Pictures at an Exhibition
Modeste Mussorgsky (1839-81), orchestrated by Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)
Promenade; 1: ‘The Gnome’; Promenade theme; 2: ‘The Old Castle’; Promenade theme; 3: ‘Tuileries’; 4: ‘Bydlo’; Promenade theme; 5: ‘The Ballet of Unhatched Chicks in their Shells’; 6: ‘Samuel Goldenberg and Schmuÿle’; Promenade theme; 7: ‘The Market at Limoges’; 8: ‘Catacombs’; 9: ‘The Hut on Fowls’ Legs’; 10: ‘The Great Gate of Kiev’
In 1873, Viktor Hartmann, artist and architect, died at the age of 39. He would be virtually unknown today had he not been a close friend of the composer Modeste Mussorgsky. Another of Hartmann’s friends, the art critic Vladimir Stassov, organised a commemorative exhibition of about 400 paintings by Hartmann in St Petersburg, shortly after the artist’s death. Distressed by Hartmann’s untimely departure, Mussorgsky viewed the exhibition in an emotional state, but once the idea of celebrating these pictures through music had taken root, he composed at high speed, completing ‘Pictures at an Exhibition’ within a few weeks. He scored it as a collection of pieces for piano, so difficult to play no-one tackled it publicly during his lifetime – not even Mussorgsky himself. It remained hidden until after his premature death in 1881. Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov tried to revive it, ill-advisedly adjusting some of the more abrasive passages that are vital characteristics of their creator’s style. It was not long before the idea of orchestrating this characterful piece appealed to other composers and conductors. Twenty-seven orchestrations exist, some by well-known musicians, among them Sir Henry Wood, Leopold Stokowski and Vladimir Ashkenazy. To date, forty-nine arrangements for other ensembles are found. They include jazz, pop and electronic versions. The most colourful, overall, is the orchestration by Maurice Ravel, commissioned by the conductor Serge Koussevitzky, and premièred in 1922. This is what we shall hear this evening.
You are striding through an art gallery, viewing as many of the 400 exhibits as you can before that well-known malady, ‘museum foot’, steers you to the café. The ‘Promenade’ that opens the work depicts you. Reappearing a few times between pictures, it begins to represent Mussorgsky as well because it hints at sorrow and reflection, eventually re-emerging as the eighth picture, ‘Catacombs’, a sombre reminder of Hartmann’s death. Although the titles of the pictures, given above, are sometimes self-explanatory, more information could enhance our listening. Three-quarters of the 400 pictures have disappeared, so conjecture will play its part.
Number 1, ‘The Gnome’, was apparently a device traditionally hung on a Christmas tree. It had the gnarled appearance of a gnome but was a nut-cracker in disguise. Place the nut in its mouth and follow the instructions. Number 2, ‘The Old Castle’, is noted for its haunting saxophone solo: a flash of inspiration on Ravel’s part. Number 4 is a picture of a lumbering ox-cart, the word ‘Bydlo’ being Polish for ‘Cattle’. The crescendo symbolises the cart moving from the distant horizon towards the foreground of the picture, which was Rimsky-Korsakov’s idea, adopted by Ravel; not part of the Mussorgsky original. Number 6 is based on two pictures, both owned by Mussorgsky. Samuel Goldenberg was a rich Jew; Schmuÿle a whining and cringing Jew, down on his uppers. Number 8, ‘Catacombs’, is based on a surviving picture by Hartmann depicting underground caverns in Paris, in real life crammed with skulls and other spooky stuff. Number 9, ‘The Hut on Fowls’ Legs’, focuses on what lives within the hut, Baba Yaga, the child-eating witch, also celebrated in Anatoly Liadov’s 1904 tone poem of that name. The finale, ‘The Great Gate of Kiev’, commemorates Hartmann the architect rather than Hartmann the artist because it invokes his vision for a Triumphal Arch intended to greet visitors to Kiev. His design was entered for a competition and landed the first prize but shortage of funds caused the building project to be abandoned. We have the plan, a picture and the music but, alas, not the Great Gate.
Certain compositions are essentially collections of movements, sometimes lacking overall structure or common elements. ‘Pictures at an Exhibition’ might be one; the ‘Planets Suite’ by Gustav Holst another. We delight in the tremendous individuality of each ‘picture’ in Mussorgsky’s work. While doing do, we might realise that, after all, there is a thread running through the work, lending cohesion and a sense of direction to the whole. The opening ‘Promenade’ is the clue. Many of the ‘pictures’ are based on fragments of this haunting invention, clearly intended to provide a subconscious linkage in the listener’s mind. To drive that point home, the sepulchral ‘Catacombs’ and the triumphal ‘Great Gate’, which end the work, are based on the ‘Promenade’ melody more overtly.
