Pictures at an Exhibition (about the work of M.P

Cover of the first edition of "Pictures at an Exhibition" by M. P. Mussorgsky (edited by N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov) 1886

The cycle "Pictures at an Exhibition", consisting of 10 musical sketches and the interlude "Walk", was created by the Russian composer Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky from June 2 to 22, 1874, but the idea of ​​its creation arose earlier - in the spring of the same year. visited an exhibition of works dedicated to the work of the talented architect and designer Viktor Alexandrovich Hartman. It featured more than 400 works, among which were both the famous creations of the author and small sketches, some of which inspired the composer to create the cycle.

Speaking about the history of writing "Pictures at an Exhibition", one cannot fail to mention that during the life of V.A. Hartman was friends with M.P. Mussorgsky, and the death of a comrade and creator close to the ideas of The Mighty Handful was a serious blow to the composer.

Description of works

Pictures at an Exhibition opens with the interlude Walk”, According to the idea of ​​the author, this piece depicts the composer walking through the exhibition of paintings, it is repeated several times during the cycle.

Sketch " Dwarf"Performed in the key of E-flat minor, it is distinguished by dynamics, broken lines, changing moments of tension and tranquility. Hartmann's sketch, which served as the basis for this melody, has not survived, but it is known that it depicted a Christmas tree nutcracker toy.

The slow, poetic, deep melody of the play " old lock»In the key of G-sharp minor, reminiscent of live singing to the accompaniment of an old instrument, invites us for a walk through the Italian castle, depicted in the artist's watercolor. This painting by Hartmann was not listed in the exhibition catalog.

The “Old Castle” is replaced by a light, sunny, mobile, light melody “ Tuileries garden»In the key of B major. By the middle, she becomes calmer, as if nannies appear among the playing guys. The composition ends with the mixing of the two themes. According to the recollections of the artist's associates, the drawing depicted the Tuliri Palace, filled with walking children.

« Livestock"Is a dark, heavy melody that conveys the slow pace of a cart drawn by oxen, Slavic folk tunes are woven into its musical canvas. The sketch vividly depicts the joyless life of the common people with musical means, it is performed in the key of G-sharp minor.

The play “ Ballet of unhatched chicks»Are the sketches for the costumes that Hartmann designed for staging at the Bolshoi Theater. The piece is written in the key of F major, it is a light, extremely dynamic melody depicting a funny, chaotic dance, which becomes more orderly towards the end of the piece.

Musical etude " Two Jews, rich and poor»Is based on drawings donated by Hartmann to the composer. The composition lies in the key of B-flat minor, it resembles a lively conversation between two characters, one of whom is depicted with the help of heavy, confident sounds, complemented by a gypsy scale, and the other with subtle, plaintive melodies.

The next noisy and dynamic, fussy and light play " Limoges. Market"Performed in the key of E-flat major, it vividly conveys the atmosphere of a market filled with gossip and hubbub, whose life, frozen for a second, resumes again. Almost nothing is known about the drawing that inspired the composer.

« Catacombs. With the dead in a dead tongue"- a slow, gloomy piece, the coldness and mystery of which are perceived even more sharply after the lightness of the previous composition. Lifeless, then sharp, then quiet monotonous sounds hang in the silence of the dungeon. This play is dedicated to the painting "Paris Catacombs".

The composition " Baba Yaga"Is a dynamic, expressive piece that fully justifies its name. Sometimes it is filled with a frenzy of full chords, sometimes it becomes anxious and unstable, the piece is distinguished by dissonances and uneven accents. It is based on a sketch depicting a clock in the form of a mythical character's dwelling.

The cycle ends with a powerful, slow rhythm with large lengths of the piece “ Heroic gates. In the capital city in Kiev". This is loud solemn music based on Russian folk motives, followed by a quiet melody. It ends with a bell ringing and a coda skillfully recreated with the help of a piano. The play is dedicated to the sketch of the architectural gate in Kiev, developed by Hartmann.

Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky was born on March 9th, 1839. His mother was the first to teach him music. By the age of seven, Modest Petrovich was already playing the piano quite well. At the age of ten, following the family tradition, his father sent the boy to St. Petersburg to the School of Guards Ensigns.

In parallel with studying at school, music lessons continued, M. Mussorgsky composed well and a lot. Taught the composer during this period A. Gerke.

After school, he, as one of the best students, was sent to serve in the Preobrazhensky regiment. But the service seemed empty and boring to Modest Petrovich, he really saw his vocation in music, namely in Russian music. Thanks to his interest, he met A.S. Dargomyzhsky, in whose house interesting musicians gathered. Here he found himself a future mentor Balakiev.

