1. Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky

2. Life of Mussorgsky Born March 21, 1839 in Saint Petersburg
Wealthy family
Played piano from a young age and wrote his first piano piece and age 12
Graduated from “The Cadet School” in 1856
Suffered from alcoholism
Moved toward writing about realism
Suffered an early death in march 28, 1881
Life of Mussorgsky

3. Music Nationalistic composer Inspired by his home land
Completed one opera titled Boris Godunov
The opera was not well received at first due to the fact it lacked a primma donna
Other operas, Khovanshchina and Sorochintsï Fair, were left unfinished upon his death
Wrote many works for piano, as well as instrumental works
Music

4. Night on Bald Mountain Perhaps Mussorgsky’s best known piece
Instrumental work
Program music
depicts witches and demons gathering on top of a mountain
Full of dissonant sounds
Nothing this bold had been heard before
Mostly in a minor key
Night on Bald Mountain

5. Boris Godunov Mussorgsky’s only finished opera
Forced to make revisions to it at first for it to be played
Finished product was well received
One of his most popular works
Uniquely nationalistic
Shows Russia’s decent into anarchy in the early 17th century
Aria is not sung by a woman, which was unusual
Music tended to have a thick texture to it, many voiced
Boris Godunov

6. Conclusion Died young Had a problem with alcoholism
Didn’t have a lot of money upon death
Best remembered for Boris Godunov and his instrumental works
Paved the way for musicians to experiment with unusual sounds, such as were found in Night on Bald Mountain
Conclusion

7. References http://www.operafolio.com/composer.asp?n=Mussorgsky
References