MUSSORGSKY’S PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION: A PERFORMER’S PRACTICAL OBSERVATIONS ON THE UNPRECEDENTED ORIGINALITY OF THE WORK

Abstract

As a pianist, I had the opportunity to study Modest Mussorgsky’s Pictures at anExhibition, Op. 11 for many years. Performing it on stage remains the most insightful source for understanding the work and its complex beauty. Through playing it more and more, my perception of Pictures became more concrete and detailed. At the same time, it was clear how firmly it could withstand different interpretations. This work can be approached in infinite ways in order to solve the technical challenges and to accomplish the ultimate goal of holding the piece together on the stage. Mussorgsky’s cycle stands alone in its grandeur and truly represents the enigmatic nature of Russian music. His “unpolished” style of writing – Mussorgsky was considered an amateur by his distinguished colleagues such as Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky – contributes to the dramatic effect of the composition. Vladimir Ashkenazy, in his preface to the Wiener Urtext edition of Pictures at an Exhibition, perfectly sums up the profundity and importance of the work: Perhaps the most important and crucial point in understanding this piece is that although it was conceived initially as a programmatic cycle, the result is music that not only goes far beyond mere descriptive qualities but in fact gives us a penetrating insight into the dark and brooding spirit of Mussorgsky - or for that matter of Russia itself. (x) The monograph consists of ten chapters. In Chapter 1, I describe the social and historic aspects of Mussorgsky’s time, and his attempts to find an authentic Russian voice in his composition. iv Chapter 2 covers the motifs embedded in the cycle and a description of each visual picture seen by Mussorgky as he goes through the exhibition. Not all of Hartmann’s original pictures survived. The “Promenades,” which connect the pictures in the cycle are discussed in Chapter 3. I attempt to visualize and understand the composer based on how each “Promenade” reflects his reaction upon seeing the pictures at the gallery. Chapter 4 analyzes the meaning of the rhythm in the cycle, how it represents the images Mussorgsky creates, and how it serves compositionally as a binding mechanism of the form. Chapter 5 discusses the composer’s revolutionary sense of harmony. Chapter 6 gives a few practical fingering solutions in the most technically demanding moments of the cycle. Additionally, I discuss the pedaling which is not indicated by the composer, leaving the door open for the personal choices of the performer. Chapter 7 compares motivic and textural connections with other works such as Songs and Dances of Death and Boris Godunov. Chapter 8 gives insight through visual artists in connection to Mussorgky. Repin, a close friend of Mussorgsky who painted his most famous portrait, describes Mussorgsky’s deteriorating physical condition at the end of his life. Another great Russian modern painter Kandinsky was inspired by the music and created a visualization of his cycle in the twentieth century. The chapter 9 discusses a few differences in the musical editions. By now, there is no longer controversy about the manuscript of the work nor discrepancies between editions. However, Rimsky-Korsakov’s alterations of the original manuscript in the first edition v are observed. Because the score is both authentic and objective, the editions providing editorial remarks are not included in this chapter. For the same reason, I found it unnecessary to mention arrangements, including the famous orchestration by Maurice Ravel and Vladimir Horowitz’s piano arrangement. In chapter 10, I summarize the research on Pictures. Michel-Dimitri Calvocoressi (1877 -1944) was a prominent writer on music and a distinguished advocate of Russian music. His particular interest was the life and music of Modest Mussorgsky. Known by the music community as a dedicatee of Maurice Ravel’s Alborada Del Gracioso, Calvocoressi wrote three books on Mussorgsky, which was the starting point of my research. Calvocoressi devoted himself to understanding the complex nature of the composer. In Modest Mussorgsky: His Life and Works, Calvocoressi writes: To write, at thirty-one years interval, two books on the same composer is bound to be a strange experience… By that time, it seemed reasonable to hope that a fairly adequate biographical and critical study could be achieved, even though many important materials (neither I nor anybody else realized how many) were still undiscovered or inaccessible. (x) The undiscovered materials eventually were brought to light, especially with Pavel Lamm’s complete critical edition of Mussorgsky’s works. However, Calvocoressi’s perception of the composer’s music greatly influenced the western musical world. One of the most comprehensive works on Pictures at an Exhibition was completed by Michael Russ. It includes all of the updated data and available sources. Russ, very well aware of the legacy of Calvocoressi, shares his sentiment and begins his book with this introduction: v i In his study of Mussorgsky written in the years coming up to the Second World War, M. D. Calvocoressi says of Pictures at an Exhibition: ‘the whole suite… is an attractive but not particularly significant work.’ (ix) In contrast, Solomon Volkov in his book Romanov Riches introduces Mussorgsky in a different manner: Mussorgsky was undoubtedly the most talented member of the Mighty Bunch, but no one in the group understood it. They treated him the way a family might a gifted but wayward child, despairing of his eccentric behavior, intemperate drinking, excessive (in the opinion of others) selfregard, and inability to work in an organized and concentrated manner (attention deficit disorder, perhaps). (218) All the literature on Pictures represents a detailed analysis of the work from a theoretical perspective, which makes the understanding of the work rather one-sided. My personal and practical understanding of how the work can be perceived and performed might provide a fuller appreciation for one of the greatest Russian piano compositions. I hope that my approach can bring a different pianistic outlook on the work, which can have practical application for students and teachers. For this monograph the last name Mussorgsky is spelled with “ss”, while the spelling with “s” is preserved if used in the cited source. Occasionally, for the sake of variety Mussorgsky is addressed by his patronymic name Modest Petrovich. Italics are used for the title Pictures at an Exhibition or simply Pictures. When addressing Hartmann’s sketches themselves, the word picture/pictures is written without italics. For the score examples, Pavel Lamm’s edition is used. vi