"other than the gypsy. The Fair at Sorochyntsi (short story) ""The Fair at Sorochyntsi"" is the first story in the collection ""Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka"" by Ukrainian-born writer Nikolai Gogol. Later in the 19th-century the story was adapted as an opera of the same name by Modest Mussorgsky (left unfinished by the composer, and completed by other hands). This story opens with the novice narrator described in Panko's introduction providing a literary description of the beauty of Ukraine (then known as ""Little Russia"") and sets the date in August 1800. The main characters of the story, Solopy Cherevik,"
"or completed by other composers. Many of his most important compositions have posthumously come into their own in their original forms, and some of the original scores are now also available. The spelling and pronunciation of the composer's name has caused some confusion. The family name derives from a 15th- or 16th-century ancestor, Roman Vasilyevich Monastyryov, who appears in the Velvet Book, the 17th-century genealogy of Russian boyars. Roman Vasilyevich bore the nickname ""Musorga"", and was the grandfather of the first Mussorgsky. The composer could trace his lineage to Rurik, the legendary 9th-century founder of the Russian state. In Mussorgsky"
"family documents the spelling of the name varies: ""Musarskiy"", ""Muserskiy"", ""Muserskoy"", ""Musirskoy"", ""Musorskiy"", and ""Musurskiy"". The baptismal record gives the composer's name as ""Muserskiy"". In early (up to 1858) letters to Mily Balakirev, the composer signed his name ""Musorskiy"" (). The ""g"" made its first appearance in a letter to Balakirev in 1863. Mussorgsky used this new spelling (, ""Musorgskiy"") to the end of his life, but occasionally reverted to the earlier ""Musorskiy"". The addition of the ""g"" to the name was likely initiated by the composer's elder brother Filaret to obscure the resemblance of the name's root to an"
"/s/ often becomes voiced to /z/ (as in ""music""), unlike in Slavic languages where it remains unvoiced. Doubling the consonant thus reinforces its voiceless sibilant /s/ sound. Mussorgsky was born in Karevo, Toropets Uyezd, Pskov Governorate, Russian Empire, south of Saint Petersburg. His wealthy and land-owning family, the noble family of Mussorgsky, is reputedly descended from the first Ruthenian ruler, Rurik, through the sovereign princes of Smolensk. At age six, Mussorgsky began receiving piano lessons from his mother, herself a trained pianist. His progress was sufficiently rapid that three years later he was able to perform a John Field concerto"
"Songs and Dances of Death Songs and Dances of Death (, ""Pesni i plyaski smerti"") is a song cycle for voice (usually bass or bass-baritone) and piano by Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky, written in the mid-1870s, to poems by Arseny Golenishchev-Kutuzov, a relative of the composer. Each song deals with death in a poetic manner although the depictions are realistic in that they reflect experiences not uncommon in 19th century Russia: child death, death in youth, drunken misadventure and war. The song cycle is considered Mussorgsky's masterpiece in the genre. ""Songs and Dances of Death"" consists of four individual songs, as"
"Songs and Dances of Death Songs and Dances of Death (, ""Pesni i plyaski smerti"") is a song cycle for voice (usually bass or bass-baritone) and piano by Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky, written in the mid-1870s, to poems by Arseny Golenishchev-Kutuzov, a relative of the composer. Each song deals with death in a poetic manner although the depictions are realistic in that they reflect experiences not uncommon in 19th century Russia: child death, death in youth, drunken misadventure and war. The song cycle is considered Mussorgsky's masterpiece in the genre. ""Songs and Dances of Death"" consists of four individual songs, as"
"unsavory Russian word: Mussorgsky apparently did not take the new spelling seriously, and played on the ""rubbish"" connection in letters to Vladimir Stasov and to Stasov's family, routinely signing his name ""Musoryanin"", roughly ""garbage-dweller"" (compare ""dvoryanin"": ""nobleman""). The first syllable of the name originally received the stress (i.e., MÚS-ər-skiy), and does so to this day in Russia and in the composer's home district. The mutability of the second-syllable vowel in the versions of the name mentioned above gives evidence that this syllable did not receive the stress. The addition of the ""g"" and the accompanying shift in stress to the"