Captured by creativity, Mussorgsky leaves service in the regiment and retires. Friends and acquaintances dissuaded Modest Petrovich from such a decision, because being a Guards officer promises a simple and successful life. But he finally decided what he decided, explaining it as the need to serve his people. He became a Itinerant (the so-called "commune" formed by young painters), one of those who treated with contempt the life of most young people, full of emptiness, sybarism, doing nothing.

From August 15, 1868 to August 15, 1869, the composer worked extensively on an opera libretto entitled "Boris Godunov". He wanted not only to "musicalize" Pushkin's text, but to create his own interpretation, corresponding to the scale of the work.

Some moments of the opera Boris Godunov give goosebumps ...

But the opera "Boris Godunov" in its original version was not accepted by the management of the imperial theaters and Mussorgsky was refused. Soon after editing, and only thanks to the intervention of fellow artist, the libretto was staged in 1974 at the Mariinsky Theater under the direction of E.F. Napravnik. The premiere was successful, but was not accepted by the royal family. Therefore, she was soon removed from the stage.
In general, many of Modest Petrovich's works were not accepted by the public, he composed because it was not accepted at that time, therefore, he could not become popular.

Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky - Pictures at an Exhibition

The suite "" was painted by Mussorgsky in 1874 as a tribute to his friendship with the artist and architect Viktor Hartman (he died before he was forty). It was the posthumous exhibition of his friend's paintings that gave Mussorgsky the idea to create the composition.

The cycle begins with the play "Walk", which personifies the composer's own walk through the gallery from picture to picture, so this theme is repeated in the intervals between the descriptions of the pictures. The work consists of ten parts, each of which conveys the image of a picture.

The first image - "Gnome" is presented to the listener as a funny creature endowed with human feelings.

The second sketch is designed to convey the atmosphere of a medieval castle and the only thing that brings it to life is the image of a troubadour singing nearby.

Sketch three - "Tuile Garden. Quarrel of children after the game. Describes children against the backdrop of the Parisian city park."

"Cattle" - in the music of Mussorgsky one can feel the uneasy weight of the huge cart-cart drawn by oxen, depicted in the picture, but also the severity of the forced life of the peasants, its monotony.

The Ballet of Unhatched Chicks is a half-joking scherzo, the prototype of which is Hartmann's painting for the ballet Trilibi (the ballet was based on the motif of Charles Nodier's fairy tale). The canvas depicts costumes in the form of eggshells.

"Two Jews, Rich and Poor" is the title of the sixth part of the "Pictures at an Exhibition" cycle. The artist presented two portrait sketches from nature. Using contrast as a technique, Mussorgsky portrayed two completely opposite characters in music.

"Limoges. Market" - Sketch number seven - depicts the hustle and bustle of one of the provincial cities of France, in particular the local gossips.

Work number eight - "Catacombs. Roman Tomb" It rather conveys the philosophical reflections of the composer, supported by a sense of the loss of a friend, rather than an attempt to convey the mystical atmosphere felt by a person examining an ancient Roman tomb with a lantern in his hands. In this work, you can see an attempt to communicate with an already deceased person with the help of music, sorrow is felt in the sound.

"Hut on Chicken Legs" - this work personifies the flight of Baba Yaga on a broomstick, threateningly tapping with a stick.

The final composition is "Heroic Gates. In the capital city of Kiev." This play conveys the epic power of the ancient city and its grandeur, in it you can hear the ringing of bells and a sublime chant. The play adequately brings the suite "" to the finale.

List of works

Opera:
The Marriage (1868).
Boris Godunov (1874).
"Khovanshchina" (completed by Rimsky-Korsakov in 1886).
"Ivan's Night on Bald Mountain" Musical picture (1867).
Pieces and Suite for Piano "Pictures at an Exhibition" (1874).

The Suite Pictures at an Exhibition was painted by Modest Mussorgsky in 1874 as a tribute to his friendship with the artist and architect Viktor Hartman (he died before forty years). It was the posthumous exhibition of his friend's paintings that gave Mussorgsky the idea to create the composition.

This cycle can be called a suite - a succession of ten independent pieces, united by a common concept. Like every play - a musical picture, reflecting the impression of Mussorgsky, inspired by this or that drawing of Hartmann.
There are bright everyday pictures, and apt sketches of human characters, and landscapes, and images of Russian fairy tales, epics. Individual miniatures contrast with each other in terms of content and expressive means.

