Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky
One of the special members of the "Mighty Handful" was Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky. The ideological embodiment of reflections, he became the brightest composer from the whole company. And, in general, justified.
His father came from an old noble family of the Mussorgskys, and until the age of ten, Modest and his older brother Filaret received a very worthy education. The Mussorgskys had their own history. They, in turn, came from the princes of Smolensk, the Monastyrev family. Just one of the Monastyrevs, Roman Vasilievich Monastyrev, bore the nickname Mussorg. It was he who became the ancestor of the Mussorgskys. In turn, the noble family of the Sapogovs is also an offshoot of the Mussorgskys.
But it was a long time ago. And Modest himself was born on the estate of a not-so-rich landowner. It happened on March 21, 1839, in the Pskov region.
So, back to his biography. Starting at the age of six, his mother took charge of her son's musical education. And then, in 1849, he entered the Peter and Paul School, which is located in St. Petersburg. Three years later, he moved to the School of Guards Ensigns. At that time, Modest combined his studies at the School with his studies with the pianist Gercke. Around the same time, Mussorgsky's first work was published. It was a piano polka called "Ensign".
Approximately in the years of his studies, that is, 1856-57. he met Stasov and all the ensuing consequences for Russian classical music as well. It was under the guidance of Balakirev that Mussorgsky began serious studies in composition. Then he decided to devote himself to music.
For this reason, in 1858, he retired from military service. At that time, Mussorgsky wrote many romances, as well as instrumental works, in which even then his individualism began to manifest itself. For example, his unfinished opera Salammbô, inspired by Flaubert's novel of the same name, abounded in the drama of popular scenes.
For the time being described, he was a brilliantly educated young officer. He had a beautiful baritone voice and played the piano beautifully.
Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky - composer from "The Mighty Handful" True, in the mid-sixties he became more of a realist artist. In addition, some of his works became especially close to the spirit of the revolutionaries of those times. And in such works of his as “Calistrat”, “Eryomushka's Lullaby”, “Sleep, sleep, peasant son”, “Orphan”, “Seminarian”, he began to show himself especially clearly as a talented writer of everyday life. And what is it worth, staged based on folk tales, “Night on Bald Mountain” ?!
Mussorgsky did not shy away from experimental genres. For example, in 1868, he completed work on an opera based on Gogol's The Marriage. There he diligently translated live conversational intonation into music.
During these years, Modest Petrovich seemed to develop. The fact is that one of his greatest works was the opera Boris Godunov. He wrote this opera based on the works of Pushkin, and after some revision it was presented at the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg. What changes have been made? It was simply reduced, and quite significantly.
Then the composer also worked on an impressive "folk musical drama", in which he spoke about the archery riots of the late seventeenth century. His inspirations remain the same. For example, the idea of "Khovanshchina" was suggested to him by Stasov.
At the same time, he writes the cycles “Without the Sun”, “Songs and Dances of Death” and other works, according to which it becomes clear: the composer is not in the mood for jokes now. Indeed, in the last years of his life, Mussorgsky suffered greatly from depression. However, this depression had its own, very real reasons: his work remained unrecognized, in everyday life and in material terms, he did not cease to experience difficulties. And besides, he was lonely. In the end, he died a poor man in the Nikolaev soldier's hospital, and other composers from "", such as, for example, completed his unfinished works for him.
How did it happen that he wrote so slowly, unproductively, and in general, what the hell broke his life?!
The answer is simple: alcohol. He treated his nervous tension with them, as a result, he slipped into alcoholism, and somehow recognition did not come. He thought too much, composed, and then erased everything and wrote down the finished music from scratch. He did not like all kinds of sketches, sketches and drafts. That's why it worked so slowly.
When he retired from the forestry department, he could only rely on the financial assistance of his friends, and on his own some, very random, earnings. And he drank. Yes, and he ended up in the hospital after an attack of delirium tremens.
And time heals all wounds. Now a bus stop towers over the grave of one of the greatest Russian composers. And what we know as the place of his burial is in fact only a transferred monument. Lived alone and died alone. This is the lot of true talent in our country.
Mussorgsky was born on March 9 (21), 1839 in the estate of his parents in the village of Karevo, Toropetsk district of the Pskov province. His father came from an old noble family of Mussorgskys, who traced their origin to Rurik. Until the age of 10, Modest and his brother Eugene were educated at home. In 1849, having moved to St. Petersburg, the brothers entered the German school Petrishule. A few years later, without graduating from college, Modest was sent to study at the School of Guards ensigns, which he graduated in 1856. Then Mussorgsky briefly served in the Life Guards Preobrazhensky Regiment, then in the main engineering department, in the Ministry of State Property and in state control.
The musical circle of Balakirev had a great influence on the creative development of Mussorgsky. Balakirev forced Mussorgsky to pay serious attention to musical studies. Under his guidance, Mussorgsky read orchestral scores, got acquainted with the analysis of musical works and their critical evaluation.
Mussorgsky studied piano with Anton Gercke and became a good pianist. Although Mussorgsky did not study singing, he had a rather beautiful baritone voice and was a good performer of vocal music. As early as 1852, Mussorgsky's piano piece was published by the Bernard firm in St. Petersburg. In 1858, Mussorgsky wrote two scherzos, of which one was instrumented by him for orchestra and in 1860 performed in a concert of the Russian Musical Society, conducted by A. G. Rubinshtein.
After writing several romances, Mussorgsky set to work on the music for Sophocles' tragedy Oedipus; the work was not completed, and only one choir from the music for Oedipus, performed in a concert by K. N. Lyadov in 1861, was published among the composer's posthumous works. Mussorgsky first chose Flaubert's novel Salammbô for opera adaptation, but soon left this work unfinished, as well as an attempt to write music for the plot of Gogol's The Marriage.
Mussorgsky's fame was brought by the opera Boris Godunov, staged at the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg in 1874. The second edition of the opera was staged, significantly altered dramaturgically after the theater's repertoire committee rejected the first edition of the opera for being "unscenic". Over the next 10 years, "Boris Godunov" was given 15 times and then removed from the repertoire. Only at the end of November 1896 "Boris Godunov" saw the light again - in the edition of N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov, who "corrected" and re-instrumented the entire "Boris Godunov" at his own discretion. In this form, the opera was staged on the stage of the Great Hall of the Musical Society (the new building of the Conservatory) with the participation of members of the Society of Musical Meetings. By this time, the Bessel & Co. firm in St. Petersburg had released a new clavier for Boris Godunov, in the preface to which Rimsky-Korsakov explains that the reasons that prompted him to undertake this alteration were supposedly “bad texture” and “bad orchestration” author's version of Mussorgsky himself. In Moscow, Boris Godunov was staged for the first time at the Bolshoi Theater in 1888. In our time, interest in the author's editions of Boris Godunov has revived.
In 1875, Mussorgsky began the dramatic opera (“folk musical drama”) “Khovanshchina” (according to the plan of V.V. Stasov), while simultaneously working on a comic opera based on the plot of Gogol’s “Sorochinsky Fair”. The opera was mostly finished in clavier, but (with the exception of two fragments) not instrumented. The first stage edition of Khovanshchina (including instrumentation) in 1883 was performed by N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov. In the same year, Bessel & Co. published her score and piano score. The first performances of "Khovanshchina" took place (1) in 1886 on the stage of St. Petersburg by the Music and Drama Circle under the direction of S. Yu. Goldstein, (2) in 1893 on the stage of the Kononovsky Hall (also in St. Petersburg) by a private opera partnership , (3) in 1892 at Setov's in Kiev. In 1958, D. D. Shostakovich completed another edition of Khovanshchina (he completed the conclusion and instrumented the clavier). Currently, the opera is staged mainly in this edition.
