La Belle Music by La Belle Epoq - Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky
- LaBelleEpoq
- Dec 15, 2020
- 3 min read
Updated: May 21, 2021
Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky was a Russian composer who integrated national folklore into his works. His music innovation was a subtle combination of Western music elements with a Rusian traditional flavour.
The author spotlighted the specificity and the originality of the Russian people. The opera "Boris Godunov" became an example of vocal and symphonic fundamentalism, premiered in 1874 at the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg, the Opera influenced the work of many composers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Modest Petrovich was a member of the prominent "Mighty Handful" founded by Mily Balakirev including César Cui, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Alexander Borodin. The circle strived to promote Russian music, to unite national traditional themes with new creative ideas that arose in connection with the changing era.
An insatiable desire to convey the entire vivid picture of the dramatic events taking place in the country at that time ware felt in the originality of his talented compositions. It should be noted that not all works of the great master were accepted by the public.
Music creators often face the dilemma; on the one hand, the implementation of innovative musical directions, and on the other hand, not to derive and still keep the national ideology.
It is known that Modest Petrovich constantly doubted his creations, and the support of friends was important to dissolve his doubts.
Mussorgsky arranged folk songs, church music, or musical harmony in two themes: the fate of a person and the fate of a people. Later he privileged large-scale choral scenes instead of solo performances.
Success and recognition often kept waiting. The opera "Boris Godunov" was initially rejected by the Mariinsky Theater. Mussorgsky continued to work and changed the storyline, added several more characters.
The finale consisted in the gathering of a mass folk stage, as an
unchanging national voice. Folklore melodies, colourful original images added missing elements to the previous version of the opera.
In the mid-1870s, putting aside the sketchbook for Khovanshchina, Modest Petrovich composed the vocal cycle Songs and Dances of Death and presented to his colleagues several fragments of another opera called The Fair at Sorochyntsi, which was never completed.
In early 1881 Mussorgsky was desperate, 'nothing left but begging as he declared to a friend. He suffered from multiple illnesses in a hospital bed. It was only a few days before the Composer's death that Ilya Repin's painted the portrait of Mussorgsky during 2-5 March.
This colourful work occupies a special place among Repin's famous portraits due to the drama and the meaning. At the time of painting, Repin did not have any necessary tools neither time for proper preparation. Thus he painted a spontaneous portrait without an easel.
Before us is a man with a sick appearance: unhealthy redness of the face, pinkish nose, shiny eyes. Repin trying to convey all the pain of Musorgsky's unfulfilled genius.
Tousled hair, a running beard and moustache do not distract us from the composer's gaze: there is a deep sadness in his eyes. At the same time, these are the eyes of a strong man with a proud disposition.
A hospital gown and an embroidered shirt painted not to emphasize the pain, but to serve as a decoration to his face - to his head, with an evocative turn of which suggests a person struggling with his illness until the last moment of his life. In fact, Mussorgsky tried to fight for his health for many years.
The background in the portrait is "empty", free from unnecessary details of the room. The light background colour makes the viewer think about the association with clouds or airiness. A feeling of grandeur and grandeur of the depicted is created. He is like his music: national, indomitable, powerful, unique. Music as the depth of Mussorgsky's gaze. His thoughts left unfinished works, non-embodied ideas, but most importantly a free music.
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