Modest Mussorgsky

Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky (Russian: ??????? ????????? ???????????) (March 21, 1839 – March 28, 1881; sometimes spelled Modeste Moussorgsky), was an innovative Russian composer famed for his colourful, exotic, and lush orchestral pieces dedicated to various subjects of medieval Russian history. His major works include the great national opera, Boris Godunov, and the piano suite called Pictures at an Exhibition.

Works

The striking novelty of Mussorgsky's original compositions had not been rediscovered until the mid-20th century, when Dmitri Shostakovich reorchestrated his two operas on Muscovite history, Boris Godunov and Khovanshchina.

Related Topics:
Dmitri Shostakovich - Opera - Boris Godunov - Khovanshchina

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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 Bare Mountain, which was made famous in the US by its appearance in Disney's Fantasia.

Related Topics:
St. John's Night on the Bare Mountain - Disney - ''Fantasia''

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His most imaginative and frequently performed work is the cycle of piano pieces describing paintings in sound called Pictures at an Exhibition. This composition, best known through an orchestral arrangement by Maurice Ravel, was written in commemoration of his friend, the architect Viktor Hartmann.

Related Topics:
Piano - Pictures at an Exhibition - Maurice Ravel - Viktor Hartmann

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Mussorgsky left another opera, Sorochintsy Fair, incomplete at his death. However, a famous dance movement, the Hopak, is drawn therefrom.

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Among his other works are a number of songs, including three song cycles: The Nursery (1872), Sunless (1874) and Songs & Dances of Death (1877).

Related Topics:
Song - Song cycles - The Nursery - 1872 - Sunless - 1874 - Songs & Dances of Death - 1877

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