For the Sorochinsky Fair, Mussorgsky composed the first two acts, as well as several scenes for the third act: The Dream of Parubka (where he used the music of the symphonic fantasy Night on Bald Mountain, made earlier for an unrealized collective work - the opera-ballet Mlada), Dumka Parasi and Gopak. Now this opera is staged in the edition of V.Ya. Shebalin.
Addiction to alcohol, which progressed strongly in the last decade of his life, became devastating to Mussorgsky's health and had a negative impact on the intensity of his work. After a series of setbacks in the service and a final dismissal from the ministry, he was content with odd jobs and some financial support from friends. Mussorgsky died on March 16 (28), 1881 in a military hospital, where he was placed after an attack of delirium tremens. The only lifetime (and most famous) portrait of the composer was painted by Ilya Repin in the same place a few days before his death. Mussorgsky is buried at the Tikhvin cemetery of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.
In the musical work of Mussorgsky, Russian national traits found an original and vivid expression. This defining feature of his style manifested itself in many ways: in the ability to handle folk songs, in the melodic, harmonic and rhythmic features of music, and finally, in the choice of subjects, mainly from Russian life. Mussorgsky is a hater of routine, for him there are no authorities in music; he paid little attention to the rules of musical grammar, seeing in them not the provisions of science, but only a collection of composing techniques of previous eras. Hence the constant striving of Mussorgsky as a composer for novelty in everything.
Mussorgsky's specialty is vocal music. On the one hand, he strove for realism, on the other hand, for a colorful and poetic disclosure of the word. In an effort to follow the word, musicologists see continuity with the creative method of A.S. Dargomyzhsky. Love lyrics as such attracted him little. His best lyrical romances are "Night" (to the words of A.S. Pushkin) and "Jewish Melody" (to the words of L.A. Mey). The specific style of Mussorgsky is widely manifested in those cases when he refers to Russian peasant life. Mussorgsky's songs Kalistrat, Eremushki's Lullaby (lyrics by N.A. Nekrasov), Sleep-Sleep, Peasant's Son (from A.N. Ostrovsky's Voyevoda), Gopak (from Gaidamaki) T. Shevchenko), "Svetik Savishna" and "Mischievous" (both the latter - to the words of Mussorgsky) and many others. etc. In such songs and romances, Mussorgsky finds a truthful and dramatic musical expression for hopelessness and sorrow, which is hidden under the external humor of the lyrics. Humor, irony and satire were generally good for Mussorgsky (in the fairy tale about the "Goat", in the Latin-chimping "Seminarian", in love with the priest's daughter, in the musical pamphlet "Raek", in the song "Haughtiness", etc.). Expressive recitation distinguishes the song "Orphan" and the ballad "Forgotten" (based on the plot of the famous painting by V.V. Vereshchagin). Mussorgsky managed to find completely new, original tasks, to apply new peculiar techniques for their implementation, which was vividly expressed in his vocal pictures from childhood life, in a small cycle called "Children's" (the text belongs to the composer). The vocal cycle “Songs and Dances of Death” (1875-1877; words by Golenishchev-Kutuzov; “Trepak” is a picture of a tipsy peasant freezing in a forest, in a snowstorm; “Lullaby” draws a mother at the bedside of a dying child, etc. .).
Mussorgsky's most ambitious creative achievements are concentrated in the field of opera, his own version of which he called (including so that his creations in this genre would not evoke association with the concert-romantic opera aesthetics that dominated Russia) "musical drama". Boris Godunov, based on Pushkin's drama of the same name (and also under the great influence of Karamzin's interpretation of this plot), is one of the best works of world musical theater. The musical language and dramaturgy of "Boris" meant a complete break with the routine of the then opera house, the action of the "musical drama" was now carried out by specifically musical means. Both author's editions of "Boris Godunov" (1869 and 1874), differing significantly from each other in terms of dramaturgy, are essentially two equivalent author's solutions to the same tragic collision. Especially innovative for its time was the first edition (which was not put on stage until the middle of the 20th century), which was very different from the romantic stereotypes of opera performance that prevailed in Mussorgsky's time. This explains the initial sharp criticism of "Boris", who saw in the innovations of dramaturgy "an unsuccessful libretto", and in music "many rough edges and blunders".
Prejudices of this kind were in many ways characteristic primarily of Rimsky-Korsakov, who claimed that Mussorgsky was inexperienced in instrumentation, although it was sometimes not devoid of color and a successful variety of orchestral colors. Statements of this kind were also characteristic of Soviet textbooks of musical literature. In fact, not only the instrumentation, but the whole style of Mussorgsky did not fit at all into the outline of the romantic musical aesthetics that dominated during the years of his life.
Even more skeptical attitude of colleagues and contemporaries touched Mussorgsky's next musical drama - the opera "Khovanshchina" on the theme of historical events in Russia at the end of the 17th century (split and streltsy revolt), written by Mussorgsky on his own script and text. He wrote this work with long breaks, and by the time of his death it remained unfinished. Among the currently existing editions of the opera, performed by other composers, the orchestration by D.D. Shostakovich, including Act V (unfinished by Mussorgsky) of the opera. Unusual and the idea of this work, and its scale. Compared to Boris Godunov, Khovanshchina is not just a drama of one historical person (through which the theme of power, crime, conscience and retribution is revealed), but already a kind of “impersonal” historiosophical drama in which, in the absence of a pronounced “central "character (characteristic of the standard operatic dramaturgy of that time), whole layers of folk life are revealed and the theme of the spiritual tragedy of the whole people, which takes place when their traditional historical and way of life is broken, is raised. To emphasize this genre feature of the opera "Khovanshchina", Mussorgsky gave it the subtitle "folk musical drama".
Both Mussorgsky's musical dramas won world recognition after the composer's death, and to this day they are among the most frequently performed works of Russian music all over the world. Their international success was greatly facilitated by the admiring attitude of such composers as Debussy, Ravel, Stravinsky, as well as the entrepreneurial activity of Sergei Diaghilev, who staged them for the first time abroad at the beginning of the 20th century in his Russian Seasons in Paris. Nowadays, most of the world's opera houses strive to stage the opera "Boris Godunov" in the author's editions - the first or second, without combining them.
Of Mussorgsky's orchestral works, the symphonic painting "Night on Bald Mountain" gained worldwide fame, the material of which was included in the opera "Sorochinsky Fair" (not finished). This is a colorful picture of the "coven of the spirits of darkness" and "the magnificence of Chernobog." Nowadays, the performance of this work in the author's edition is practiced. Noteworthy is Intermezzo (composed for piano in 1861, instrumented in 1867), built on a theme reminiscent of 18th-century music.