"Theatre and Performance. A full catalogue and details of access arrangements are available here. Igor Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (; ; 6 April 1971) was a Russian-born composer, pianist, and conductor. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential composers of the 20th century. Stravinsky's compositional career was notable for its stylistic diversity. He first achieved international fame with three ballets commissioned by the impresario Serge Diaghilev and first performed in Paris by Diaghilev's Ballets Russes: ""The Firebird"" (1910), ""Petrushka"" (1911), and ""The Rite of Spring"" (1913). The last of these transformed the way in which subsequent"
"his opera ""The Fair at Sorochyntsi"" (1874–80), a work which was still incomplete at the time of his death in 1881. Mussorgsky's piano-vocal score is dated 10 May 1880. Mussorgsky originally chose the end of act 1 of the opera as the location for his choral intermezzo. It is now generally performed in the Shebalin version (1930) of the opera, where it is relocated to act 3, just after the peasant lad's dumka. The theme of the dumka also serves as one of the main themes of the new quiet ending. The ""Dream Vision of the Peasant Lad"" was first"
"Igor Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (; ; 6 April 1971) was a Russian-born composer, pianist, and conductor. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential composers of the 20th century. Stravinsky's compositional career was notable for its stylistic diversity. He first achieved international fame with three ballets commissioned by the impresario Serge Diaghilev and first performed in Paris by Diaghilev's Ballets Russes: ""The Firebird"" (1910), ""Petrushka"" (1911), and ""The Rite of Spring"" (1913). The last of these transformed the way in which subsequent composers thought about rhythmic structure and was largely responsible for Stravinsky's enduring reputation as"
"The Fair at Sorochyntsi The Fair at Sorochyntsi (, ""Sorochinskaya yarmarka"", ""Sorochyntsi Fair"") is a comic opera in three acts by Modest Mussorgsky, composed between 1874 and 1880 in St. Petersburg, Russia. The composer wrote the libretto, which is based on Nikolai Gogol's short story of the same name, from his early (1832) collection of Ukrainian stories ""Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka"". The opera remained unfinished and unperformed at Mussorgsky's death in 1881. Mussorgsky worked on the opera between 1874 and 1880, in competition with his work on ""Khovanshchina"" (1872–1880); both were incomplete at the time of his death"
"the most of Russian composers. Glinka was followed by Alexander Dargomyzhsky (1813–1869) with his Rusalka (1856) and revolutionary The Stone Guest (""Kamenny gost"", completed by Rimsky-Korsakov and premiered in 1872). Other composers were: Russian opera reached its apogee with the works by Modest Mussorgsky and his antipode Pyotr Tchaikovsky. Modest Mussorgsky's (1839–1881) Boris Godunov remains the greatest masterpiece of Russian opera, despite what many consider to be serious technical faults and a bewildering array of versions (Original Version of 1869, Revised Version of 1872, Rimsky-Korsakov Edition of 1908, Shostakovich Edition of 1940, etc.). His other operas were left unfinished: Pyotr"
"and mazurkas, in a total of about 250 musical works such as his symphonic ""Moldavian poem"", violin and piano concertos, trios and string quartets during his short musical career. His vocal compositions include a large number of ballads, choral and folk arrangements as well. Kosenko was born on 23 November 1896 in Saint Petersburg, into the large family of a major general named Stepan Kosenko. His family moved from Saint Petersburg to Warsaw in 1898, where later he would encounter the best of world musical classics while listening to the performance of famous musicians such as Fritz Kreisler, Ferruccio Busoni,"
"The Song of the Flea """"The Song of the Flea"""" () is a song with piano accompaniment, composed by Modest Mussorgsky in 1879. The lyrics are from the Russian translation of Goethe's Faust. In 1879, Mussorgsky quit a civil service job, and, from August to November, accompanied soprano Darya Leonova (, 1829-1896) on a tour to Southern Russia, as her piano accompanist. He was much impressed by Leonova's singing, and composed ""The Song of the Flea"" during this trip or soon after he had returned to St. Petersburg, dedicating it to Leonova. It is unknown when the song was played"
