1. Modest
Mussorgsky
Pictures at an Exhibition

2. EXPLORE

3. EXPLORE
Modest Mussorgsky (1839 – 1881) was an innovator of
Russian music in the Romantic Period

4. EXPLORE
Modest Mussorgsky (1839 – 1881) was an innovator of
Russian music in the Romantic Period
Much of his music was inspired by Russian history and
folklore – he was a nationalist composer

5. EXPLORE
Modest Mussorgsky (1839 – 1881) was an innovator of
Russian music in the Romantic Period
Much of his music was inspired by Russian history and
folklore – he was a nationalist composer
He was great friends with Victor Hartmann, a Russian
artist and architect, who also strived to celebrate
Russia in everything he created

6. EXPLORE
Modest Mussorgsky (1839 – 1881) was an innovator of
Russian music in the Romantic Period
Much of his music was inspired by Russian history and
folklore – he was a nationalist composer
He was great friends with Victor Hartmann, a Russian
artist and architect, who also strived to celebrate
Russia in everything he created
When Victor died suddenly at the age of 39, the Russian
art world organised an exhibition of over 400 of his
paintings

7. EXPLORE
Mussorgsky attended the exhibition (in 1874) and within
six weeks he had composed Pictures at an Exhibition in
Victor Hartmann’s honour

8. EXPLORE
Mussorgsky attended the exhibition (in 1874) and within
six weeks he had composed Pictures at an Exhibition in
Victor Hartmann’s honour
The music depicts an imaginary tour of an art exhibition
and each movement relates to a title of one of Victor’s
paintings

9. EXPLORE
Mussorgsky attended the exhibition (in 1874) and within
six weeks he had composed Pictures at an Exhibition in
Victor Hartmann’s honour
The music depicts an imaginary tour of an art exhibition
and each movement relates to a title of one of Victor’s
paintings
Sadly, many of the paintings at the exhibition were lost
and only five out a possible ten can be attributed to a
movement in Pictures

10. EXPLORE
Mussorgsky attended the exhibition (in 1874) and within
six weeks he had composed Pictures at an Exhibition in
Victor Hartmann’s honour
The music depicts an imaginary tour of an art exhibition
and each movement relates to a title of one of Victor’s
paintings
Sadly, many of the paintings at the exhibition were lost
and only five out a possible ten can be attributed to a
movement in Pictures
Pictures was originally written just for piano but Maurice
Ravel orchestrated it for symphony orchestra in 1922

11. EXPLORE
As well as ten different movements with titles relating
to various Hartmann drawings and watercolours, there
are four interludes which Mussorgsky entitled
Promenade, each with the same melody

12. EXPLORE
As well as ten different movements with titles relating
to various Hartmann drawings and watercolours, there
are four interludes which Mussorgsky entitled
Promenade, each with the same melody
The character of each Promenade though is different
and Mussorgsky himself describes them as:
‘Roving through the exhibition, now leisurely, now
briskly, in order to come close to a picture that has
attracted my attention, and at time times sadly, thinking
of my departed friend.’

13. EXPERIENCE

14. EXPERIENCE
This is the Promenade theme which is introduced by
solo trumpet:
Click here to listen:

15. EXPERIENCE
This is the Promenade theme which is introduced by
solo trumpet:
Click here to listen:
The steady pulse and irregular metre of the Promenade
theme are supposed to depict the act of walking

16. EXPERIENCE
This is the Promenade theme which is introduced by
solo trumpet:
Click here to listen:
The steady pulse and irregular metre of the Promenade
theme are supposed to depict the act of walking
Later on in Pictures, as the theme evolves, it also starts
to feature in the main movements

17. EXPERIENCE
The five movements whose Hartmann pictures have
survived are:

18. Ballet of the
Unhatched Chicks
This was Hartmann’s
design for the set of
a scene from the
ballet Trilby

19. Samuel Goldenberg
and Schmuÿle
Based on two
separate paintings
called the Rich Jew
and the Poor Jew

20. The Catacombs (deep underground in Paris, by torchlight)

21. The Hut on Chicken's
Legs (Baba-Yagá)
Baba-Yagá was a witch
from Russian folklore
who flew around on her
broom stick collecting
children to eat for
dinner. She lived in a
hut that stood on
chicken legs

22. The Great Gate of
Kiev
This was a design
that Hartmann
made for the
entrance to the
Ukrainian city of
Kiev

23. RESPOND
Listen to some of the movements from Pictures,
especially those with pictures associated with them

24. RESPOND
Listen to some of the movements from Pictures,
especially those with pictures associated with them
Choose one and write a paragraph about its style,
composition and performance
Think of as many concepts as you can that you hear in
the music but also comment on how the way the music
is composed conjures up the image that Hartmann
portrays in his picture
Don’t forget to comment on instrumentation, textures,
dynamics and tempo

25. STOP PRESS!!
Calling all budding artists
We need paintings, drawings and sculptures
inspired by Mussorgsky’s music to display on
screen during the concerts
The movements to focus on are Gnomus, Bydlo,
Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks, Baba-Yagá and
The Great Gate of Kiev
Once your work of art is finished all you have to
do is send us a high resolution photo
For more info contact: lyn.underwood@rsno.org.uk