History Music / ModestMussorgsky

* KillEmAll: The four movements of the song cycle ''Music/SongsAndDancesOfDeath'' depict the death of a baby, a teenage girl, a drunken and frostbitten peasant, and soldiers on a battlefield. One of the bleakest works of the Romantic Period, as well as one of its most effective (though his song cycle ''Music/{{Sunless}}'' runs a close second in pessimism).

In his lifetime, Mussorgksy's works were not well received, but the arrangements of his ''Music/PicturesAtAnExhibition'' (by Music/MauriceRavel) and ''A Music/NightOnBaldMountain'' (by the youngest member of the Five, [[Music/NikolayRimskyKorsakov Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov]]) established both as popular concert pieces, while the reputations of the original versions are also undergoing much [[VindicatedByHistory re-evaluation]]. His only finished opera, ''Theatre/BorisGodunov'', is among the most popular of all Russian operas.

* AmbiguouslyGay: Mussorgsky never married and never had a romantic relationship with a woman. He formed close attachments to several heterosexual men, most notably the painter [[Creator/ViktorAlexandrovichHartmann Viktor Alexandrovich Hartmann]] (whose work provided the basis for ''Music/PicturesAtAnExhibition''), but seems not to have had any stable romantic relationships with men, either. He frequently appears on lists of famous gay composers, regardless.

* AwesomeMomentOfCrowning: Act 1 of ''Boris Godunov'' ends with a spectacular coronation sequence, complete with bells pealing and full choir.
* CoveredUp: Many of his compositions are better known in orchestral arrangements by [[Music/NikolayRimskyKorsakov Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov]] or Music/MauriceRavel.

* PosthumousCollaboration: Mussorgsky left several of his works unfinished or in various states of disrepair. ''Music/PicturesAtAnExhibition'', originally written for solo piano, has been orchestrated many times, most notably by Music/MauriceRavel. [[Music/NikolayRimskyKorsakov Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov]] reorchestrated and rearranged ''Music/NightOnBaldMountain'' and ''Theatre/BorisGodunov'' and completed several other works, most notably the opera ''Theatre/{{Khovanshchina}}''.

* UncommonTime: He was an early adopter of unconventional time signatures, such as in the "Promenade" from "Pictures at an Exhibition" which alternates between 5/4 and 6/4.

Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky (Russian: Моде́ст Петро́вич Му́соргский, 21 March [9 March in the Julian calendar] 1839 – 28 March [16 March in the Julian calendar] 1881) was a Russian composer of great originality, though almost all of his most popular works are best known in forms created by other composers, notably Rimsky-Korsakov. A member of 'The Five' (Or 'The Mighty Handful'), Mussorgsky trained as a soldier, and then became a civil servant, though wasn't particularly successful at either. A decline fuelled by alcohol and penury resulted in his early death at the age of 42.

In his lifetime, Mussorgksy's works were not well received, but the arrangements of his ''Music/PicturesAtAnExhibition'' (by Music/MauriceRavel) and ''A Music/NightOnBaldMountain'' (by the youngest member of the Five, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov) established both as popular concert pieces, while the reputations of the original versions are also undergoing much [[VindicatedByHistory re-evaluation]], while his only finished opera, ''Boris Godunov'', is among the most popular of all Russian operas.

* StandardSnippet: ''Night on Bald Mountain'' for anything relating to dark magic, especially after it was featured in ''WesternAnimation/{{Fantasia}}''. The ''Pictures at an Exhibition'' suite is also used, funnily enough, for art programmes. Although at one exhibition of Russian holograms staged in London, ''Pictures at an Exhibition'' was about the only well-known piece of Russian classical music that ''wasn't'' used.

* PatrioticFervor: He was a firm believer in utilizing authentically Russian subject matter and musical techniques in his works, as were the rest of the "[[Music/TheMightyHandful Russian Five]]" and was in fact the group's most extreme example of this tendency. His music was considered very daring for its time, subverting Western melodic and harmonic conventions and influencing early 20th century composers such as Music/ClaudeDebussy.