorgsky, Modest Petrovich
(1839-1881)
composer
One of the most original and influential of Rus-
sia's 19th-century nationalist composers, known
for his operas and song cycles, Mussorgsky was
born in Karevo and trained at a military academy
in St. Petersburg. Although he was destined for a
career as a guards officer, his life was changed by
an encounter with the Russian nationalist com-
poser Aleksandr Dargomyzhsky in 1857. Through
him, Mussorgsky joined a circle of young nation-
alist composers, later known as the
MIGHTY HAND
-
FUL
, (Moguchaia kuchka) or Mighty Five. The
following year, he resigned his military commis-
sion, intending to devote himself to music. Like
three other members of the Five, Mussorgsky
had no real training in music, except for some
basic instruction he received from Mily Balakirev,
the fifth member of the group. That he was self-
taught makes his considerable musical achieve-
ments all the more remarkable. Unable to make
a living only as a composer, Mussorgsky entered
the civil service in 1863. His first work to gain
public attention was the symphonic poem
Night
on Bald Mountain,
first performed in 1867. The
following year he completed the opera
Boris God-
unov,
considered to be his masterpiece. However,
it was not performed in public until 1874. Other
works followed, notably the piano suite
Pictures
at an Exhibition,
which he wrote in 1874 for his
recently deceased friend, the architect Victor
Hartmann. In his lifetime Mussorgsky's work, full
of bold nationalist themes, relying on folk music
and dramatic choirs, was rarely performed as
originally written. Other performers rearranged
it, sweetening or diluting its original impact for
the audiences of the day. At his untimely death at
the age of 42, Mussorgsky left several important
works unfinished, among them the operas
Kho-
vanshchina
and
The Fair at Sorochinsk.
He was for-
tunate that his friends and long-time colleagues
from the Five,
RIMSKY
-
KORSAKOV
and Cesar Cui,
respectively, took it upon themselves to complete
the two operas. Mussorgsky's reputation contin-
ued to grow with the reorchestration of
Boris
Godunov
by Rimsky-Korsakov in 1896 and
orchestration of
Pictures at an Exhibition
by the
French composer Maurice Ravel in 1922. For
many years only these reorchestrations were
known by the wider listening public. And only in
the latter half of the 20th century did performers
stage Mussorgsky's work in full and as he had
originally intended.
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