A collection of plays dedicated to the artist's sketches by Hartmann. Pictures from the exhibition (about the work of M. P. Mussorgsky in memory of W. Hartmann). "Tuileries Garden. Children quarrel after playing"

"Pictures from an Exhibition." Orchestration by M. Ravel

Modest Mussorgsky was probably the most original figure among the creative association of composers called - with light hand V. Stasov (however, not to the unanimous satisfaction of these composers themselves) - “A Mighty Handful”. Some of his rudeness was probably a consequence of his six years of military service. To a certain extent, this was reflected in his music, its “unsmoothed” style. Much of it was perceived, even by his composer friends, as something “bad,” “uncultured,” professionally unrefined, and certainly in need of “correction.” Guided by the best intentions, composers devoted to Mussorgsky, first of all, his, so to speak, “musical executor” N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov, as well as A. Glazunrov, took it upon themselves to complete what Mussorgsky himself had reasons and first of all its premature death, did not complete it myself. Carrying out this noble mission - without their work much, and most importantly, of Mussorgsky’s legacy could not have been fulfilled - they (and subsequently others who took on the task of editing the works of this musical genius) corrected his numerous “errors” and “flaws” , and "disadvantages". But times change, and now we perceive in a new way characteristic features style and language of Mussorgsky, and now the general trend in musicology has become to restore the author's versions of Mussorgsky's works. Nevertheless, an interesting phenomenon of Mussorgsky was - and is in our time - the fact that some of his works turned out to represent rich material for composers of subsequent generations in the field of experiments with new expressive means, with new musical possibilities. Among the works that have served as such fertile material for all kinds of adaptations and transcriptions is Mussorgsky’s brilliant piano cycle “Pictures at an Exhibition.” For this work as such, that is, the original author’s version, see our description: . . Here we will talk about the orchestral version of this work, created by M. Ravel.

Firstly, it is only worth noting that at the posthumous exhibition of paintings by the early deceased artist Viktor Hartmann (he was only 39 years old), a friend of M. Mussorgsky, there were only three of those whose subjects were embodied in this work of his: “Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks” (costume design ), “The Hut of Baba Yaga” (in Mussorgsky: “The Hut on Chicken Legs. Baba Yaga”) and “The Bogatyr Gate of Kyiv” (in Mussorgsky: “The Bogatyr Gate. In the capital city of Kyiv)

Other plays by Mussorgsky were based on drawings that were not exhibited at the exhibition, and were in Mussorgsky's personal collection or somewhere else where the composer could see them. This applies, for example, to the drawing “Goldenberg and Shmuel” (Mussorgsky: “Two Jews, rich and poor”): for W. Hartmann these are two separate drawings; or “The Catacombs of Paris” (from Mussorgsky: “Catacombs (Roman tomb). With the dead in a dead language”) - a rather fantastic drawing depicting the artist himself in Parisian tomb. Finally, the plot of “Limoges. Market (Big News)” is, apparently, the invention of the composer himself (Hartmann did not have such a drawing or painting, or, in any case, has not been found).

Before describing M. Ravel's orchestration in more detail, it is also worth noting a striking fact: to date, there are more than 40 orchestrations and arrangements of “Pictures at an Exhibition” for orchestra, various solo instruments and ensembles. And the number of these transcriptions continues to increase, long ago surpassing all known records.

To characterize this number, they often say: “from the famous orchestration of Ravel to the electronic recording of Tomita.” In fairness, it should be noted that although the orchestration of Ravel, that great master of the orchestra, is recognized as congenial to the original, it was not the first attempt to present this work in an orchestral version.

