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.
Mussorgsky wrote two works with the title Gopak, a song
for voice and piano from 1866 and a piano transcription
of the closing number of Act One of his opera
Sorochintsï Fair. The former is one of his first
attempts to write in a specifically Russian idiom, to
wit, the folk dance the gopak. The latter is a slight
and cheerful little piano dance that affects the big
open sonorities of peasant strings in its opening. The
former is significant as an early example of
Mussorgsky's budding slavophilism. The latter is a
footnote to comedic masterpiece that was never
completed. Interestingly, there is also a transcription
of the Gopak for piano by Rachmaninov, which inflates
Mussorgsky's piano version to the bursting point.
Although originally created for Solo Piano, I created
this Interpretation of the "Hopak" from "Sorochintsy
Fair" (IMM 65 Act 1 Finale) for String Quintet (2
Violins, Viola, Cello & Bass).
SHEET MUSIC