The cycle begins with the play "Walk", which personifies the composer's own walk through the gallery from picture to picture, so this theme is repeated in the intervals between the descriptions of the pictures.
The work consists of ten parts, each of which conveys the image of a picture.

Spanish Svyatoslav Richter
Walk 00:00
I. Gnome 01:06
Walk 03:29
II. Medieval castle 04:14
Walk 08:39
III. Tuile Garden 09:01
IV. Cattle 09:58
Walk 12:07
V. Ballet of Unhatched Chicks 12:36
Vi. Two Jews, rich and poor 13:52
Walk 15:33
Vii. Limoges. Market 16:36
VIII. Catacombs. Roman Tomb 17:55
IX. Hut on chicken legs 22:04
X. Heroic Gates. In the capital city Kiev 25:02

The first picture is "Gnome". Hartmann's drawing depicted the nutcracker as a clumsy gnome. Mussorgsky endows the gnome with human traits in his music, while preserving the appearance of a fabulous and bizarre creature. In this short play, one can hear deep suffering, it also captures the angular tread of the gloomy dwarf.

In the next picture - "The Old Castle" - the composer conveyed the night landscape with quiet chords that create a ghostly and mysterious flavor. calm, enchanted mood. Against the background of the tonic organ point, the sad melody of the troubadour depicted in Hartmann's painting sounds. The song changes

The third picture - "The Tullerian Garden" - is in sharp contrast to the previous plays. She depicts playing children in a park in Paris. Everything is joyful and sunny in this music. Fast paced, whimsical accents convey the excitement and fun of a child's play against the backdrop of a summer day.

The fourth picture is called "Cattle". Hartmann's drawing depicts a peasant cart on high wheels, drawn by two sad oxen. In the music, one can hear how weary, how hard the oxen are treading, the cart drags along slowly with a creak.

And again, the character of the music changes dramatically: perky and stupid, dissonances sound out of place in the high register, alternating with chords, and everything at a rapid pace. Hartmann's drawing was a sketch of costumes for the ballet Trilby. It depicts young students of the ballet school performing a characteristic dance. Dressed in chicks, they have not yet completely freed themselves from the shell. Hence the funny name of the miniature "Ballet of unhatched chicks".

The play "Two Jews" depicts a conversation between a rich man and a poor man. Here Mussorgsky's principle was embodied: to express the character of a person in music through speech intonations as accurately as possible. And although there is no vocal part in this song, there are no words, in the sounds of the piano one can unmistakably hear the harsh, haughty voice of the rich man and the timid, belittled, begging voice of the poor man. For the speech of the rich man, Mussorgsky found imperious intonations, the decisive character of which is enhanced by the low register. The speech of the poor man is in deep contrast to her - quiet, quivering, intermittent, in a high register.

In the picture "Market Limoges", a motley crowd of markets is drawn. In the music, the composer conveys the discordant dialect, shouts, hustle and bustle of the southern bazaar.


The miniature "Catacombs" was painted according to Hartmann's drawing "The Roman Catacombs". Chords sound, then quiet and distant, as if lost in the depths of the labyrinth, echoes, then sharp clear ones, like the sudden ringing of a falling drop, the ominous cry of an owl ... Listening to these long-lasting chords, it is easy to imagine the cold twilight of a mysterious dungeon, the dim light of a lantern, glare on damp walls, anxious, vague premonition.

The next picture - "Hut on Chicken Legs" - draws a fabulous image of Baba Yaga. The artist depicts a clock in the shape of a fairytale hut. Mussorgsky rethought the image. In his music, not a beautiful toy hut is embodied, but its owner, Baba Yaga. So she whistled and rushed in her mortar to all the devils, chasing them with a broom. The play breathes with epic scope, Russian prowess. It is not for nothing that the main theme of this picture echoes the music from the scene near Kromy in the opera Boris Godunov.

An even greater affinity with Russian folk music, with the images of epics, is felt in the last picture - "Heroic Gate". Mussorgsky wrote this play under the impression of Hartmann's architectural sketch "City Gates in Kiev". The music is close to Russian folk songs in its intonations and its harmonious language. The character of the play is stately calm and solemn. Thus, the last picture, symbolizing the power of the native people, naturally completes the entire cycle.

***
The fate of this piano cycle is very curious.
On the manuscript of "Pictures" there is an inscription "For printing. Mussorgsky. July 26, 1974 Petrograd ", but during the composer's lifetime" Pictures "were not published or performed, although they received approval among the" Mighty Handful ". They were published only five years after the death of the composer V. Bessel in 1886, edited by N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov.

