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

Anthonie Waldorp (1803 - 1866)
Anthonie Waldorp
1803 - 1866
Cristóbal Rojas (1858 - 1890)
Cristóbal Rojas
1858 - 1890
August Weber (1817 - 1873)
August Weber
1817 - 1873
Caspar Scheuren (1810 - 1887)
Caspar Scheuren
1810 - 1887
Jane Benham Hay (1829)
Jane Benham Hay
1829
Rudolf Karl Gottfried Geißler (1834 - 1906)
Rudolf Karl Gottfried Geißler
1834 - 1906
Karl Ivanovich Rabus (1800 - 1857)
Karl Ivanovich Rabus
1800 - 1857
James Sillett (1764 - 1840)
James Sillett
1764 - 1840
Nicolas Toussaint Charlet (1792 - 1845)
Nicolas Toussaint Charlet
1792 - 1845
Johann Christoph Nabholz (1752 - 1797)
Johann Christoph Nabholz
1752 - 1797
Mary Shelley (1797 - 1851)
Mary Shelley
1797 - 1851
Maria Charlotte Witt (XIX century - ?)
Maria Charlotte Witt
XIX century - ?
Jakob Emanuel Handmann (1718 - 1781)
Jakob Emanuel Handmann
1718 - 1781
Egide Linnig (1821 - 1860)
Egide Linnig
1821 - 1860
Jules Laurens (1825 - 1901)
Jules Laurens
1825 - 1901
Francesco Peluso (1836 - 1916)
Francesco Peluso
1836 - 1916
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