Modest Mussorgsky

Biography

Modest Mussorgsky was a Russian composer of The Five, the nationalist circle led by *Mily Balakirev*. A former Guards officer who composed alongside civil service work, he pursued a raw, speech driven musical language rooted in Russian folk song and history. His reputation rests on the opera 'Boris Godunov', the tone poem 'Night on Bald Mountain' and the piano suite 'Pictures at an Exhibition', works long heard in revisions by *Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov* before the originals regained ground.