In memory of the deceased illustrator and architect Viktor A. Hartmann (1834–1873), an exhibition of his watercolours and drawings was organised in 1874. Modest Mussorgsky, who had been Hartmann’s friend, was inspired by his visit to this exhibition to compose the cycle “Pictures at an Exhibition” for piano solo; a milestone of piano literature. He wrote it in June 1874 in St. Petersburg and subtitled it “Memories of Viktor Hartmann”. The picturesque and evocative musical language, which lets the pictures come to life, has remained fascinating to the present day. The source of the Henle Urtext edition is the cleanly written autograph. The layout of the musical text is based on Mussorgsky’s notation.
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The cycle “Pictures at an Exhibition” (“Kartinki ss vïstavki”), by Modest Musorgsky (1839 –1881), is the composer’s only unquestionably significant work for the piano. Musorgsky was inspired to create this masterpiece by a posthumous exhibition, held in 1874, of paintings and drawings by the architect and illustrator Victor Hartmann (1842 –1873). Musorgsky … 계속
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Modest Mussorgskij
With Boris Godunov he created the Russian historical opera, but gained fame and renown only after his death.
1839 | Born in Karevo on March 21, the son of a wealthy landowner. At age six, music lessons with his mother. |
1849 | Attends the Peter School in St. Petersburg, studies piano with Anton Herke. |
from 1852 | Preparation for his career as an officer. |
1856/57 | Acquaintance with Dargomyzhsky, then with Cui, Balakirev, and Stasov. |
1859 | He joins together with Mily Balakirev and then dedicates himself foremost to music. |
1863 | He is forced for financial reasons to accept a four-year position with the military. |
1863–66 | First attempt at composing an opera, “Salammbô,” after Gustave Flaubert. |
1868 | Second attempt at an operatic composition, “The Marriage,” after Nikolai Gogol, under the influence of Dargomyzhsky’s opéra dialogué “The Stone Guest,” which in eschewing arias, ensembles, and choruses is seen as a new, original form of Russian music theater. |
1868–72 | Song cycle, “The Nursery.” |
1869–78 | Position at the Ministry of State Property. |
1872 | Work on the ballet-opera “Mlada” (in collaboration with other composers) broken off prematurely. |
1874 | Performance in St. Petersburg of the second version of “Boris Godunov” (first version in 1869). “Pictures at an Exhibition” for piano, after pictures by the painter V. Hartmann. |
1881 | Death in St. Petersburg on March 28. The unfinished operas “Khovanshchina” and “ Sorochyntsi Fair” are completed by A. Lyadov, V. Karatygin, and C. Cui, among others, and exist today in multiple versions. |