I would like to apologize for all the mistakes I made in my video this week regarding the masterpiece of Mussorgsky and Ravel. So heres a condensed history of the piece:
Modest Mussorgsky was a member of the Mighty 5, a group of russian composers who seemed a nationalistic sound in the late 19th century due to resistance against the European style. Among them were Nikolai Rimsky Korsakov, Alexander Borodin, Cesar Cui, and Milay Balakirev. They all relied on one another immensely. Outside of that immediate circle were artists like Viktor Hartmann, an architect and painter who seeked out a nationalistic style of his own. Him and Mussorgsky were great friends. Hartmann's death by aneurysm at age 39 shocked Modest and most of Russia. The Art critic Vladmir Stassov set up a memorial art exhibit in February of 1874. It was this art exhibit the inspired Mussorgsky's composition.
The piano work was composed in June of 1874, following the premiere of Boris Godunov. It was not published until 1886, five year post humous. It was Rimsky Korsakov who discovered the work and had it sent to the publisher. It was not an accurate description of what Mussorgsky had wanted.
Later on in 1922, Maurice Ravel was commissioned by Serge Koussevitzky to orchestrate it. Successful at its premiere, it is still the most popular orchestration of the work. Some people will criticize the missing Promenade between "Samuel Goldenburg and Schmuyle"and "Limogues".
Many of the paintings of Hartmann were discovered by News Hong Kong TV in 1992 following the fall of the Berlin Wall. Many of the true identities of the movements and their corresponding paintings still remain unknown.
