Modest Mussorgsky

Mussorgsky soon left the army to spend his days with young artists and intellectuals. Art, politics, religion and philosophy were his main interests. He was fascinated by the The Five, (Stassov, Borodin, Cui, Balakirev and Rimsky-Korsakov) and in 1867 he composed St John’s Night on the Bare Mountain. The modernity of the work caused great surprise.

The exaggerated sensitivity of Modest Mussorgsky

Mussorgsky suffered from a fragile constitution. What with his critical lack of finance, epileptic fits and alcoholism, Mussorgsky was prey to doubt and depression, unable to finish his works. He began numerous works just to then leave them.

Based on freedom of form, Mussorgsky’s aesthetic offered pessimistic works inspired by the tales and legends of the country, sublimated by orchestral beauty and swept along by a luxuriant lyricism. Ignored during his lifetime, between naturalism and expressionism, the composer left behind a work tormented by nostalgia expressed in his melodies, symphonic works and magnificent operas, Boris Godunov and Khovanshchina.