Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky (March 9/21, 1839 - March 16/28, 1881), one of five russian composers known as The
Mighty Handful, was an innovator of Russian music. His successes, and indeed many of the works of he and his
contemporaries, often drew from mediaeval Russian history, Russian folklore, and other nationalistic themes; this,
while often in deliberate defiance of established conventions of Western Music, towards a uniquely Russian musical
identity. His major works include the great national opera Boris Godunov, the orchestral tone poem A Night on the
Bare 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; in most cases the original scores are now also available.
Pictures at an Exhibition is a famous suite of 15 musical pieces, composed by Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky in 1874. Mussorgsky wrote the work for piano, but it is probably better known in the form of various orchestrations and arrangements that have been produced by other musicians and composers. Mussorgsky composed the work in commemoration of his friend, the artist and architect Viktor Hartmann, who was only 39 when he died in 1873; the original title for the suite was Hartmann.
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