Mussorgsky's outstanding work is the cycle of piano pieces "Pictures at an Exhibition", written in 1874 as musical illustrations-episodes for watercolors by V.A. Hartmann. Contrasting pieces-impressions are permeated with a Russian theme-refrain, reflecting the change of moods during the transition from one picture to another. The Russian theme opens the composition and ends it (“The Bogatyr Gates”), now transforming into the anthem of Russia and its Orthodox faith. The bright coloring, sometimes even the pictorial quality of the piano miniatures of the cycle, inspired composers to create orchestral versions; the most famous orchestration of "Pictures" belongs to M. Ravel.
In the 19th century, Mussorgsky's works were published by the firm V. Bessel and Co. in St. Petersburg; much was also published in Leipzig by M.P. Belyaev. In the 20th century, editions of Mussorgsky's works in original versions began to appear, based on a thorough study of primary sources. The pioneer of such activity was the Russian musicologist P.A. Lamm, who published the claviers of "Boris Godunov", "Khovanshchina", as well as the composer's vocal and piano works - all in the author's edition.
The works of Mussorgsky had a tremendous influence on all subsequent generations of composers. Specific melody, which was considered by the composer as an expressive extension of human speech, and innovative harmony, which anticipated many features of the harmony of the 20th century, played an important role in shaping the style of C. Debussy and M. Ravel (by their own admission). The dramaturgy of Mussorgsky's musical and theatrical compositions strongly influenced the work of L. Janachek, I.F. Stravinsky, D.D. Shostakovich, A. Berg (the dramaturgy of his opera "Wozzeck" on the principle of "scene-fragment" is very close to "Boris Godunov"), O. Messiaen and many others.
Modest Petrovich MUSSORGSKY (1839-1881) - Russian composer, member of the Mighty Handful
Lev Boleslavsky
"Mussorgsky: In the full breadth of Russian meadows"
Having first arrived in Moscow many years ago, I, first of all, fulfilled my dream, visited the Bolshoi Theater. Of course there were no tickets. Full house. Someone thought to give the ticket attendant a triple (or maybe a five, I don’t remember), and they let me into this temple of art. Not a single place, not even an attached one. Hurry to the gallery! And there I stood for more than four hours, listening to Khovanshchina. Even if I had a place, I probably would have listened standing up, in tears: Dawn on the Moscow River, especially the choirs, this shrill “Dad, dad, come out to us ...” And wonderful songs: “The baby came out”, “Near the river on the meadow”, “Sat late in the evening”, “Swan is swimming” ... But the most piercing - the image of Dositheus aroused in me a tragic feeling.
Four times I listened to the Bolshoi "Khovanshchina" And each time I left shocked by A. Ognivtsev - Dosifey. How I hear that voice now. What a power of faith! This voice sounded ready for any hardships, even death, in the name of one's faith... In the first act, the head of the schismatics, seeing Ivan Khovansky's quarrel with his son Andrei, stops them: “This is not the time to rage. Brothers, friends, it is time to become Orthodox for the faith... We are coming to the great battle!” - Dositheus calls. The scene where Dositheus prays for victory over the "antichrist" cannot but excite. To the heavy, gloomy sounds of the bell, Dositheus and the schismatics slowly leave for the church cathedral...
The tension is rising. Melodies and recitatives, created by the genius of Mussorgsky, imperiously transfer the listener to those ancient times. In the second act, Dositheus again calls to the princes and boyars arguing among themselves; they are only interested in power: who is in charge, who will excel. And past the windows of the office of Prince Vasily Golitsyn, close to Princess Sophia, schismatics pass singing. Dositheus, pointing to them; “You, boyars, are only in words, but who does it ...”
It's time for testing. On Red Square, Tsar Peter is repairing the massacre of the archers. “The time has come in fire and flame to receive the crown of eternal glory! ..” How terrible this aria sounds, how much pain it contains, multiplied by the power of faith ... Dositheus, convinced of the futility of his efforts to defend the old faith, hopes that death, in fire will save the souls of the schismatics. But will they have enough faith and steadfastness?.. Gathering them in a forest skete, he calls to stand up for the faith, to perish, but not to give up.
The final action of "Khovanshchina" is amazing. Mussorgsky achieves the highest tragedy through contrast, juxtaposition of the incomparable. The skit is on fire. The schismatics die in fire-agony, not submitting to the king. And nearby, trumpets are already victoriously thundering: Peter's troops are marching, illuminated by the flames of the conflagration. This scene pierces the soul.
From the bygone days, this opera again and again brought me back to today's world, where power and godlessness, progress and unbelief, civilization and the end of culture are side by side. Mussorgsky posed a problem no less serious than Pushkin in The Bronze Horseman: there is power, the state, progress, on the one hand, and a small (however, there are no small!) people on the other. Today, Mussorgsky makes us think about the paths of our new Russia and the old faith, about humility and violence, about the notorious "vertical of power" and freedom - personal, civil ... A poem by my friend, great talent and sharpened conscience, the poet Boris Chichibabin, which struck me with an unusual view of Peter, incomparable with the assessments of Soviet historians. The poem was called "The Curse of Peter". There were lines: “From the blood shed is hot, be damned, the carpenter of Saardam, the destroyer of faiths ...” And more: “And Rus' left the face of the earth in secret-protective log cabins, where no murderers could offend her.” And at the end of the poem - just like Dositheus from Mussorgsky's opera or according to Archpriest Avvakum: "Chop off my head as a reward for not submitting to it (with Russia. - L. B.)."
Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky, perhaps more than any of the Russian composers, was aware of the scale of the tasks facing Russian art. He did not just compose music, he wanted to speak with harmony about the disharmony of life. To say "in the full breadth of Russian glades," as he himself once wrote. I would add; he told this truth to the full breadth of the Russian fields and to the full height of the human spirit.
His confession: “Life, no matter where it affects, the truth, no matter how salty, bold, sincere speech to people a bout portant (point-blank range) - this is my leaven, this is what I want and this is what I would be afraid to miss. So someone pushes me, and so I will remain. This recognition is the whole of Mussorgsky, a passionate, mercilessly honest and principled artist who paved the way into the unexplored areas of art.
The composer wrote to one of his friends: “How many unseen, unheard-of worlds and lives are opening up! How tempting they all are, tempting to comprehend them and to possess them! Difficult to achieve, it's scary to approach them, but when you approach, where does insolence come from! - and then it happens well. Turning to the history of Russia, Mussorgsky solved artistic - and, more broadly, social, philosophical, political - tasks in the spirit of his era. It helps us to consider the modern reality.
Like no other, the Russian genius comprehended the soul of the people and embodied its anxieties and joys in music. In romances and songs (the cycle "Without the Sun", "Songs and Dances of Death", even "Children's"), vivid pictures of folk life arise. And the operas, primarily Khovanshchina and Boris Godunov, are great folk-historical dramas: grief for the people and heroic strength.
In the images of Boris, Savishna, Eremushka, and finally, Martha, Mussorgsky embodies emotional experiences with surprising subtlety. Amazing Martha! For me, the ideal of a Russian woman is she, all - love and sacrifice. Let the admirers of Pushkin's Tatyana not be offended by me, but her humble “I am given to another and I will be faithful to him for a century” - that is, the rejection of love - fades, in my opinion, next to the strength of love and faith of Martha, who went to death. It is she, according to Nekrasov, who “will stop a galloping horse, enter a burning hut” ... This woman will write about such a woman already in the 20th century, as if continuing Nekrasov and Mussorgsky, another poet, Naum Korzhavin: “She would like to live differently, wear a precious one on a row ... But the horses keep galloping and galloping, and the huts are burning and burning ... "...
