Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky Born March 21 1839 in

Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky

§ Born March 21, 1839 in Saint Petersburg § Wealthy family § Played piano from a young age and wrote his first piano piece and age 12 § Graduated from “The Cadet School” in 1856 § Suffered from alcoholism § Moved toward writing about realism § Suffered an early death in march 28, 1881

§ Nationalistic composer § Inspired by his home land § Completed one opera titled Boris Godunov § The opera was not well received at first due to the fact it lacked a primma donna § Other operas, Khovanshchina and Sorochintsï Fair, were left unfinished upon his death § Wrote many works for piano, as well as instrumental works § http: //www. youtube. com/w atch? v=Ane. ABJXRym 8

§ Perhaps Mussorgsky’s best known piece § Instrumental work § Program music § depicts witches and demons gathering on top of a mountain § Full of dissonant sounds § Nothing this bold had been heard before § Mostly in a minor key § http: //www. youtube. com /watch? v=i. CEDf. Zg. DPS 8

§ Mussorgsky’s only finished opera § Forced to make revisions to it at first for it to be played § Finished product was well received § One of his most popular works § Uniquely nationalistic § Shows Russia’s decent into anarchy in the early 17 th century § Aria is not sung by a woman, which was unusual § Music tended to have a thick texture to it, many voiced

§ Died young § Had a problem with alcoholism § Didn’t have a lot of money upon death § Best remembered for Boris Godunov and his instrumental works § Paved the way for musicians to experiment with unusual sounds, such as were found in Night on Bald Mountain

§ http: //www. operafolio. com/comp oser. asp? n=Mussorgsky § http: //www. classical. net/music/co mp. lst/mussorgsky. php § http: //suite 101. com/article/musso rgskys-boris-godunov-a 53852