Modeste Mussorgsky (1839-81), orchestrated by Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)
Promenade; 1: ‘The Gnome’; Promenade theme; 2: ‘The Old Castle’; Promenade theme; 3: ‘Tuileries’; 4: ‘Bydlo’; Promenade theme; 5: ‘The Ballet of Unhatched Chicks in their Shells’; 6: ‘Samuel Goldenberg and Schmuÿle’; Promenade theme; 7: ‘The Market at Limoges’; 8: ‘Catacombs’; 9: ‘The Hut on Fowls’ Legs’; 10: ‘The Great Gate of Kiev’
In 1873, Viktor Hartmann, artist and architect, died at the age of 39. He would be virtually unknown today had he not been a close friend of the composer Modeste Mussorgsky. Another of Hartmann’s friends, the art critic Vladimir Stassov, organised a commemorative exhibition of about 400 paintings by Hartmann in St Petersburg, shortly after the artist’s death. Distressed by Hartmann’s untimely departure, Mussorgsky viewed the exhibition in an emotional state, but once the idea of celebrating these pictures through music had taken root, he composed at high speed, completing ‘Pictures at an Exhibition’ within a few weeks. He scored it as a collection of pieces for piano, so difficult to play no-one tackled it publicly during his lifetime – not even Mussorgsky himself. It remained hidden until after his premature death in 1881. Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov tried to revive it, ill-advisedly adjusting some of the more abrasive passages that are vital characteristics of their creator’s style. It was not long before the idea of orchestrating this characterful piece appealed to other composers and conductors. Twenty-seven orchestrations exist, some by well-known musicians, among them Sir Henry Wood, Leopold Stokowski and Vladimir Ashkenazy. To date, forty-nine arrangements for other ensembles are found. They include jazz, pop and electronic versions. The most colourful, overall, is the orchestration by Maurice Ravel, commissioned by the conductor Serge Koussevitzky, and premièred in 1922. This is what we shall hear this evening.
You are striding through an art gallery, viewing as many of the 400 exhibits as you can before that well-known malady, ‘museum foot’, steers you to the café. The ‘Promenade’ that opens the work depicts you. Reappearing a few times between pictures, it begins to represent Mussorgsky as well because it hints at sorrow and reflection, eventually re-emerging as the eighth picture, ‘Catacombs’, a sombre reminder of Hartmann’s death. Although the titles of the pictures, given above, are sometimes self-explanatory, more information could enhance our listening. Three-quarters of the 400 pictures have disappeared, so conjecture will play its part.
Number 1, ‘The Gnome’, was apparently a device traditionally hung on a Christmas tree. It had the gnarled appearance of a gnome but was a nut-cracker in disguise. Place the nut in its mouth and follow the instructions. Number 2, ‘The Old Castle’, is noted for its haunting saxophone solo: a flash of inspiration on Ravel’s part. Number 4 is a picture of a lumbering ox-cart, the word ‘Bydlo’ being Polish for ‘Cattle’. The crescendo symbolises the cart moving from the distant horizon towards the foreground of the picture, which was Rimsky-Korsakov’s idea, adopted by Ravel; not part of the Mussorgsky original. Number 6 is based on two pictures, both owned by Mussorgsky. Samuel Goldenberg was a rich Jew; Schmuÿle a whining and cringing Jew, down on his uppers. Number 8, ‘Catacombs’, is based on a surviving picture by Hartmann depicting underground caverns in Paris, in real life crammed with skulls and other spooky stuff. Number 9, ‘The Hut on Fowls’ Legs’, focuses on what lives within the hut, Baba Yaga, the child-eating witch, also celebrated in Anatoly Liadov’s 1904 tone poem of that name. The finale, ‘The Great Gate of Kiev’, commemorates Hartmann the architect rather than Hartmann the artist because it invokes his vision for a Triumphal Arch intended to greet visitors to Kiev. His design was entered for a competition and landed the first prize but shortage of funds caused the building project to be abandoned. We have the plan, a picture and the music but, alas, not the Great Gate.
Certain compositions are essentially collections of movements, sometimes lacking overall structure or common elements. ‘Pictures at an Exhibition’ might be one; the ‘Planets Suite’ by Gustav Holst another. We delight in the tremendous individuality of each ‘picture’ in Mussorgsky’s work. While doing do, we might realise that, after all, there is a thread running through the work, lending cohesion and a sense of direction to the whole. The opening ‘Promenade’ is the clue. Many of the ‘pictures’ are based on fragments of this haunting invention, clearly intended to provide a subconscious linkage in the listener’s mind. To drive that point home, the sepulchral ‘Catacombs’ and the triumphal ‘Great Gate’, which end the work, are based on the ‘Promenade’ melody more overtly.