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

Edmund von Wörndle (1827 - 1906)
Edmund von Wörndle
1827 - 1906
Alfons Maria Mucha (1860 - 1939)
Alfons Maria Mucha
1860 - 1939
Carl August Sommer (1829 - 1894)
Carl August Sommer
1829 - 1894
Peter Kornbeck (1837 - 1894)
Peter Kornbeck
1837 - 1894
Johann Heinrich Luttringshausen (1783 - 1857)
Johann Heinrich Luttringshausen
1783 - 1857
Otto Clemens Fikentscher the Elder (1831 - 1880)
Otto Clemens Fikentscher the Elder
1831 - 1880
Imogen Cunningham (1883 - 1976)
Imogen Cunningham
1883 - 1976
John Banvard (1815 - 1891)
John Banvard
1815 - 1891
Johann Joachim Faber (1778 - 1846)
Johann Joachim Faber
1778 - 1846
Kharlampi Dmitrievich Kostandi (1860 - 1917)
Kharlampi Dmitrievich Kostandi
1860 - 1917
David Wilkie (1785 - 1841)
David Wilkie
1785 - 1841
Thérèse Schwartze (1851 - 1918)
Thérèse Schwartze
1851 - 1918
Balthasar Wiegand (1770 - 1846)
Balthasar Wiegand
1770 - 1846
Aloysius Bertrand (1807 - 1841)
Aloysius Bertrand
1807 - 1841
Louis Boulanger (1806 - 1867)
Louis Boulanger
1806 - 1867
Valeriano Dominguez Becker (1833 - 1870)
Valeriano Dominguez Becker
1833 - 1870
× Create a Search Subscription