"and works by Franz Liszt for family and friends. At 10, he and his brother were taken to Saint Petersburg to study at the elite German language Petrischule (St. Peter's School). While there, Modest studied the piano with the noted Anton Gerke. In 1852, the 12-year-old Mussorgsky published a piano piece titled ""Porte-enseigne Polka"" at his father's expense. Mussorgsky's parents planned the move to Saint Petersburg so that both their sons would renew the family tradition of military service. To this end, Mussorgsky entered the Cadet School of the Guards at age 13. Sharp controversy had arisen over the educational"
"Night on Bald Mountain Night on Bald Mountain (), also known as Night on the Bare Mountain, is a series of compositions by Modest Mussorgsky (1839–1881). Inspired by Russian literary works and legend, Mussorgsky composed a ""musical picture"", ""St. John's Eve on Bald Mountain"" () on the theme of a witches' sabbath occurring on St. John's Eve, which he completed on that very night, 23 June 1867. Together with Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov's ""Sadko"" (1867), it is one of the first tone poems by a Russian composer. Although Mussorgsky was proud of his youthful effort, his mentor, Miliy Balakirev, refused to perform"
"Khovanshchina Khovanshchina (, ""Hovánščina"", sometimes rendered The Khovansky Affair; since the ending -ščina is pejorative) is an opera (subtitled a 'national music drama') in five acts by Modest Mussorgsky. The work was written between 1872 and 1880 in St. Petersburg, Russia. The composer wrote the libretto based on historical sources. The opera was unfinished and unperformed when the composer died in 1881. Like Mussorgsky's earlier ""Boris Godunov"", ""Khovanshchina"" deals with an episode in Russian history, first brought to the composer's attention by his friend the critic Vladimir Stasov. It concerns the rebellion of Prince Ivan Khovansky, the Old Believers, and"
"the Russian translation by Alexander N Strugoshchkov (1808-878) of ""Mephistopheles' song at Auerbach Cellar"" () in Part One of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's ""Faust"". There are works of ""the Song of the Flea"" by other composers: Ludwig van Beethoven, Hector Berlioz, Richard Wagner and Ferruccio Busoni. Beethoven's song has orchestrations by Igor Stravinsky and Dmitri Shostakovich. The Song of the Flea """"The Song of the Flea"""" () is a song with piano accompaniment, composed by Modest Mussorgsky in 1879. The lyrics are from the Russian translation of Goethe's Faust. In 1879, Mussorgsky quit a civil service job, and, from August"
"was unfinished and unperformed when Mussorgsky died, but it was completed by Rimsky-Korsakov and received its premiere in 1886 in Saint Petersburg. This opera, too, was revised by Shostakovich. ""The Fair at Sorochyntsi"", another opera, was left incomplete at his death but a dance excerpt, the Gopak, is frequently performed. Mussorgsky's most imaginative and frequently performed work is the cycle of piano pieces describing paintings in sound called ""Pictures at an Exhibition"". This composition, best known through an orchestral arrangement by Maurice Ravel, was written in commemoration of his friend, the architect Viktor Hartmann. Mussorgsky's single-movement orchestral work ""Night on"
"his operas ""Boris Godunov"" and ""Khovanshchina""; Mussorgsky continued and strengthened this new musical tradition. Other Russians operas have also incorporated the same stylistic elements. These include ""Mozart and Salieri"" by Rimsky-Korsakov in 1898; ""Feast in Time of Plague"" by Cesar Cui in 1901; and ""The Miserly Knight"" by Sergei Rachmaninov in 1904. The modern Russian music critic Viktor Korshikov thus summed up: Consequently, certain musical novelties of ""The Stone Guest"" stem from the above basic premise of composition. For instance, there is little recurrence of whole sections of music in the course of the work; like the verse itself, the"
"Nikolai Myaskovsky Nikolai Yakovlevich Myaskovsky or Miaskovsky or Miaskowsky (; – 8 August 1950, was a Russian and Soviet composer. He is sometimes referred to as the ""Father of the Soviet Symphony"". Myaskovsky was awarded the Stalin Prize five times, more than any other composer. Myaskovsky was born in Modlin Fortress, near Warsaw, Congress Poland, Russian Empire, the son of an engineer officer in the Russian army. After the death of his mother the family was brought up by his father's sister, Yelikonida Konstantinovna Myaskovskaya, who had been a singer at the Saint Petersburg Opera. The family moved to Saint"
