Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky (1839 – 1881) was a
Russian composer, one of the group known as "The Five".
He was an innovator of Russian music in the romantic
period. He strove to achieve a uniquely Russian musical
identity, often in deliberate defiance of the
established conventions of Western music. Many of his
works were inspired by Russian history, Russian
folklore, and other national themes. Such works include
the opera Boris Godunov, the orchestral tone poem Night
on Bald Mountain and the ...(+)
Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky (1839 – 1881) was a
Russian composer, one of the group known as "The Five".
He was an innovator of Russian music in the romantic
period. He strove to achieve a uniquely Russian musical
identity, often in deliberate defiance of the
established conventions of Western music. Many of his
works were inspired by Russian history, Russian
folklore, and other national themes. Such works include
the opera Boris Godunov, the orchestral tone poem Night
on Bald Mountain and the piano suite Pictures at an
Exhibition.
While not utterly incomprehensible, the task of
explaining the compositional history of Khovanshchina
is blessedly beyond the scope of this article. Left
unfinished at his death as a mass of disorderly
manuscripts, Khovanshchina resists comprehension either
as a drama, an opera or even a piece of music. It also
resisted successful completion: after Mussorgsky's
death in 1882, his friend Rimsky-Korsakov tried to put
his manuscripts in order and to create a performing
edition of Khovanshchina. Part of this task, the least
part of this impossible task, was the opera's
orchestration, including its prelude, called Dawn on
the Muscovy River.
The curtain rises during the prelude to reveal the
pre-dawn city of Moscow at the end of the seventeenth
century, the period which marks the rise of Peter the
Great. Mussorgsky had left only indications as to how
the scoring was to be handled, and Rimsky
understandably chose to orchestrate it in his own
manner. One might not think that this would make an
enormous difference in the essence of the music. But,
to a surprising extent, Dawn on the Muscovy River is
orchestral in its essence, and Rimsky's orchestration,
with its bright woodwinds and light basses, with its
tempo rubato and its languorous tempo, makes the work
seem more like a pastoral than a city scene, more like
a light elegy than the prelude to a historical tragedy
which would end with the deaths of many of the
characters and the mass self-immolation of most of the
rest.
Although Rimsky did succeed in creating a performing
edition of the Khovanshchina and of the prelude, much
of Mussorgsky's essence was lost in the
recomposition.
Although originally created for Orchestra, I created
this Interpretation of the Prelude: "Dawn over the
River Moscow" from "Khovanshchina" (IMM 34 Mvt. 1) for
Small Orchestra (Flute, Oboe, A Clarinet, English Horn,
French Horn, Bassoon, Timpani, 2 Violins, 2 Violas,
Cello, Bass and Concert (Pedal) Harp).
PARTITION