biography
| name: |
Moussorgsky, Modest (Petrovich)
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| |
also spelled Mussorgsky or Musorgsky
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pronunciation:
[musaw(r)gskee]
| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1839–81)
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| biography:
| Composer, born in Karevo, W Russia. He was educated for the army, but resigned his commission in 1858 and began the serious study of music under Balakirev. A member of the Glinka-inspired nationalist group in St Petersburg, he first made a name with his songs; but his masterpiece is the opera Boris Godunov, first performed in St Petersburg in 1874. His piano suite Pictures from an Exhibition (1874) has also kept a firm place in the concert repertoire. Other operas and large-scale works remained uncompleted as the composer sank into the chronic alcoholism which hastened his early death. His friend Rimsky-Korsakov undertook the task of musical executor, arranged or completed many of his unfinished works, and rearranged some of the finished ones. |
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