Thus, the composer combines the deeply personal, intimate in man with broad historical and social generalizations, with a powerful grasp of vital material. “I put a cross on myself,” wrote Modest Petrovich, “and with my head held high, cheerfully and cheerfully, I will go against everyone, towards a bright, strong, righteous goal, towards real art, loving a person, living by his joy, his grief and suffering.” Mussorgsky was interested not so much in historical accuracy and chronology as in the meaning of events. He sought to reveal the soul of the people and the soul of an individual in music, to show the relationship of characters, aspirations, joys and hardships.
When friend V. Nikolsky offered the composer the plot of Pushkin's Boris Godunov, Mussorgsky did not limit himself to drama, but also used materials from N. Karamzin's History of the Russian State, old Russian chronicles. In the center, of course, is the tragic image of Boris Godunov, who allegedly committed the murder of Tsarevich Dimitri, the youngest son of Ivan the Terrible. Murder for the royal throne. But, listening to the opera, I feel (perhaps I am mistaken?) that Mussorgsky did not have such confidence in Boris's guilt as Pushkin did. By the way, this version of the murder (the Mozart-Salieri parallel suggests itself: the innocence of Mozart's rival has been proven) was already disputed during Mussorgsky's lifetime by the famous writer and historian MP Pogodin, a member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. So our contemporary historian R. Skrynnikov, who studied in detail the era of Godunov’s reign, cites in his writings documentary evidence that there was no murder in Uglich, that the prince died in front of many people on May 15, 1591, playing in the courtyard with others boys “in a poke”: “A falling sickness came to him ... but at that time, as he was beating, he stabbed himself with a knife and died” ... Apparently, then false denunciations, slander played a role: the parties of the royal nobles, who were at war with the court, tried , clergy.
The libretto of Boris Godunov was compiled by Mussorgsky himself. Often even changed the text of Pushkin. Boris, stern, regal in the poet, is somewhat different in music: his image is softened. His suffering takes on a different hue. Guilt? Or maybe powerlessness before the general opinion, slander, rumor? .. And Boris has a nightmare, he himself already believes in what the rumor says: a murderer. Boris's aria convinces that madness, delirium, obsession defeated the mind of the king. He sees the boy: “The eyes are burning, clenching his little hands, he asks for mercy ... And there was no mercy! A terrible wound is gaping! His dying cry is heard ... Oh Lord, my God!
The ambiguity, inconsistency of human nature (remember Tyutchev's: “In his head - eagles soared, in his chest - snakes curled ...”) Mussorgsky expressed in the image of Shaklovity, implicated in dark intrigues. But it was he who was entrusted with the aria “The Streltsy Nest Sleeps”, which sounds heartfelt, like a reflection on the fate of the motherland. Beautiful melody, wide Russian chant. Our understanding of Shaklovit is also expanding. He recalls the endless troubles that have tormented Russia for so many years, the Tatar invasions and boyar strife. One hope - for "the chosen one, he would have saved, exalted the ill-fated Rus'-sufferer!" But is this really outdated: “The old dies, the new comes to replace it, but the people ... are still there ... groaning more and more”? I think this is the voice of the author himself, Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky.
The composer has everything - the truth, everything is taken from life. Dositheus from Khovanshchina, the composer began to write from Archpriest Avvakum, whose Life was first published in 1861. But then he began to introduce new colors into the image, made it softer, more lyrical, but not to the detriment of his conviction, steadfastness, accusatory power . Sincere or earnest, Dositheus's speech grows out of the folk chant and folk song. In this bright image, the features of its creator also appear.
As I have already said, Mussorgsky takes history as a basis in order to express social, ethical ideas. It does not matter that in fact Khovansky and Golitsyn never entered into an alliance with each other, and in the opera, by the will of Mussorgsky, these characters participate in a common conspiracy against Tsar Peter. For the creator of folk musical drama, something else is more important: the idea, the truth of characters, loyalty to the spirit of the times. And in details, he allows himself some deviations from historical facts. It is important for him to sharpen the plot so that the complex conflict of the era comes out clearly. It even brings together events that are separated by years in history. Time is compressed.
The bells awaken the conscience, cry out to the sleeping ones: Wake up! - as once Christ addressed the disciples: “Don't sleep! Stay awake! The bells are ringing throughout the score of Boris Godunov, Khovanshchina, Pictures at an Exhibition with their Bogatyr Gates. Having recently listened again to the so-called "Russian quartets" by Ludwig van Beethoven, I recognized in the allegretto scherzo of the 8th quartet (opus 59, N2 2) the same themes as in Mussorgsky's "Boris Godunov": the theme of the coronation, when the bells sound, and the song folk theme. The song “Like glory in heaven” was published in Prach's collection, published in 1792 and reprinted in 1815. Obviously, this collection was recommended to Beethoven by his friend and patron, Count Razumovsky, the Russian ambassador in Vienna. This song was included in Beethoven's scherzo in the E-minor quartet. In the creative power and depth, in the conscientiousness of the two giants of music, I hear a lot in common. It is worth recalling that both composed the satirical song "Flea" on the theme of Goethe's poem.
The images created by Mussorgsky make me remember the heroes of Dostoevsky. Martha is shown "dostoevsky". Strong in character, proud, she combined the obsession of the noblewoman Morozova and the sincerity of a Russian peasant woman. The girl is driven by an all-consuming love, burnt by a tragic flame. Remember Dostoevsky's women: in "The Idiot", "The Brothers Karamazov", "Crime and Punishment", in "The Humiliated and Insulted"... Martha's soul flame is stronger than the bonfire, which she climbed with her lover.
I have always considered Mussorgsky's "Dawn on the Moscow River" a musical emblem of Russia: no one has such melodic breadth, sincerity and spiritual uplift! Except perhaps in Lermontov's "Song about the merchant Kalashnikov" and "Borodino". Was it not from Lermontov's lines that the musical genius repelled when he began "Khovanshchina":
Over the great Moscow, golden-domed,
Above the Kremlin wall, white stone,
Because of the distant forests, because of the blue mountains,
Players on boarded roofs,
Gray clouds are dispersing,
The scarlet dawn rises;
She swept her golden curls,
Washed by crumbly snows;
Like a beauty looking in the mirror
The sky looks clean, smiles.
Why did you wake up, scarlet dawn?
What joy did you play? ..
And in the midst of this joy, this bright morning and day of God - torment, adversity, tears ... And - the cry of the holy fool. For whom the Bell Tolls? Hemingway once asked. And he answered: he calls for you. For whom is the holy fool crying? Mussorgsky asks...
One day Modest Petrovich was visiting his brother's house at Minkino Manor. He looked out the window, and there was an eccentric beggar. Ashamed of his ugliness, he passionately declared his love to a young peasant woman. In his trembling voice, the composer heard despair. How to convey the bitterness and prayer of a person in music? So the song "Svetik Savishna" was born. Mussorgsky wrote the words himself. This is a prayer for love, sympathy, understanding. The song is one tense breath, a patter excitedly. The monotonous repetitive rhythmic pattern emphasizes the intonations of persistent, half-mad prayer. The composer and critic Alexander Serov, who heard "Svetik Savishna", could not hide his shock and delight. "Terrible scene! he exclaimed. "That's Shakespeare in music."
