Pictures at an Exhibition

About the Composer

Modest Mussorgsky (1839–1881) was a Russian composer renowned for his raw, innovative style and a key member of “The Five,” a group dedicated to forging a distinct national identity in Russian music. Born into a wealthy landowning family, he was groomed for a military career, joining the prestigious Preobrazhensky Regiment. However, a growing passion for music led him to resign his commission in 1858 to pursue composition, despite having no formal training.

His life was marked by creative brilliance intertwined with personal struggle. Plagued by alcoholism and deep emotional turmoil, he produced works of startling originality, often drawing from Russian history, folklore, and the realities of peasant life. His masterpiece, the opera *Boris Godunov*, was initially rejected for its unconventional structure but later triumphed. Other key works include the tone poem *Night on Bald Mountain* and the piano suite *Pictures at an Exhibition*.

Plagued by alcoholism and poverty, his career was erratic. He died at just 42 from a combination of health issues, leaving many works unfinished. Though his output was relatively small and often criticized for technical roughness, Mussorgsky’s profound psychological insight and bold, unpolished realism exerted a powerful influence on later composers, securing his legacy as a uniquely original voice.

Pictures at an Exhibition

The piece was originally written for Piano in 1874. It is a musical depiction of walking through a gallery featuring 10 paintings of Viktor Hartmann, with an intervening Promenade theme (as one walks between the paintings).

Many composers have arranged and orchestrated this work, but the most famous, and the one we are performing, is by Maurice Ravel, who was commisioned by Serge Koussevitzky in 1930. Due to time constraints we are only playing the following movements:

• Promenade

• The Old Castle

• Catacombs/With the Dead in a Dead Language

• The Hut on Hen's Legs (Baba Yaga)

  

• The Great Gates of Kiev