Mussorgsky's piano suite is written so colorfully, full of magnificent contrasts - humor, lightheartedness and, conversely, tragedy and greatness, that it simply cries out to be adapted for a large orchestra, to use the richness of its instrumental colors. Many composers have taken up this challenge. The first, as you know, was the Russian composer Mikhail Tushmalov. He made his own instrumentation (1888), but not the entire cycle, but only seven pieces. M. Tushmalov was a student of N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov, and this was his work on the instrumentation course. N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov directed it. N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov conducted the performance of this version in St. Petersburg on November 30, 1891. Of course, this experience, although it went down in music history as the first attempt at orchestrating “Pictures,” was not included in the orchestral repertoire. To be fair, it should be said that this version is available in a recording made in 1980 by the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Marc Andrea (Acanta DC22128).

In 1915, “Pictures” was orchestrated by the English conductor Henry Wood. He undertook this operation, intending to use this play in the so-called “Proms Concerts” held in London, which gained wide popularity. The idea seemed attractive: a suite that begins with “Promenade” - in French “P romenade” - to be performed (and to be performed in the future) in “Promenade Concerts”! But before making his orchestration, Wood performed “Pictures” orchestrated by M. Tushmalov.

As for M. Ravel, a lot of his work related to Russian art and specifically Mussorgsky dates back to the pre-war year, 1913: the re-orchestration of Mussorgsky’s opera “Khovanshchina”. As is known, this opera, unfinished by the author, was supplemented and orchestrated by N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov. S. Diaghilev, wanting to show it to the Parisians in a new guise, approached I. Stravinsky with a proposal to make a new orchestration. He, fearing that he would not make it by the appointed time, invited S. Diaghilev to share this work with M. Ravel. So they did. According to S. Diaghilev’s plan, all this was done in order to present in the best possible way F. Chaliapin to the Parisian public. F. Chaliapin, however, according to the memoirs of I. Stravinsky, “could not understand the meaning of such instrumentation. He refused to sing, and the project was abandoned" ( Stravinsky I. Dialogues.M. 1971. P. 96).

M. Ravel's new appeal to the legacy of M. Mussorgsky occurred in 1922. This time, his friend and connoisseur of Mussorgsky’s work M.D. Calvocoressi drew his attention to M. Mussorgsky’s piano cycle “Pictures from an Exhibition,” then little known in France. By mutual agreement with the wonderful conductor S. Koussevitzky, whose performance Ravel was counting on, he took upon himself the trouble of making an orchestral version of this piano suite. Ravel enthusiastically took on an interesting and complex task, settling in the estate of his friends, the Dreyfuses, in Lyons-la-Forêt, where nothing distracted him from his work. The orchestral version, conducted by Koussevitzky, premiered in Paris on October 19, 1922. Thanks to Ravel's orchestration, as well as its frequent and brilliant performances by orchestras conducted by S. Koussevitzky, "Pictures" have become an integral part of the world orchestral repertoire. The first recording was released in 1930, performed by the Boston Symphony Orchestra under the direction of S. Koussevitzky. An interesting fact: in the same year - 1922 - when Ravel's orchestration was made, completely independent of Ravel and without even knowing that he was working in this direction, Leo Funtek, a Slovenian composer who lived in Finland, made his own version of the orchestration of this work. In his orchestration, “Pictures” were first performed in Helinki on December 14, 1922.

M. Ravel based his orchestral version not on the original version of M. Mussorgsky himself, but on the edition of this work, made by the same devoted friend of the composer, N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov, and in which this work first saw the light (see fig. ).

The composition of Ravel's orchestra in the orchestration of "Pictures at an Exhibition": 3 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, alto saxophone, 4 bugles, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, bells, bells, triangle, there-there, rattle, whip ( percussion instrument), cymbals, snare drum, bass drum, xylophone, celesta 2 harps and strings.

Without denying Ravel's remarkable art, some musicians noted the excessive richness of timbre colors, somewhat contradictory to Mussorgsky's sharp pianism. Others, on the contrary, believe that Ravel’s orchestration is contained in Mussorgsky’s music itself, that the French composer here abandoned the usual methods of impressionism and “subtly comprehended Mussorgsky’s style, fulfilling his task, in essence, in a very Russian way” (Y. Crane). Be that as it may, concert practice has decided in favor of Ravel’s orchestration, which is now performed by orchestras all over the world.

