Modest Musorgskii (1839 - 1881)

Modest Musorgskii (1839 - 1881) - photo 1

Modest Musorgskii

Modest Petrovich Musorgskii (russian: Модест Петрович Мусоргский) was a Russian composer and pianist.

Born into an old Russian noble family, Modest was trained on the piano from an early age, then served as an officer in the Life Guards of the Preobrazhensky Regiment. In 1856-57 Mussorgsky became acquainted with the composer Alexander Borodin, and later with Alexander Dargomyzhsky, Cesar Cui, Mili Balakirev and the music critic Vladimir Stasov. Together they formed a friendly community that became known as the Mighty Handful.

In 1858, Musorgskii left military service and took up only music. Later, however, for the sake of earning money, he was forced to enter the civil service and work in various official positions. In music he tried for a long time to find his own style, experimented a lot, took on different genres. He composed piano and orchestral works, many satirical romances, vocal pictures and songs with vivid characters. Musorgskii's symphonic work Intermezzo (1861) and fantasy Night on Bald Mountain, the cycle of pieces Pictures at an Exhibition, written for piano in 1874 as musical illustrations to Victor Hartmann's watercolors, and the vocal cycle Children's, which included seven pieces, are widely known and often performed.

Musorgskii gradually became popular in Russia and abroad. The pinnacle of Musorgskii's work in the 1860s was his opera Boris Godunov, based on Alexander Pushkin's drama, staged at the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg in 1874. In 1872 he almost completed his last opera, Khovanshchina; Sorochinskaya Yarmarka and several other operas remained unfinished.

After Musorgskii's death, his friend the composer Rimsky-Korsakov decided to put all his works in order and publish them. He made many changes to the melodic and harmonic order of the compositions completed by the author, including Boris Godunov.

Date and place of birt:21 march 1839, Karevo, Russian Empire
Date and place of death:28 march 1881, St. Petersburg, Russian Empire
Period of activity: XIX century
Specialization:Composer
Art style:Romanticism

Creators Romanticism

Ole Hansen (XIX century - ?)
Ole Hansen
XIX century - ?
Johann Georg Trautmann (1713 - 1769)
Johann Georg Trautmann
1713 - 1769
Sophie de Ségur (1799 - 1874)
Sophie de Ségur
1799 - 1874
Achille Vianelli (1803 - 1894)
Achille Vianelli
1803 - 1894
John Warwick Smith (1749 - 1831)
John Warwick Smith
1749 - 1831
Jane Benham Hay (1829)
Jane Benham Hay
1829
Hermann Plathner (1831 - 1902)
Hermann Plathner
1831 - 1902
Gustave Doré (1832 - 1883)
Gustave Doré
1832 - 1883
Clinton Loveridge (1824 - 1902)
Clinton Loveridge
1824 - 1902
Henry Thomas Alken (1785 - 1851)
Henry Thomas Alken
1785 - 1851
Josef Rolf Knobloch (1891 - 1964)
Josef Rolf Knobloch
1891 - 1964
Franz Schmid (1796 - 1851)
Franz Schmid
1796 - 1851
Friedrich Ortlieb (1839 - 1909)
Friedrich Ortlieb
1839 - 1909
Joshua Shaw (1776 - 1860)
Joshua Shaw
1776 - 1860
Anders Monsen Askevold (1834 - 1900)
Anders Monsen Askevold
1834 - 1900
Louis Catoir (1792 - 1841)
Louis Catoir
1792 - 1841