Cover of the first edition of Pictures at an Exhibition
Since the latter was sure that Mussorgsky's notes contained errors and omissions that needed to be corrected, this publication did not quite accurately correspond to the author's manuscript, it had a certain amount of editorial brilliance. The circulation was sold out, and a year later the second edition came out, already with a preface by Stasov. However, the work did not become widely known then, the pianists brushed it off for a long time, not finding in it the "usual" virtuosity and considering it non-concert and unpiano. Soon M. M. Tushmalov (1861-1896) with the participation of Rimsky-Korsakov orchestrated the main parts of the "Pictures", the orchestral version was published, the premiere took place on November 30, 1891, and in this form they were often performed in St. Petersburg and Pavlovsk, and the finale performed by the orchestra and as a separate piece. In 1900, an arrangement for piano four hands appeared, in February 1903 the cycle was first performed in Moscow by a young pianist G. N. Beklemishev, in 1905 "Pictures" were performed in Paris at a lecture by M. Kalvokoressi about Mussorgsky.

But the recognition of the general public came only after Maurice Ravel, using the same version of Rimsky-Korsakov, created his famous orchestration in 1922, and in 1930 her first gramophone record was released.

However, the cycle was written specifically for the piano!
For all the brilliance of Ravel's orchestration, he nevertheless lost those deeply Russian features of Musorgsky's music, which are heard precisely in the piano performance.

And only in 1931, on the fiftieth anniversary of the composer's death, Pictures at an Exhibition were published in accordance with the author's manuscript in the academic publication Muzgiz, and then they became an integral part of the repertoire of Soviet pianists.

Since then, two traditions of piano performance of "Pictures" have coexisted. Supporters of the original author's version include such pianists as Svyatoslav Richter (see above) and Vladimir Ashkenazi.

Others, such as Vladimir Horowitz in their recordings and performances of the mid-20th century, tried to reproduce the orchestral embodiment of Pictures on the piano, that is, to make Ravel's “reverse arrangement”.

Piano: Vladimir Horowitz Recorded: 1951
(00:00) 1. Promenade
(01:21) 2. The Gnome
(03:41) 3. Promenade
(04:31) 4. The Old Castle
(08:19) 5. Promenade
(08:49) 6. The Tuileries
(09:58) 7. Bydlo
(12:32) 8. Promenade
(13:14) 9. Ballet of Unhatched Chicks
(14:26) 10. Samuel Goldenberg and Schmuÿle
(16:44) 11. The Marketplace at Limoges
(18:02) 12. The Catacombs
(19:18) 13. Cum mortuis in lingua mortua
(21:39) 14. The Hut on Fowl "s Legs (Baba-Yaga)
(24:56) 15. The Great Gate of Kiev

***
Pictures at an Exhibition with sand animation.

Rock version Pictures at an Exhibition.

Wassily Kandinsky. Synthesis of Arts.
Kandinsky's step towards the realization of the idea of ​​"monumental art" was the staging of "Pictures at an Exhibition" by Modest Mussorgsky "with his own decorations and with characters - light, color and geometric shapes."
This was the first and only time he agreed to work on a finished score, which was a clear indication of his deepest interest.
The premiere on 4 April 1928 at the Friedrich Theater in Dessau was a resounding success. The music was performed on the piano. The production was very cumbersome, for it involved constantly moving scenery and changing lighting of the hall, about which Kandinsky left detailed instructions. For example, one of them said that a black background was required, on which the "bottomless depths" of black should turn into purple, while dimmers (rheostats) did not yet exist.

Pictures at an Exhibition by Modest Mussorgsky more than once inspired artists to create moving video sequences. In 1963, choreographer Fyodor Lopukhov staged the ballet Pictures at an Exhibition at the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Musical Theater. In the USA, Japan, France, the USSR, talented cartoons were created on the themes of Pictures at an Exhibition.

Nowadays, we can plunge into the "synthesis of arts", having got to the concert of the French pianist Mikhail Rud. In his famous project “Modest Mussorgsky / Wassily Kandinsky. Pictures at an Exhibition he combined the music of the Russian composer with abstract animation and video based on watercolors and Kandinsky's instructions.

The power of the computer inspires artists to create 2D and 3D animations. Another of the most interesting experiments in creating "moving" paintings by Wassily Kandinsky.