"was completed in 1868 in a vocal score and the composer noted: The score is inscribed with the following details: ""The work began on Tuesday, June 11, 1868 in Petrograd (St. Petersburg), and was finished on Tuesday, July 8, 1868 in the village Shilovo, Tula Oblast."" ""The Marriage"" was one of Mussorgsky's first musical masterpieces. It was an experiment in Russian opera, using grotesque and satirical musical language. One citic commented: An early performance with Mussorgsky's participation took place in 1868 in the home of César Cui. Nadezhda Purgold accompanied on the piano. The cast included Modest Mussorgsky (Podkolyosin), Alexander"
"instead making the orchestra calmer, more balanced. The American conductor Igor Buketoff created a version in which he removed most of Rimsky-Korsakov's additions and reorchestrations, and fleshed out some other parts of Mussorgsky's original orchestration. This version had its first performance in 1997 at the Metropolitan Opera, New York, under Valery Gergiev. Notes Sources Libretto Other Boris Godunov (opera) Boris Godunov (, ""Borís Godunóv"") is an opera by Modest Mussorgsky (1839–1881). The work was composed between 1868 and 1873 in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is Mussorgsky's only completed opera and is considered his masterpiece. Its subjects are the Russian ruler"
"Alexander Mosolov Alexander Vasilyevich Mosolov (; – 11 July 1973) was a Russian composer of the early Soviet era, known best for his early futurist piano sonatas, orchestral episodes, and vocal music. Mosolov studied at the Moscow Conservatory and achieved his greatest fame in the Soviet Union and around the world for his 1926 composition, ""Iron Foundry"". Later conflicts with Soviet authorities led to his expulsion from the Composers' Union in 1936 and imprisonment in the Gulag in 1937. Following an early release, which had been argued for by his Conservatory teachers, Mosolov turned his attention to setting Turkmen and"
"Tcherepnin in 1923 and by Vissarion Shebalin in 1930. Shebalin's version became the standard since then. This also includes the ""Night on Bald Mountain"" as a prelude to the third act, instead of an interlude in act one (following Gritsko's Dumka), as Mussorgsky originally planned. The Fair at Sorochyntsi The Fair at Sorochyntsi (, ""Sorochinskaya yarmarka"", ""Sorochyntsi Fair"") is a comic opera in three acts by Modest Mussorgsky, composed between 1874 and 1880 in St. Petersburg, Russia. The composer wrote the libretto, which is based on Nikolai Gogol's short story of the same name, from his early (1832) collection of"
"than isolation and eventual self-destruction. For a time Mussorgsky was able to maintain his creative output: his compositions from 1874 include ""Sunless"", the ""Khovanshchina"" Prelude, and the piano suite ""Pictures at an Exhibition"" (in memory of Hartmann); he also began work on another opera based on Gogol, ""The Fair at Sorochyntsi"" (for which he produced another choral version of ""Night on Bald Mountain""). In the years that followed, Mussorgsky's decline became increasingly steep. Although now part of a new circle of eminent personages that included singers, medical men and actors, he was increasingly unable to resist drinking, and a succession"
"second syllable (i.e., Mu-SÓRK-skiy), sometimes described as a Polish variant, was supported by Filaret Mussorgsky's descendants until his line ended in the 20th century. Their example was followed by many influential Russians, such as Fyodor Shalyapin, Nikolay Golovanov, and Tikhon Khrennikov, who, perhaps dismayed that the great composer's name was ""reminiscent of garbage"", supported the erroneous second-syllable stress that has also become entrenched in the West. The Western convention of doubling the first ""s"", which is not observed in scholarly literature (e.g., ""The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians""), likely arose because in many Western European languages a single intervocalic"
"writers, among them Alexander Pushkin, Vasily Zhukovsky, Aleksander Griboyedov, Pyotr Vyazemsky, Vladimir Odoevsky, and Aleksander Pisarev. However he was not so popular among his colleagues. Glinka avoided mentioning him in his memoirs; Modest Mussorgsky nicknamed him ""Gemoroy"" (Haemorrhoid) by association with the title of his opera ""Gromoboy"". He died in Moscow in 1862, aged 63. His wife a famous Russian actress and singer Nadezhda Repina survived her husband for five years. Alexey Verstovsky Alexey Nikolayevich Verstovsky () () was a Russian composer, musical bureaucrat and rival of Mikhail Glinka. Alexey Verstovsky was born at Seliverstovo Estate, Kozlovsky district, Tambov Governorate."
