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.

For many years Mussorgsky's works were mainly known in versions revised or completed by other composers. Many of his most important compositions have posthumously come into their own in their original forms, and some of the original scores are now also available. In a July 5, 1867 letter to Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Modest Mussorgsky wrote "(I have) finished St. John's Night on Bald Mountain, a musical picture with the following program: (1) assembly of the witches, their chatter and gossip; (2) cortege of Satan; (3) unholy gratification of Satan; and (4) witches' sabbath." Mussorgsky proclaims "in form and character my composition is Russian and original. Its tone is hot and chaotic.... St. John's Night is something new and is bound to produce a satisfactory impression...."

When Mussorgsky became a composition student of Mily Balakirev in December 1857, the 18-year-old was given a pair of assignments on the spot: write a scherzo and sonata for solo piano. While Mussorgsky was eventually able to piece together with Balakirev's help a Scherzo in C sharp minor, both his attempts at sonata apparently failed: neither the E flat major or the F sharp minor sonatas exist except as quotations of the main themes of the opening movements in letters to Balakirev. And given Mussorgsky's self-confessed "Russian laziness" coupled with his incipient alcoholism and his attacks of what he called "mysticism," it is doubtful that much more of the works ever existed beyond those quotations.

Thus is it likely that the only actual sonata-allegro form movement Mussorgsky ever actually composed was the Allegro assai from his Sonata for piano, 4 hands from 1860. In his biography of the composer, M.D. Calvocoressi asserts that, "though obviously written only as an exercise, (the Allegro) is interesting as the only extant composition of Mussorgsky's in sonata form, indeed his only large-scale essay in absolute instrument music," and he closes with the damning line "for which it conclusively demonstrated his inaptitude." Calvocoressi does not exaggerate: Mussorgsky's ideas are not capable of development and his sonata does not proceed through development but by uncertain fits and starts.

Although there were supposedly three additional movements for the Sonata for Two Pianos, only a scherzo was apparently ever put on paper and it is no more than a transcription of his Scherzo in C sharp minor down a semi-tone to C minor and expanded slightly for two players at a single keyboard.

Source: AllMusic (https://www.allmusic.com/composition/sonata-for-piano- 4-hands-in-c-major-mc0002365412).

Although originally created for Piano (4 hands), I created this Interpretation of the Allegro assai (Mvt. 1) from the Sonata in C Major (IMM 63) for Winds (Flute, Oboe, Bb Clarinet, French Horn& Bassoon) & Strings (2 Violins, Viola, Cello & Bass).