***
text from many sources

For a long time I was going to collect material for Alice and Nikita on "Pictures at an Exhibition". Now, probably, it was the exhibition of Igor Romanovsky that pushed me to this, although for the first time I heard "Pictures" in the rock version of the legendary group Emerson, Lake and Palmer somewhere in 1972.
The original, i.e. One of the greatest creations of classical music, Modest Mussorgsky's piano suite-cycle was written based on vivid impressions from the exhibition of Viktor Hartmann, his friend, architect and artist (Mussorgsky on the left, Hartmann on the right). Hartmann died suddenly at the age of 39, and at the suggestion of the great Russian critic and art critic Vladimir Stasov, a posthumous exhibition of about 400 of his works was held in 1874 - drawings, watercolors, architectural projects, sketches of theatrical scenery and costumes, sketches of art products. Most of them were created during a four-year trip to Europe. And the fact that with the help of the Internet it was possible to find the catalog of that exhibition is generally fantastic!

The famous artist Ivan Kramskoy wrote about him this way: “Hartmann was an extraordinary person ... When you need to build ordinary things, Hartmann is bad, he needs fabulous buildings, magic castles, give him palaces, structures for which there are no and could not have samples, here he creates amazing things. "Here are a few more snippets from that exposition.

Mussorgsky's trip to the exhibition was the impetus for the creation of a kind of musical "walk" through an imaginary exhibition gallery. The result is a series of musical pictures that only partly resemble the works seen; in the main, the pieces were the result of the free flight of the composer's imagination. Musorgsky connected these musical “pictures” with his “walk”, gradually and unhurriedly moving from one hall to another, from one “picture” to the next. For the basis of the "exhibition" Mussorgsky took Hartmann's "foreign" drawings, as well as two of his sketches on Russian subjects. The work fascinated Mussorgsky so much that the entire cycle was written in just three weeks.

However, during Mussorgsky's lifetime, Pictures were not published and were not performed by anyone, and only five years after his death, the first publication was published under the editorship of Rimsky-Korsakov. Later there were others, but Pictures did not receive wide popularity, although there were even orchestral arrangements, and some fragments were performed as separate works.

And only when in 1922 Maurice Ravel created the most famous orchestration "Pictures at an Exhibition" today, and in 1930 the whole suite was recorded, it became an integral part of the repertoire of many pianists and orchestras.

Some researchers saw an architecturally symmetrical (one more bow to Hartmann!) Construction of the cycle plots: "along the edges" there are the main themes ("Walk" and "Heroic Gates"), behind them, closer to the center, are fabulous images (Gnome and Baba Yaga) , further - "French" subjects ("Limoges market", ""). Behind them - everyday sketches from Poland "Cattle" (by the way, Mussorgsky himself called it "Sandomierz cattle" (ie "cattle" in Polish) and "Two Jews", and in the center there is a joke - "Ballet of unhatched chicks" ...

Well, how can you not remember from Kiev about the final cycle "Heroic Gates (In the capital city in Kiev)". This part is based on Hartmann's sketch for his architectural project of the Kiev city gates. In honor of the rescue of Emperor Alexander II from an unsuccessful assassination attempt, a competition for gate designs was organized in Kiev. Hartmann's project, submitted for the competition, was made in the Old Russian style - a chapter with a belfry in the form of a hero's helmet, decoration above the gate in the form of a kokoshnik. Hartmann's version created the image of Kiev as an ancient Russian capital. However, the competition was subsequently canceled, and the successful project was never implemented.

Since then, there have been many readings of this symphonic masterpiece. In 1971, keyboardist Keith Emerson and his fellow trio members Emerson, Lake and Palmer performed live a rock arrangement of "Pictures" interspersed with his own compositions and even songs. For many years it has become a visiting
group card.

The Japanese Isao Tomita (1975) has a synthesized version of "Pictures", despite its unusual, titanic sound, nevertheless, is very close to the original.

Everything seems clear with the piano and rock line-up (where keyboards nevertheless predominated), but in 1981 another Japanese, Kazuhito Yamashita, made an arrangement of "Pictures" for classical guitar. Absolutely amazing and incredible. It is his interpretation that many guitarists are turning to today. I think that even the poor VHS quality of Kazuhito's performance gives an idea of ​​how "Pictures" sounds on the guitar (unique recording of 1984!).

Pictures have repeatedly served as inspiration for other genres of art. Topics from the cycle are regularly inserted into movies and TV shows. And in 1966, for a Japanese experimental cartoon, the same Isao Tomita orchestrated part of the music of Pictures at an Exhibition, and in 1984 Soyuzmultfilm (performed by Svyatoslav Richter) also turned to this immortal music.