Modest Mussorgsky (mo-dest   moo-SORG-skee)

Born March 21, 1839 in Karevo, Russia

Died March 28, 1881

Nationality: Russian
Period/Style: Romantic

About the composer:

Modest Mussorgsky loved hearing the folk songs of his country. Even before he began taking piano lessons, he made up tunes at the piano based on folk tunes he knew.  He went to school in St. Petersburg and took piano lessons there. He entered the Cadet School of the Guards in St. Petersburg in 1852, and while he was there he sang in the school choir and showed an interest in history.  He began writing music while he was in school, and later took composition lessons from some of Russia’s leading composers.  His main interest was opera, and he wrote two of them. He joined a group of Russian composers called “The Five” who wanted to create and promote a kind of music that was distinctly Russian.  His music was not well-liked during his lifetime, and he became a very sad man. He lived for many years in poverty, and died from alcohol poisoning in 1881, just a week after his 42^nd birthday. The composition he is most famous for today is “Pictures at an Exhibition.”

About the music:

Pictures at an Exhibition (excerpts)

This began as a collection of piano pieces describing paintings in sound.  It was a very creative and imaginative work, and when you read the titles of the different sections you can almost imagine the pictures he’s trying to portray.  Maurice Ravel (a French composer) orchestrated this piano music so that a large symphony orchestra could play it.  Other composers also orchestrated it in their own way, but Ravel’s is the one most often performed today.  Listen to the titles of the movements you’re about to hear, and try to see those pictures in your mind as you listen to the music.

Suggested activity:

Draw your own pictures as you listen to this music. They don’t have to be what the title suggests.  Just draw what the music makes you think of.