The same can be said about the holy fool from the Khovanshchina. Unforgettable Ivan Semyonovich Kozlovsky in this role: “They offended the holy fool. They took away a pretty penny...” And the finale: no, not a thunderous choir, not a powerful orchestra, but a lonely voice. One holy fool with his torn bast shoes. And like the voice of the Russian land itself:
Flow, flow, bitter tears,
Cry, cry, Orthodox soul!
Soon the enemy will come and darkness will come
The darkness is dark, impenetrable.
Woe, woe to Rus'!
Cry, cry, Russian people,
Hungry people!
But it is not this immeasurable lament that crowns the work of the Russian genius. Through the weeping breaks through, conquering all sorrows, the immortal choir from "Boris": The silushka under the bottom, restless, got up, walked around. Goy!"...
This faith in Russia is strengthened by Mussorgsky in us, who have entered the twenty-first century, far from harmony.
D.D. Shostakovich: “The glory of Mussorgsky is immortal. His music is heard all over the world. People from different countries, different nationalities admire his folk musical dramas "Boris Godunov" and "Khovanshchina", his "Sorochinsky Fair", his vocal works, speak of them as works of Shakespearean strength and depth. The beneficial influence of our great composer has long gone beyond the borders of Russia, it largely determines the most advanced trends in world musical art.
Claude Debussy: “Mussorgsky is marvelous in his independence, his sincerity, his charm... The Russians will give us new impulses to free ourselves from ridiculous stiffness. They will help us to know ourselves better…”
B.V. Astafiev: “Music was for him both a feeling and a thought about his beloved people - a song about him ...”
Paul Dukas: “The work of Mussorgsky (“Boris Godunov” - L.B.) has already played its role in the worldwide musical evolution. It fertilized in its direction the music of an entire era... Mussorgsky must live among the widest public and for it. It is she who must preserve and perpetuate his glory. For he wrote exclusively for a wide range of listeners ... "
V.V. Stasov: “Mussorgsky was one of those few who have their own business to distant and wonderful, unprecedented and incomparable“ new shores ”.
F.I. Chaliapin: “His element was stage truth. In his works, not only word and sound merge, but this whole merges with reality.
March 2, 1881 at the door of the capital's Nikolaev military hospital, located on Slonovaya Street in Sands, an unusual visitor entered with a canvas in his hands. He went to the room of his old friend, who had been brought in two weeks earlier with delirium tremens and nervous exhaustion. Putting the canvas on the table, opening the brushes and paints, Repin peered into the familiar tired and exhausted face. Four days later, the only lifetime portrait of the Russian genius was ready. Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky admired his image for only 9 days and died. He was defiantly bold and one of the most fatal musical creators of the 19th century. A brilliant personality, an innovator who was ahead of his time and had a significant impact on the development of not only Russian, but also European music. Mussorgsky's life, as well as the fate of his works, was difficult, but the fame of the composer will be eternal, because his music is imbued with love for the Russian land and the people who live on it.
Read a brief biography of Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky and many interesting facts about the composer on our page.
Brief biography of Mussorgsky
Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky was born on March 9, 1839. His family nest was an estate in the Pskov region, where he lived until the age of 10. The proximity of peasant life, folk songs and a simple village way of life formed in him that worldview, which later became the main theme of his work. Under the guidance of his mother, he began to play the piano early. The boy had a developed imagination and, listening to the nurse's tales, sometimes he could not fall asleep all night from shock. These emotions found their expression in piano improvisations.
According to Mussorgsky's biography, in connection with moving to St. Petersburg in 1849, his musical studies were combined with studies at the gymnasium, and then at the School of Guards Ensigns. Modest Petrovich emerged from the walls of the latter not only as an officer, but also as an excellent pianist. After a short military service, he retired in 1858 to concentrate entirely on his composing. This decision was greatly facilitated by acquaintance with M.A. Balakirev who taught him the basics of composition. With the advent of Mussorgsky, the final composition is formed " mighty handful».
The composer works hard, the premiere of the first opera makes him famous, but other works do not find understanding even among the Kuchkists. There is a split in the group. Shortly before this, Mussorgsky, due to extreme need, returns to serve in various departments, but his health begins to fail. Manifestations of "nervous disease" are combined with addiction to alcohol. He spends several years at his brother's estate. In St. Petersburg, being in constant financial difficulties, he lives with various acquaintances. Only once, in 1879, he managed to break out on a trip to the southern regions of the Empire with the singer D. Leonova as her accompanist. Unfortunately, the inspiration from this trip did not last long. Mussorgsky returned to the capital, was expelled from the service and again plunged into apathy and drunkenness. He was a sensitive, generous, but deeply lonely person. On the day when he was expelled from a rented apartment for non-payment, he had a stroke. Modest Petrovich spent another month in the hospital, where he died in the early morning of March 16, 1881.
Interesting facts about Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky
Creativity Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky
First published work polka "Ensign"- saw the light when its author was only 13 years old. At 17, he wrote two scherzos, sketches of further works of a large form did not develop into full-fledged works. Since 1857, Mussorgsky has been writing songs and romances, most of which are on folk themes. This was unusual for a secular musician of those years. The first attempts to write operas remained unfinished - this and " Salambo"according to G. Flaubert, and" Marriage» according to N.V. Gogol. The music for "Salambo" will be completely included in the composition of the only opera completed by the composer - "Boris Godunov".
Mussorgsky's biography says that Mussorgsky begins to study his main work in 1868. He wrote the libretto of all his large-form works himself, the text of Godunov was based on the tragedy of A.S. Pushkin, and the authenticity of the events was checked against the "History of the Russian State" by N.M. Karamzin. According to Modest Petrovich, in the original idea of the opera there were two main actors - the people and the tsar. In a year, the work was completed and presented to the court of the directorate of the imperial theaters. The composer's innovative, non-academic and in many ways revolutionary work shocked the members of the bandmaster's committee. The formal reason for refusing to stage " Boris Godunov was in the absence of a central women's party. This is how an amazing precedent in the history of opera was born - two editions, and in terms of meaning - two operas for one plot.
The second edition was ready by 1872, a bright female character appeared in it - Marina Mnishek, a magnificent part for mezzo-soprano, a Polish act was added and a love line of False Dmitry and Marina, the finale was reworked. Despite this, the Mariinsky Theater again rejected the opera. The situation was ambiguous - many excerpts from "Boris Godunov" had already been performed by singers at concerts, the audience received this music well, and the theater management remained indifferent. Thanks to the support of the Mariinsky Opera Company, in particular, the singer Yu.F. Platonova, who insisted on performing the work for her benefit performance, the opera was released on January 27, 1874.
I.A. performed in the title part. Melnikov, one of the outstanding vocalists of his time. The audience went on a rampage and called the composer about 20 times to bow, criticism was expressed both with restraint and negatively. In particular, Mussorgsky was accused of portraying the people as an uncontrollable crowd of drunken, oppressed and desperate, absolutely stupid, simple and worthless people. For 8 years of repertory life, the opera was shown only 15 times.
In 1867, in 12 days, Modest Petrovich wrote a musical picture " Midsummer Night on Bald Mountain”, which was never performed during his lifetime and was remade by him many times. In the 1870s, the author turned to instrumental and vocal compositions. Thus were born Pictures from the exhibition”, “Songs and Dances of Death”, cycle “Without the Sun”.
