Modest Mussorgsky was a Russian composer during the Romantic period who sought to create specifically Russian art music. He felt that Russia's intellectual class oppressed the people and tried to convey similar moods of oppression through his music. Some of his most notable works include the operas Boris Godunov and Khovanshchina, and the song cycle Pictures at an Exhibition. Mussorgsky believed music should be a realistic representation of culture rather than just beautiful sounds.

1. Modest Mussorgsky
By
Christopher Dempsey

2. •Modest Mussorgsky was an innovative Russian nationalistic
composer during the romantic period.
•His goal was to produce a specifically Russian type of art
music.
•He felt that Russia’s intellectual class took free will away
from the people of Russia and he worked to convey similar
feelings of oppressive moods through his music.
•He rejected creating beautiful music for the sake of beauty,
but strived for beauty in realistic representation.

3. Summary of Mussorgsky’s Work
•Operas: Boris Godunov, and Khovanshchina
•Three Song Cycles: Sunless, The Nursery, and Songs and
Dances of Death.
•Many Art Songs
•Several Character Pieces, including The Programmatic Suite
of Character Pieces—Pictures at an Exhibition.

4. Beginnings
•Born on 09 March 1839 in Karevo, Russia to a wealthy family.
•His mother taught him at an early age and he was a proficient
pianist by age seven.
•In 1849 his father moved him to St. Petersburg to prepare for a
military career. He was entrusted to the future professor of music at
the St. Petersburg Conservatory.
•During his military career he composed and published work.
•He became part of a group of composers referred to as “The Five.”

5. Mussorgsky’s Nationalistic Music Conception
•Mussorgsky states in a letter that, “the artistic representation
of mere beauty, in its material sense, is something coarse and
childish—it is the stage of infancy in art.” He believed that he
should not try to make music for artistic beauty, but to make
music as an accurate representation culture and human
nature.
• Detskaya ( The Nursery) demonstrates his full
conceptualization.
•Yet, he still made beautiful art music by conventional
standards such as the overture in Khovanschins, “Dawn Over
the Moscow River” and the “Love Duet” in act three of his
opera, Boris Godunov.

6. Detskaya (The Nursery)
No. 4.,“With The Doll”
•Detskaya is one of Mussorgsky’s song cycles
• He wrote the accompanying lyrics and this work
is considered to be the full conceptualization of
his own unique style.
•Song No. 4 “With the Doll,” accompanies this
slide.

7. Khovanshchina
Overture: “Dawn Over The Moscow River”

8. Boris Godunov
Polish Act: “Love Duet”
Demitrij Marina

9. Contrasting with the rest of the opera, the “Love Duet,” is
considered conventionally beautiful. Yet, Mussorgsky remains loyal to
exploring human nature through the creation of music. The words
demonstrate fear of betrayal, doubt, deception, fear of humiliation
and forgiveness.
As Mussorgsky wrote in a letter revealing his compositional
techniques:
I am taking note of all these characteristic peasant women and
men—this may come in handy for my future works. How many
fresh aspects there are in the nature of the Russian people that
have not yet been touched by art! How many! And what rich and
splendid ones they are!...
Boris Godunov
“Love Duet”

10. Works Cited
•Sundkvist, Luis. “Turgenev and Mussorgsky.”
turgenevmusica.info. 12 September 2010. Web. 20 April
2014.
•Green, Aaron. “Modest Mussorgsky.”
classicalmusic.about.com. Web. 20 April 2014.
•Encyclopedia Britannica. “Modest Mussorgsky (Russian
Composer).” britannica.com. 14 April 2014. Web. 20 April
2014.