Modest Mussorgsky and the Mighty Handful
Modest Mussorgsky (1839-1881)
WORKS OF MODEST MUSSORGSKY
Stage Works (operas)
1872 Boris Godunov (second version)
1880 Khovanshchina (left incomplete)
1880 Sorochintsy Fair (left incomplete)
Orchestral
1858 Scherzo in Bb
1861 Alla marcia notturna
1867 Night on Bald Mountain (rev. 1872)
1880 The Capture of Kars (March)
Piano
1852 Porte-enseigne polka
1857 Souvenir d’enfance
1858 Two Sonatas (Eb and F# minor) lost
1858 Scherzo in Bb
1859 Impromptu passionné
1859 In the Corner (scherzo)
1862 Intermezzo in modo classico
1865 From Memories of Childhood
1865 Reverie
1871 The Seamstress
1874 Pictures at an Exhibition
1879 Storm on the Black Sea (lost)
1880 On the Southern Shore of the Crimea
1880 In the Country
Song Cycles
1868-70 The Nursery
1874 Sunless
1875 Songs and Dances of Death
Songs
Mussorgsky composed around 65 songs (also known as art songs or "romances"). These songs cover a wide range of themes, including Russian folk life, historical events, and deeply personal emotions.
Pictures at an Exhibition (1874)
Mussorgsky/Ravel
PROGRAM NOTES & COMMENTARY
In the years around 1850, with the spirit of nationalism sweeping through Europe, several young Russian artists banded together to rid their native art of foreign influence in order to establish a distinctive character for their works. At the front of that movement was a group of composers known as The Mighty Handful, or The Five, whose members included Mussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Borodin, César Cui and Mily Balakirev….
Quiz yourself on facts about Mussorgsky &
The Mighty Handful
CYS Performance History
Works by Modest Mussorgsky and the Mighty Five
MUSSORGSKY
1996 Pictures at an Exhibition
2004 Pictures at an Exhibition
2007 Night on Bald Mountain
2011 Night on Bald Mountain (AO)
2013 Pictures at an Exhibition
2017 Night on Bald Mountain (AO)
2022 Night on Bald Mountain (AO)
2024 Pictures at an Exhibition
BORODIN
2000 Polovetsian Dances
2009 Polovetsian Dances (AO)
2013 Polovetsian Dances (AO)
2016 Polovetsian Dances
2018 Polovetsian Dances (AO)
2022 Polovetsian Dances (AO)
RIMSKY-KORSAKOV
1994 Scheherazade
1999 Capriccio Espagnole
2001 Scheherazade
2002 Capriccio Espagnole
2008 Scheherazade
2010 Capriccio Espagnole (AO)
2013 Scheherazade
2015 Capriccio Espagnole (AO)
2019 Capriccio Espagnole (AO)
2021 Scheherazade (4th mvt.)
2024 Capriccio Espagnole (AO)