LEADER 03369cam 22004094a 4500001 ocm48958056 003 OCoLC 005 20141212164535.0 008 020122s2002 enkafg b 001 0beng 010 2002020154 019 50783429 020 0198165870 035 (Sirsi) o48958056 035 (OCoLC)48958056 040 DLC |cDLC |dYDX |dUKM |dUtOrBLW 049 EREM 050 00 ML410.M97 |bB75 2002 082 00 780/.92B |221 100 1 Brown, David, |d1929-2014. |=^A55878 245 10 Musorgsky : |bhis life and works / |cDavid Brown. 246 3 Mussorgsky : his life and works 260 Oxford ;New York : |bOxford University Press, |c2002. 300 xvii, 391 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : |billustrations, music ; |c25 cm. 336 text |2rdacontent 337 unmediated |2rdamedia 338 volume |2rdacarrier 490 1 Master musicians 504 Includes list of works (pages 371-375), bibliographical references (pages 383-385), and index. 505 00 |gChildhood and early years -- |tThe making of a composer I -- |tThe making of a composer II -- |tThe early songs I -- |tSalammbô -- |tThe early songs II -- |tSt. John's Night on the Bare [Bald] Mountain: more songs -- |tThe Marriage: towards Boris -- |tBoris Gudonov: composition and production -- |tBoris Gudonov: the music -- |tLife alongside Boris I: The Nursery completed -- |tLife alongside Boris II ; |tKhovanshchina begun -- |gTwo relationships: |tPictures at an Exhibition and Sunless -- |tKhovanshchina -- |tSongs and Dances of Death: last songs -- |tSorochintsy Fair -- |gFinal years -- |gPostlude: the century since -- |gAppendices: |gCalendar ; |gList of works ; |gPersonalia ; |gSelect bibliography. 520 This is the largest study of Musorgsky to have appeared outside Russia. The book shows how Musorgsky, though essentially an amateur with no systematic training in composition, emerged in his first opera, Boris Godunov, as a supreme musical dramatist. In this opera, and in certain of his piano pieces in Pictures at an Exhibition, Musorgsky produced some of the most startlingly novel music of the whole nineteenth century. He was also one of the most original of all song composers, with a prodigious gift for uncovering the emotional content of a text. As the author illuminates Musorgsky's work, he also paints a detailed portrait of the composer's life. He describes how, unlike the systematic and disciplined Tchaikovsky, Musorgsky was a fitful composer. When the inspiration was upon him, he could apply himself with superhuman intensity, as he did when composing the initial version of Boris Godunov. Sadly, Musorgsky deteriorated in his final years, suffering periods of inner turmoil, when his alcoholism would be out of control. Finally, unemployed and all but destitute, he died at age forty-two. His failure to complete his two remaining operas, Khovanshchina and Sorochintsy Fair, the book concludes, is one of music's greatest tragedies. 600 10 Mussorgsky, Modest Petrovich, |d1839-1881. |=^A35493 650 0 Composers |zRussia (Federation) |vBiography. |=^A694684 830 0 Master musicians series. |=^A260201 994 X0 |bERE 596 3 998 894188