His second historical opera, folk musical drama " Khovanshchina”, Mussorgsky began to write even before the premiere of “Boris Godunov”. The composer completely created the libretto himself, without relying on literary primary sources. It is based on the real events of 1682, when Russian history was also going through a turning point: there was a split not only in the political, but also in the spiritual spheres. The actors of the opera are the archery chief Ivan Khovansky with his unlucky son, and the favorite of Princess Sophia, Prince Golitsyn, and the Old Believers schismatics. The characters are burned with passions - love, a thirst for power and intoxication with permissiveness. The work stretched out for many years - illnesses, depressions, periods of hard drinking ... "Khovanshchina" was already being completed by N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov immediately after the death of its author. In 1883 he offered it to the Mariinsky Theatre, but was flatly refused. Mussorgsky's masterpiece was first performed in an amateur music circle...
Simultaneously with Khovanshchina, the composer wrote the opera Sorochinskaya Fair", which remained only in drafts. His last compositions were several pieces for piano.
Mussorgsky's music in cinema
The melodies of "Nights on Bald Mountain" and "Pictures at an Exhibition" are popular all over the world and are often used in films. Among the famous films where the music of M.P. Mussorgsky:
Biopic there is only one about genius - "Mussorgsky" by G. Roshal, released in 1950. In the post-war decade, several films were made about the great Russian composers, this one can be called the most successful. Magnificent in the title role of A.F. Borisov. He managed to create the image of Mussorgsky, as his contemporaries described him - generous, open, sensitive, fickle, carried away. This role was awarded the State Prize of the USSR. V.V. N. Cherkasov played Stasov in the film, and L. Orlova played the singer Platonova.
Among the screen adaptations of the composer's operas and recordings of theatrical performances, we note:
On the innovative nature of his music M.P. Mussorgsky repeatedly mentioned in his letters. Time proved the validity of this definition: in the 20th century, composers began to widely use the same techniques that once seemed anti-musical even to such of his contemporaries as Tchaikovsky and Rimsky-Korsakov. Modest Petrovich was a genius. But the Russian genius - with the blues, nervous exhaustion and the search for solace at the bottom of the bottle. His work brought the history, character and songs of the Russian people to the best world stages, establishing their unconditional cultural authority.
Video: watch a film about Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky
The main figure of this article will be Modest Mussorgsky. The composer's biography begins on March 16, 1839 in one of the small villages of the Pskov region. From an early age, his parents, who belonged to an old noble family, introduced the boy to music. His mother taught him to play the piano, and at the age of seven he was already performing pieces. A few years later, the future genius already mastered entire concerts.
Few of Modest's ancestors could have imagined that he would become a great musician and composer. All Mussorgsky's relatives were devoted to the state, and the men served in the tsar's army. The exception was first the father - Peter Mussorgsky, who was distinguished by a great passion for music, and then his son, who inherited this gift. The first piano teacher was Modest's mother, Yulia Chirikova.
In 1849, Modest Mussorgsky went to St. Petersburg, and there he began his first professional music lessons with teacher A.A. Gerke. Under his leadership, he performs at chamber concerts, family reunions and other events. And already in 1852 he wrote and published his own polka called "Ensign".
Since 1856, Mussorgsky's biography has been unfolding in St. Petersburg, where he simultaneously meets the composer. They become very close friends, who are united not only by a common cause, but also by creativity - music. Some time later, he also met A. Dargomyzhsky, M. Balakirev, C. Cui, as well as the Stasov brothers. All these composers are familiar to us thanks to the Mighty Handful group, which they founded.
The main figure in their "galaxy" was Balakirev - he became a teacher and spiritual mentor for every composer. Together with him, Mussorgsky taught new concertos and large-scale works such as Beethoven, Schubert, Strauss. Visiting the Philharmonic, opera performances and other musical events contributed to the fact that for Modest the goal of life was the knowledge of the beautiful and the creation of it.
In the next decade, the composers of The Mighty Handful adopted the rule that they must follow all the musical canons of M. Glinka. During this period, Mussorgsky wrote music for Sophocles' story Oedipus Rex, and then took up the opera Salambo. Unfortunately, it remained unfinished, but many of the works written for it were included in the composer's masterpiece - the opera Boris Godunov.
In the 60s, Mussorgsky's biography unfolds in new lands. He sets off on a journey in which the city of Moscow becomes the main point. It was this place that inspired him to write his opera “Boris Godunov”, since, in his opinion, “women and men” suitable for staging met him there.
In the future, the composer did not forget to give instrumental concerts and vocal performances. Among pianists, he had no equal, and his own works were praised by many connoisseurs of beauty. It was in this world that the composer Mussorgsky spent his young years.
His biography changes dramatically in the 80s. Then his health was broken, his financial situation was shaken. He no longer had so much time for creativity, so he started drinking. He died on his birthday, in 1881, in a military hospital.
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Mussorgsky is a brilliant composer, whose work was initially underestimated. An innovator, a seeker of new ways in music, he seemed to his contemporaries a dropout. Even his close friend Rimsky-Korsakov believed that Mussorgsky's works could only be performed by correcting the harmony, form and orchestration, and after Mussorgsky's untimely death he carried out this enormous work. It was in Rimsky-Korsakov's versions that many of Mussorgsky's works were known for a long time, including the operas Boris Godunov and Khovanshchina. Only much later, the true significance of Mussorgsky's work was revealed, who was the first to correctly assess Stasov, who said: "Mussorgsky belongs to the number of people to whom posterity erects monuments." His music had a strong influence on composers of the 20th century, in particular, French, not to mention Russian, among which the largest are Prokofiev and Shostakovich. “Create a living person in live music”, “Create a vital phenomenon or type in a form inherent in them, which was not before any of the artists”, - this is how the composer himself defined his goal. The nature of his work determined Mussorgsky's predominant appeal to vocal and stage genres. His highest achievements are the operas "Boris Godunov" and "Khovanshchina", the vocal cycles "Children's", "Without the Sun" and "Songs and Dances of Death".
Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky was born on March 9 (21), 1839 in the Karevo estate not far from the town of Toropets, Pskov provinces, into an old noble family, descended from the Rurikovichs - the descendants of the legendary Rurik, who was called to reign in Rus' from the Varangians. From early childhood, he, like all children of the nobility, studied French and German, as well as music, showing great success, especially in improvisation. At the age of 9, he already played a concerto by J. Field, but, of course, there was no talk of professional music lessons. In 1849 he was sent to St. Petersburg, where, after three years of training, he entered the School of Guards Ensigns. For music, these three years were not lost - the boy took piano lessons from one of the best teachers in the capital A. Gerke, a student of the famous Field. In 1856, Mussorgsky graduated from high school and was appointed to serve in the Life Guards Preobrazhensky Regiment. During one of his duties at the military land hospital, he met Borodin, then a doctor in the same hospital. But this acquaintance has not yet led to friendship: the age, the interests, and the environment surrounding each of them were too different.
