Modest Mussorgsky Bio
Modest Mussorgsky
Russia has produced many great composers – Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, and Rachmaninoff are all very well known. In the mid-1800s, a group of 5 composers, known as “The Five,” greatly influenced Russian music by incorporating Russian folk and religious melodies and styles into their works. Modest Mussorgsky was one of “The Five” and his works helped define the Russian Nationalistic style.
Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky was born in Karevo, Russia on March 21, 1839. His parents were landowners and members of the minor nobility, but his some of his descendents had been serfs. He spent the first ten years of his life on the family estate. In his autobiographical sketch written late in his life, Mussorgsky said that he learned about Russian folklore and fairy tales from his nurse when he was a toddler. He wrote, “This early familiarity with the spirit of the people, with the way they lived, lent the first and greatest impetus to my musical improvisations…” (Mussorgsky) When he was 6 years old, he started taking piano lessons from his mother, who was herself an accomplished pianist.
When he was 10 years old, his father took Modest and his older brother Filaret to St. Petersburg and enrolled them in the Peterschule – an elite school for the sons of gentry – to prepare them for a military career. While enrolled, he began to study piano with Anton Herke (who would later become professor of music at the St. Petersburg Conservatory), an acclaimed pianist in St. Petersburg (Mussorgsky). After spending two years at the Peterschule, he spent a year at A. A. Komarov’s boarding school for prospective cadets. He entered the Cadet School of the Guards in 1852. During that period, it was common for young men in his social class to become military officers (Oldani). It was there that Mussorgsky published his first composition, the Podpraporshchik (Porte-Enseigne Polka). In the tradition of all college students, the work was published at his father’s expense
Russia has produced many great composers – Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, and Rachmaninoff are all very well known. In the mid-1800s, a group of 5 composers, known as “The Five,” greatly influenced Russian music by incorporating Russian folk and religious melodies and styles into their works. Modest Mussorgsky was one of “The Five” and his works helped define the Russian Nationalistic style.
Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky was born in Karevo, Russia on March 21, 1839. His parents were landowners and members of the minor nobility, but his some of his descendents had been serfs. He spent the first ten years of his life on the family estate. In his autobiographical sketch written late in his life, Mussorgsky said that he learned about Russian folklore and fairy tales from his nurse when he was a toddler. He wrote, “This early familiarity with the spirit of the people, with the way they lived, lent the first and greatest impetus to my musical improvisations…” (Mussorgsky) When he was 6 years old, he started taking piano lessons from his mother, who was herself an accomplished pianist.
When he was 10 years old, his father took Modest and his older brother Filaret to St. Petersburg and enrolled them in the Peterschule – an elite school for the sons of gentry – to prepare them for a military career. While enrolled, he began to study piano with Anton Herke (who would later become professor of music at the St. Petersburg Conservatory), an acclaimed pianist in St. Petersburg (Mussorgsky). After spending two years at the Peterschule, he spent a year at A. A. Komarov’s boarding school for prospective cadets. He entered the Cadet School of the Guards in 1852. During that period, it was common for young men in his social class to become military officers (Oldani). It was there that Mussorgsky published his first composition, the Podpraporshchik (Porte-Enseigne Polka). In the tradition of all college students, the work was published at his father’s expense
Cited: Frankenstein, Alfred. “Victor Hartmann and Modeste Musorgsky.” The Musical Quarterly. 25.3 (1939) 268-91. JSTOR. Web. 16 Mar. 2010. Frolova-Walker, Marina. “Musorgsky, Modest Petrovich.” The Oxford Companion to Music. Ed. Alison Latham. Oxford University Press, 2002. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press. Tri-County Technical College. 17 March 2010 <http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t114.e4642> Jacobson, Bernard. Liner notes. Pictures at an Exhibition. Philips, 1991. CD. Mussorgsky, Modest (Petrovich). Encyclopedia Britannica. 15th ed. 1988. Print. Oldani, Robert W. “Musorgsky, Modest Petrovich.” Groves Encyclopedia of Music and Musicians. Xth ed. 200X. Print. http://imslp.info/files/imglnks/usimg/7/75/IMSLP41547-PMLP03722-Mussorgsky---Pictures-Of-An-Exhibition---Ed-Kalmus.pdf Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Encyclopedia Britannica. 15th ed. 1988. Print.