Authoritative catalog of recordings classical music – RedClassicalCatalog– gives a list of 69 interpretations by different orchestras and conductors of “Pictures at an Exhibition” orchestrated by M. Ravel.

As a supplement to this description, we provide a list of known orchestrations and transcriptions of Pictures at an Exhibition by other composers.

Orchestral arrangements

1. Giuseppe Becce (Giuseppe Becce, 1922) - for salon orchestra.

2. Leonidas Leonardi (1924).

3. Lucien Cailliet (1937).

4. Leopold Stokowski (Leopold Stokowski, 1938) – without “Tuileries” and “Limoges”; Subsequently, Stokowski rewrote his orchestration several times, and its scores were not published until 1971.

5. Walter Goehr (Walter Goehr, 1942; includes additional piano part).

6. Sergei Gorchakov (1954).

7. Helmut Brandenburg (circa 1970).

8. Emil Naumov (c. 1974, for piano and orchestra).

9. Lawrence Leonard (Lawrence Leonard, 1977, for piano and orchestra).

10. Zdeněk Mácal, ca. 1977.

11. Vladimir Ashkenazy (1982).

12. Thomas Wilbrandt (1992).

13. Julian Yu (2002, for chamber orchestra).

14. Vladimir Boyashov.

15. Hanspeter Gmur.

Non-orchestral arrangements

1. A. Inglefield-Gull (organ, 1926, “Bogatyr Gate” only).

2. Giuseppe Becce (piano trio, 1930).

3. Vladimir Horowitz(piano, 1940s).

4. Rudolf Würthner, accordion orchestra, ca. 1954.

5. Ralph Burns (1957, jazz orchestra).

6. Isao Tomita (Isao Tomita, 1966, for cartoon, partly orchestral).

7. Emerson, Lake & Palmer (progressive rock band, 1971, 4 pictures of “The Walk” interspersed with their own songs; see Pictures at an Exhibition).

8. Isao Tomita (synthesizer, 1975).

9. Oskar Gottlieb Blarr (organ, 1976).

10. Elgar Howarth (brass band, ca. 1977).

11. Arthur Willis (organ, 1970s).

12. Heinz Wallisch (2 guitars, 1970s).

13. Günther Kaunzinger (organ, 1980).

14. Kazuhito Yamashita (guitar, 1981).

15. Reginald Haché (two pianos, 1982).

16. Henk de Vlieger (Henk de Vlieger, 14 percussion, celesta, harp and piano, 1981/1984).

17. Jean Guillou (organ, ca. 1988).

18. John Boyd (woodwind orchestra).

19. Geert van Keulen (Woodwind Orchestra, 1992).

20. Hans Wilhelm Plate (44 pianists on 44 pianos and one “prepared piano”, 1993);

21. Rock group “Tsargrad” (arranger Alexander Vidyakin, synthesizers, electric and acoustic guitars, vocalists. Entire score, 1994).

22. Elmar Rothe (Elmar Rothe, 3 guitars, 1995).

23. Mekong Delta (metal, 1997; also arranged for a band with an orchestra simulated on a synthesizer).

24. Joachim Linckelmann, woodwind quintet, ca. 1999.

25. Adam Berces, synthesizer, 2007.

26. Friedrich Lips (accordion).

27. Sergey Kravtsov ( string quartet, 2002).

N.B. ! The number of numbers in Ravel's orchestration differs from their number in the original - piano version. This is explained by the fact that Ravel, firstly, M. Ravel numbered all the components of the cycle, including the interludes (“Walks”; in Mussorgsky they do not have numbers), and secondly, M. Ravel one “Walk” - between the play “Cattle” (No. 7) and “Ballet of the Unhatched” chicks" (in Mussorgsky - No. 9) – abolished. So, in the end there were fourteen numbers, whereas Mussorgsky had ten. (The last number - “10” - has, as we know, a symbolic meaning - “ten divine commandments” - which may prompt us to consider this piano cycle by Mussorgsky from the point of view of Christian symbolism).