Keenly interested in music and striving to get to know the works of Russian composers better, Mussorgsky at the age of 18 ends up in Dargomyzhsky's house. Under the influence of the prevailing situation there, he begins to compose. The first experiments - the romance "Where are you, little star", the idea of the opera "Han the Icelander". At Dargomyzhsky he meets Cui and Balakirev. This last acquaintance has a decisive influence on his entire future life. It was with Balakirev, around whom a circle of musicians formed, which later became famous under the name of the Mighty Handful, that his studies in composition began. During the first year, several romances and piano sonatas appeared. Creativity captures the young man so much that in 1858 he resigns and selflessly engages in self-education - psychology, philosophy, literature - tries himself in various musical genres. And although he still composes in small forms, he is most attracted to opera, in particular, to the plot of Oedipus. On the advice of Balakirev, in 1861-1862 he wrote a symphony, but left it unfinished. But next year, he is captivated by the plot of "Salambo" based on Flaubert's novel, which has just been published in Russian translation. He has been working on the opera "Salambo" for about three years and creates many interesting fragments, but gradually he realizes that it is not the East, but Rus' that attracts him. And "Salambo" also remains unfinished.
In the mid-60s, Mussorgsky's works appeared, clearly showing which path he decided to follow. These are the songs "Calistrat" based on Nekrasov's poems about the heavy peasant lot (the composer called "Calistrat" a folk-style etude), "Sleep, sleep, peasant son" in the spirit of folk songs based on the text from A. Ostrovsky's drama "Voevoda", everyday picture " Svetik Savvishna" in his own words. After listening to the last, the famous composer and authoritative music critic A. Serov said: “A terrible scene. This is Shakespeare in music." Somewhat later, The Seminarist appears, also in his own text. In 1863, the need arises to earn a living - the family estate is completely upset and no longer brings any income. Mussorgsky enters the service: from December he becomes an official of the Engineering Department.
In 1867, finally, the first major orchestral work was created - "Midsummer Night on Bald Mountain". At the same time, under the influence of The Stone Guest by Dargomyzhsky, Mussorgsky began work on the opera The Marriage based on the prose text of Gogol's comedy. This bold idea captivates him very much, but after a while it becomes clear that this is only an experiment: he does not consider it possible to create an opera on one recitative, without arias, choirs, ensembles.
The 1960s were a time of fierce struggle between the Balakirev circle and the so-called conservative party, to which belong the professors of the recently opened first Russian conservatory, supported by Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna. Balakirev, who for some time was the director of the Russian Musical Society (RMO), was dismissed from his post in 1869. In contrast to this institution, he organizes a cycle of concerts of the Free Music School, but the fight is obviously lost, since, unlike the RMS, the BMSh is not subsidized by anyone. Mussorgsky lights up with the idea to embody the opponents of the Mighty Handful in music. This is how “Rayok” arises - a unique satirical vocal composition, according to Stasov, a masterpiece of “talent, causticity, comedy, mockery, brilliance, plasticity ... Even the ridiculed themselves laughed to tears, so talented and contagiously cheerful, this original novelty was funny” .
The years 1868-1869 were devoted by the composer to work on Boris Godunov, and in 1870 he presented the score to the Mariinsky Theatre. But the opera is rejected: it is too unconventional. One of the reasons for the refusal is the lack of a major female role. The following years, 1871 and 1872, the composer reworks "Boris": Polish scenes appear and the role of Marina Mniszek, the scene near Kromy. But even this option does not satisfy the committee in charge of accepting operas for staging. Only the perseverance of the singer Y. Platonova, who chose Mussorgsky's opera for her benefit performance, helps "Boris Godunov" to see the limelight. While working on the second edition of the opera, Mussorgsky rents an apartment with Rimsky-Korsakov. They share their time at the piano in a friendly way, both write operas based on a plot from Russian history (Rimsky-Korsakov creates The Maid of Pskov) and, very different in character and creative principles, perfectly complement each other.
In 1873, "Children's" in the design of Repin was published and received wide recognition from both the public and musicians, including Liszt, who highly appreciated the novelty and unusualness of this work. This is the only joy of a composer who is not spoiled by fate. He is oppressed by the endless troubles associated with the production of Boris Godunov, tired of the need to serve, now in the Forest Department. Loneliness is also depressing: Rimsky-Korsakov got married and moved out of their common apartment, and Mussorgsky, partly on his own conviction, partly under the influence of Stasov, believes that marriage will interfere with creativity and sacrifice his personal life for him. Stasov goes abroad for a long time. Soon, the composer's friend, artist Viktor Hartman, suddenly dies.
The next year brings both great creative success - the piano cycle "Pictures at an Exhibition", created under the direct impression of Hartmann's posthumous exhibition, and a new great grief. An old friend of the composer Nadezhda Petrovna Opochinina dies, with whom he, apparently, was deeply, but secretly in love. At this time, a gloomy, full of melancholy cycle “Without the Sun” was created to the verses of Golenishchev-Kutuzov. Work is also underway on a new opera - "Khovanshchina" - again on a plot from Russian history. In the summer of 1874, work on the opera was interrupted for the sake of The Sorochinskaya Fair by Gogol. The comic opera is moving forward with difficulty: there are too few reasons for fun around. But the inspired vocal ballad “Forgotten” appears based on the painting by Vereshchagin, which he saw at an exhibition in the same 1874.
The life of a composer becomes more and more difficult and hopeless. The actual collapse of the Mighty Handful, which he repeatedly complains about in letters to Stasov, has a heavy effect on him, who always strived for close friendly communication. In the service, they are dissatisfied with him: he often skimps on his duties, both for the sake of creativity, and, unfortunately, also because, under the influence of the sad circumstances of life, he increasingly resorts to the generally accepted Russian consolation - the bottle. Sometimes his need becomes so strong that he has no money to pay the rent. In 1875 he was evicted for non-payment. For some time he finds refuge with A. Golenishchev-Kutuzov, then with an old friend, Naumov, a former naval officer, a great admirer of his work. On the verses of Golenishchev-Kutuzov, he creates a vocal cycle "Songs and Dances of Death".
In 1878, friends help Mussorgsky find another position - junior auditor of the State Control. It is good because the immediate supervisor of the composer T. Filippov, a great lover of music and a collector of folk songs, looks at Mussorgsky's absenteeism through his fingers. But the meager salary barely allows you to make ends meet. In 1879, in order to improve his financial situation, Mussorgsky, together with the singer D. Leonova, went on a big tour that covered all the major cities of southern Russia. The program of performances includes arias from operas by Russian composers, romances by both Russian composers and Schubert, Schumann, Liszt. Mussorgsky accompanies the singer, and performs with solo numbers - transcriptions from Ruslan and Lyudmila and his own operas. The trip has a beneficial effect on the musician. He is inspired by the beautiful southern nature, rave reviews from newspapers that highly appreciate his gift as a composer and pianist. This causes a spiritual uplift, a new creative activity. The famous song "Flea", piano pieces, the idea of a large suite for orchestra appear. Work continues on the Sorochinskaya Fair and Khovanshchina.
