Modest Mussorgsky
Member of 'The Five' Nationalist Russian composers, and Pianist
Brief biography of innovative Russian composer and pianist Modest Mussorgsky, famous for 'Pictures at an Exhibition' and opera Boris Godunov.
Russian composer and pianist Modest Mussorgsky (1839-1881) was born in Kraevo, in north Russia, March 21, the son of a landowner. He studied piano as a child but often rebelled against his teachers. At 9 years old, he brilliantly performed a piano concerto by composer John Field.
Originally meant for the army, aged 10, he entered the military academy at St Petersburg, and joined as cadet officer at the Guards Regiment, however, continued to study music and composition.
When he was 18, he began music lessons from Mily Balakirev, a fellow member of 'The Five' (or 'The Mighty Handful'), a 19th-century's group of nationalist Russian composers including Borodin, Rimsky-Korsakov and Cui. They were inspired by Mikhail Glinka, the father of the Russian nationalist tradition in music. Together, 'The Five' created the 'nationalist' school of Russian music.
Mussorgsky resigned from the army commission in 1858. Few years later, aged 25, the Russian liberation of the serfs impoverished Mussorgsky's family. Losing their fortune, he was forced to take a job back in the civil service. Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov offered to share a room with him.
A habit that eventually killed Mussorgsky was his heavy drinking. At 26, he had his first attack of delirium tremens.
He toured Russia playing piano for singer Darya Leonova. In 1880 he resigned from the civil service. A year later, he suffered fits from alcohol abuse and was committed to a military hospital in St. Petersburg where his portrait was painted by Ilya Repin. His operas were not well received, his drinking increased.
Mussorgsky died on March 28 1881. Although he enjoyed some recognition and fame as composer of operaBoris Godunov and as a pianist, most of his work was posthumously published, either revised or completed by Rimsky-Korsakov.
His most famous work is 'Pictures at an Exhibition' which was inspired by a posthumous exhibition of painting by Mussorgsky's friend Victor Harmann. Each piece is a masterpiece of descriptive music. Originally written for the piano, the work is best known n Ravel's brilliant orchestral version.
The genius of Modest Mussorgsky was recognized by later composers of the early part of the 20th century including Debussy, Ravel and Stravinsky.
Modest Mussorgsky's major works:
- Orchestral, 'St John's Night on the Bare Mountain' (later revised by Rimsky-Korsakov and Mussorgsky) 1867
- Song, 'Gathering Mushrooms' 1867
- Song cycle, 'The Nursery' 1870
- Opera, Boris Godunov 1874 (later revised by Rimsky-Korsakov)
- Orchestral, 'Pictures at an Exhibition', for piano (orchestrated later by Ravel) 1874
- Song cycle, Songs and Dances of Death 1875
- 'The song of the Flea' 1879
- Opera, Khovanshcchina (completed by Rimsky-Korsakov) 1880
- Opera, Sorochintsky Fair (completed by Anatol Lyadov) 1880
Recommended Work:
Opera, Boris Godunov
Orchestral, 'Pictures at an Exhibition'
Sources:
The Grove concise Dictionary of Music, edited by Stanley Sadie, Macmillan (1994)
The Oxford Dictionary of Music, edited by Michael Kennedy, OUP (1994)
