Exploring Mussorgsky

Modest Mussorgsky was a composer from Russia. He was born in 1839 and died in 1881.

One of his most famous pieces is called 'Pictures at an Art Exhibition'. It's like a musical version of an art gallery, but instead of seeing pictures, you hear them as short pieces of music. The music even describes the movement of people from picture-to-picture.

Mussorgsky often composed music by using traditional stories and folk tunes as a starting point.

His famous piece 'A Night on the Bare Mountain' was composed like this.

'A Night on the Bare Mountain' is a piece of music for an orchestra.

It describes a short story about a place where lots of evil characters such as witches and trolls come out to play.

It's a wild and scary party with lots of dancing. Then, when the church bells ring at sunrise, the witches and trolls all vanish.

Listen carefully to the orchestra performing 'A Night on the Bare Mountain'. Think about how you feel as they play.

You can learn more about Modest Mussorgsky and 'A Night on the Bare Mountain' with Ten Pieces.

Listen carefully again to the orchestra playing 'A Night on the Bare Mountain'. Can you answer these questions?

• How does the music make you feel?
• What instruments can you hear at the start of the piece?
• Can you spot when the party stops and the sun rises in the music?
• How has Mussorgsky done this in the music?
• For an extra challenge, can you describe how Mussorgsky creates a sense of fear in his music? Think about dynamics, tempo, rhythm and pitch to answer this question.