Modest Mussorgsky is a Russian composer from the early Romanic era. He was born in Russia on March 21, 1839 and died soon after his 42nd birthday on Match 28, 1881. Mussorgsky was first exposed to Russian folk tales under the influence of his nurse. He had his first lesson from his mom and later began to have piano lessons with Anton Herke in August 1849. He made fast progress, and by the age of seven he could play a short piece by Liszt and performed a Field concerto by the age of nine. He continued his education and, eventually, in 1852, he was enrolled in the Cadet School of the Guards. He composed his first piano piece dedicated to his schoolmates in his first year of school titled Porte-enseigne polka. Mussorgsky was involved in the school choir, where he was encouraged to study Russian composers by Father Krupsky, the religious instructor. In 1854 his piano lessons with Herke stopped and he has yet to learn harmony or composition and entered Preobrazhensky Regiment of Guards upon leaving Cadet School of Guards (Sadie, 1980). Mussorgsky was not born into a music family as Mozart and Beethoven have been, but he displayed talent in piano playing, and because he did not receive proper education for techniques causing his works to appear amateurish and; his compositions are mainly influenced by various different composers, such as Liszt, Schumann and Meyerbeer.
When he was eighteen years old, Dargomyzhshy introduced him to Cui and Balakirev, and became associated with Vladimir Stasov. Being associationed with musical figures inspired him to become a professional composer. Mussorgsky became familiar with the works of Schumann and Beethoven, and analyzed and played their work. He attempted to write music of his own in classical s...
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...de contributions to the development of music in the Romantic era.
Works Cited
Modest Mussorgsky. (n.d.). IMDb. Retrieved March 18, 2014, from http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0615915/
Mussorgsky, M. (2002). Pictures at an Exhibition: Promenade [Recorded by Evengy Kissin]. On Mussorgsky: Pictures At An Exhibition [CD]. Germany, Freiburg: SWR-Studio.
Mussorgsky, M. (2002). Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks [Recorded by Evengy Kissin]. On Mussorgsky: Pictures At An Exhibition [CD]. Germany, Freiburg: SWR-Studio.
Sadie, S (Eds.). (1980). The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. London: Macmillan Publishers Limited.
Slonimsk, N. (Eds.). (2000). Baker’s Biographical Dictionary of Musicians. New York: Schirmer Books.
YouTube (2 April, 2012) Vladimir Horowitz 1947 / Mussorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXfJAup8W9w
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