"was close to death, to orchestrate his opera ""The Stone Guest"". In late 1871, Rimsky-Korsakov moved into Voin's former apartment, and invited Mussorgsky to be his roommate. The working arrangement they agreed upon was that Mussorgsky used the piano in the mornings while Rimsky-Korsakov worked on copying or orchestration. When Mussorgsky left for his civil service job at noon, Rimsky-Korsakov then used the piano. Time in the evenings was allotted by mutual agreement. ""That autumn and winter the two of us accomplished a good deal"", Rimsky-Korsakov wrote, ""with constant exchange of ideas and plans. Mussorgsky composed and orchestrated the Polish"
"Style."" By the close of 1868, Mussorgsky had already started and abandoned two important opera projects—the antique, exotic, romantic tragedy ""Salammbô"", written under the influence of Aleksandr Serov's ""Judith"", and the contemporary, Russian, anti-romantic farce ""Marriage"", influenced by Aleksandr Dargomïzhsky's ""The Stone Guest"". Mussorgsky's next project would be a very original and successful synthesis of the opposing styles of these two experiments—the romantic-lyrical style of ""Salammbô"", and the realistic style of ""Marriage"". In the autumn of 1868, Vladimir Nikolsky, a professor of Russian history and language, and an authority on Pushkin, suggested to Mussorgsky the idea of composing an opera"
"Тольди, ""Sovremennik"", 1852) and ""Bolezni voli"" (Болезни воли, Ailments of the Will, ""Russky Vestnik"", 1859). Alexandra Davydova (1815—1884), a well-known opera singer and a popular art salon hostess, was his wife. Feofil Tolstoy Feofil Matveyevich Tolstoy (, 6 June 1809, Saint Petersburg, Imperial Russia, — 20 February 1881, Saint Petersburg, Imperial Russia), was a Russian composer, music critic and writer who used the pseudonym ""Rostislav"". Tolstoy, the son of the senator Matvey Fyodorovich Tolstoy (1772—1815) and Praskovya Mikhaylovna Kutuzova (1777—1844), the daughter of the renowned Russian Field marshal Mikhail Kutuzov, worked for the most of his life as a mid-rank"
"Gervinus, according to whom ""the highest natural object of musical imitation is emotion, and the method of imitating emotion is to mimic speech""), Mussorgsky in 1868 rapidly set the first eleven scenes of Nikolai Gogol's ""The Marriage"" (""Zhenitba""), with his priority being to render into music the natural accents and patterns of the play's naturalistic and deliberately humdrum dialogue. This work marked an extreme position in Mussorgsky's pursuit of naturalistic word-setting: he abandoned it unorchestrated after reaching the end of his 'Act 1', and though its characteristically 'Mussorgskyian' declamation is to be heard in all his later vocal music, the"
"Boris Godunov (opera) Boris Godunov (, ""Borís Godunóv"") is an opera by Modest Mussorgsky (1839–1881). The work was composed between 1868 and 1873 in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is Mussorgsky's only completed opera and is considered his masterpiece. Its subjects are the Russian ruler Boris Godunov, who reigned as Tsar (1598 to 1605) during the Time of Troubles, and his nemesis, the False Dmitriy (reigned 1605 to 1606). The Russian-language libretto was written by the composer, and is based on the drama ""Boris Godunov"" by Aleksandr Pushkin, and, in the Revised Version of 1872, on Nikolay Karamzin's ""History of the"