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Dictionary definition: Mussorgsky, Modest (Petrovich)
- Article from:
- The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music
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Copyright© The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music 1996, originally published by Oxford University Press 1996. (Hide copyright information)
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Mussorgsky, Modest (Petrovich)
(
b
Karevo, Pskov, 1839;
d
St Petersburg, 1881). Russ. composer. Showed mus. talent as a child but was destined for an army career. In 1857 he met Balakirev in St Petersburg and studied with him, resigning his commission the next year. His early songs and pf. pieces show little sign of his later achievement, but by 1864 he was writing fine songs. He started and abandoned 2 operas, but began work in 1868 on
Boris Godunov
, which he rev. when it was rejected by the Imperial Th. On its prod. in 1874 it pleased audiences but not musicians, who resented its unconventional methods and unusual style in which speech-inflexion governed the vocal lines. Over the next few ...