In January of the following year, Mussorgsky finally left the civil service. Friends - V. Zhemchuzhnikov, T. Filippov, V. Stasov and M. Ostrovsky (the playwright's brother) - add up to a monthly stipend of 100 rubles so that he can finish Khovanshchina. Another group of friends pays 80 rubles a month under the obligation to finish the Sorochinskaya Fair. Thanks to this help, in the summer of 1880 Khovanshchina was almost finished in clavier. Since the fall, Mussorgsky, at the suggestion of Leonova, became an accompanist at her private singing courses and, in addition to accompaniment, composes choirs for Russian folk texts for students. But his health is completely undermined, and at one of the student's home concerts he loses consciousness. Arriving Stasov, Rimsky-Korsakov and Borodin find him delirious. Urgent hospitalization is required. Through an acquaintance of the doctor L. Bertenson, who worked in the Nikolaev military hospital, Mussorgsky manages to get a place there, writing down "Bertenson's intern as a civilian batman." On February 14, 1881, the unconscious composer was taken to the hospital. For a while he gets better, he can even receive visitors, among them Repin, who painted the famous portrait of Mussorgsky. But soon there is a sharp deterioration in the condition.
Mussorgsky died on March 16, only 42 years old. The funeral took place on March 18 at the cemetery of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra. In 1885, through the efforts of true friends, a monument was erected on the grave.
L. Mikheeva
1839. - 9 III. In the village of Karevo, the son Modest was born into the Mussorgsky family - the landowner Pyotr Alekseevich and his wife Yulia Ivanovna (née Chirikova).
1846. - The first successes in learning to play the piano under the guidance of the mother.
1848. - Mussorgsky's performance of J. Field's concerto (at the parents' house for guests).
1849. - VIII. Admission to the Peter and Paul School in St. Petersburg. - The beginning of piano lessons, with Ant. A. Gerke.
1851. - Performance by Mussorgsky "Rondo" A. Hertz at a home charity concert.
1852. - VIII. Admission to the school of guards ensigns. - Edition of the piano piece - polka "Ensign" ("Porte-enseigne Polka").
1856. - 17 vi. Graduation from the school of guards ensigns. - 8 x. Enrollment in the Guards Preobrazhensky Regiment. - x. Meeting with A. P. Borodin on duty in the 2nd land hospital. - Winter 1856-1857. Acquaintance with A. S. Dargomyzhsky.
1857. - Acquaintance with Ts. A. Cui and M. A. Balakirev in the house of Dargomyzhsky, with V. V. and D. V. Stasovs in the house of M. A. Balakirev. - Beginning of composition studies under the direction of Balakirev.
1858. - 11 vi. Retirement from military service.
1859. - 22 II. Mussorgsky's performance of the title role in Cui's comic opera The Son of the Mandarin at the author's house. - VI. A trip to Moscow, acquaintance with its sights.
1860. - 11 I. Scherzo performance in B-dur in the RMO concert conducted by A. G. Rubinshtein.
1861. - I. A trip to Moscow, new acquaintances in the circles of the advanced intelligentsia (youth). - 6 IV. Performance of the choir from the music for the tragedy "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles in a concert conducted by KN Lyadov (Mariinsky Theatre).
1863. - VI-VII. Stay in Toropets in connection with the troubles on the estate. - XII. The idea of the opera "Salambo" based on the novel by G. Flaubert. - 15XII. Entering the service (official) in the Engineering Department.
1863-65. - Life in a "commune" with a group of young friends (under the influence of the novel "What is to be done?" N. G. Chernyshevsky).
1864. - 22V. Creation of the song "Kalistrat" to the words of N. A. Nekrasov - the first in a series of vocal scenes from folk life.
1866. - The beginning of friendship with N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov.
1867. - 6 III. Performance of the choir "The Defeat of Sennacherib" in the concert of the Free Music School conducted by Balakirev. - 26 IV. Leaving the service in the Engineering Department. - 24 IX. Complaints about the difficult financial situation in a letter to Balakirev.
1868. - Rapprochement with the Purgold family, participation in their home music meetings. - 23 IX. Showing "Marriage" in the house of Cui. - Acquaintance with the historian of literature VV Nikolsky, the beginning of work on "Boris Godunov" on his advice. - 21XII. Enrollment in the Forest Department of the Ministry of State Property.
1870. - 7V. Display of "Boris Godunov" in the house of the artist Konstantin Makovsky. - Prohibition by censorship of the song "Seminarian".
1871. - 10 II. The Opera Committee of the Mariinsky Theater rejected the opera "Boris Godunov".
1871-72. - Mussorgsky lives in the same apartment with Rimsky-Korsakov, works on the 2nd edition of Boris Godunov.
1872. - 8 II. Showing of the opera "Boris Godunov" in a new edition in the house of VF Purgold. - 5 II. Performance of the finale of the 1st act of "Boris Godunov" in the RMO concert conducted by E. F. Napravnik. - II-IV. Collective work (together with Borodin, Rimsky-Korsakov and Cui) on the opera-ballet "Mlada" commissioned by the directorate of the imperial theaters. - 3 IV. Performance of the Polonaise from "Boris Godunov" in the concert of the Free Music School conducted by Balakirev. - VI. Start of work on "Khovanshchina".
1873. - 5 II. Performance of three scenes from "Boris Godunov" at the Mariinsky Theatre. - v. F. Liszt's performance in Weimar for a group of musicians from the "Children's" cycle by M.
1874. - 27 I. Premiere of "Boris Godunov" at the Mariinsky Theatre. - 7-19V. Creation of the ballad for voice and piano "Forgotten" to the words of Golenishchev-Kutuzov, dedicated to VV Vereshchagin. - VII. The origin of the concept of the opera "Sorochinsky Fair".
1875. - 13 II. Mussorgsky's participation as an accompanist in a concert in favor of needy students of the Medical and Surgical Academy. - 9 III. Participation in the musical and literary evening of the St. Petersburg Society for the benefit of students of medical and pedagogical courses.
1876. - 11 III. Participation in the musical evening of the St. Petersburg meeting of artists in favor of needy students of the Medical and Surgical Academy.
1877. - 17 II. Participation in the concert Yu. F. Platonova. - Participation in a concert in favor of the Society of cheap apartments.
1878. - 2 IV. Performance with singer D. M. Leonova in the concert of the Society for Assistance to Students of Women's Medical and Pedagogical Courses. - 10XII. Resumption of "Boris Godunov" (with large bills) at the Mariinsky Theatre.
1879. - 16 I. Performance of the scene in the cell from "Boris Godunov" in the concert of the Free Music School conducted by Rimsky-Korsakov (staged by the Mariinsky Theater was released). - 3 IV. Participation in the concert of the Society for Assistance to Students of Women's Medical and Pedagogical Courses. - VII-X. Concert trip with Leonova (Poltava, Elizavetgrad, Kherson, Odessa, Sevastopol, Yalta, Rostov-on-Don, Novocherkassk, Voronezh, Tambov, Tver). - 27XI. Performance of excerpts from "Khovanshchina" in a concert of the Free Music School conducted by Rimsky-Korsakov.
1880. - I. Departure from service. Deterioration of health. - 8 IV. Performance of excerpts from "Khovanshchina" and "Song of a Flea" in Leonova's concerto with an orchestra conducted by Rimsky-Korsakov. - 27 and 30 IV. Two concerts by Leonova and Mussorgsky in Tver. - 5 VIII. Message in a letter to Stasov about the end of "Khovanshchina" (with the exception of small passages in the last act).
1881. - II. A sharp deterioration in health. - 2-5 III. I. E. Repin paints a portrait of Mussorgsky - 16 III. Death of Mussorgsky in the Nikolaev military hospital from erysipelas of the leg. - 18 III. The funeral of Mussorgsky at the cemetery of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra in St. Petersburg.