This introduction does not constitute the main – substantive – part of the exhibition, but is an essential element of the entire musical composition. For the first time, the musical material of this introduction is presented in full; Subsequently, the “Walk” motif in different versions - sometimes calm, sometimes more excited - is used as interludes between plays, which wonderfully expresses the psychological state of the viewer at the exhibition when he moves from one picture to another.

Hartmann's drawing depicted a Christmas tree decoration: nutcrackers in the shape of a small gnome. For Mussorgsky, this play gives the impression of something more sinister than just a Christmas tree decoration. If you don’t know the author’s title of this piece, then in M. Ravel’s extremely inventive orchestration it appears more like a portrait of a fairy-tale giant (rather than a gnome) and, in any case, not a musical embodiment of the image Christmas decorations(as in Hartmann).

In some cases, the “Walk” motif turns out to be binder for neighboring plays (this happens when moving from the play “Gnome” to the play “ Old castle"). In the course of the work, these transitions are direct and figuratively unmistakably recognizable.

V. Stasov wrote in the catalog of V. Hartmann's exhibition that the artist, in order to convey the scale of the castle, depicted a singer - a troubadour with a lute - against its background. There is no troubadour in the now famous drawing by W. Hartmann, but the drawing itself well conveys the atmosphere of this play. Ravel used an alto saxophone to convey the singer's imaginary song. Historically, it turned out to be the second significant work for saxophone in the classical repertoire. The first use of this instrument was by another French composer - J. Bizet (in the opera "La Arlesienne").

Once again the motif of “Walk” turns out to be binder for neighboring plays - the transition from the play “The Old Castle” to the play “Tuileries Garden”. This is a transition, literally and figuratively.

The Tuileries Garden, or more precisely the Tuileries Garden (by the way, this is Tchaikovsky's name in the French version) is a place in the center of Paris. It extends approximately one kilometer from Place de la Carousel to Place de la Concorde. This garden (now it should rather be called a square) is a favorite place for walks for Parisians with children.

Although it was not possible to find a painting by W. Hartmann that would depict exactly the “Tuileries Garden”, nevertheless, on these drawings there is the inscription “Paris” (“Paris”).

A comparison of the piano version (performed by S. Richter) with the orchestral version (instrumentation by M. Ravel) suggests that in Richter, who smooths out this contrast rather than emphasizes it, the participants in the scene are only children, perhaps boys (their collective portrait is drawn in the extreme parts) and girls (the middle part, more graceful in rhythm and melodic pattern). As for the orchestral version, in the middle part of the piece the image of the nannies appears in the mind, that is, of someone an adult who is trying to gently settle a quarrel between children (exhorting intonations of the strings).

V. Stasov, presenting “Pictures” to the public and giving explanations to the pieces of this suite, clarified that the cattle is a Polish cart on huge wheels, drawn by oxen.

The justification for illustrating this play with this drawing by V. Hartmann can be the fact that when V. Stasov asked Mussorgsky what this play meant, Mussorgsky answered that “let it be “Cattle” between us.” This could be interpreted to mean that it was actually “the suffering of the Polish people under tyranny.”

It is known that the author's direction in the notes instructs the end of the play fortissimo, without any diminuendo. However, in Rimsky-Korsakov's edition it ends with ppp (very quietly). Probably this fading of sonority should represent a retreating cart. Ravel's orchestration conveys precisely this idea.

We must pay tribute to Hartmann's ingenuity, who managed to find a form for unhatched chicks; This drawing of his represents a sketch of costumes for the characters in G. Gerber’s ballet “Trilby” staged by Petipa in Bolshoi Theater in 1871. M. Ravel's orchestration is also highly inventive.

9.

And again, maximum contrast with the previous play.

It is known that during his lifetime Hartmann gave the composer two of his drawings made in Poland - “Jew in a Fur Hat” and “Poor Jew. Sandomierz." Stasov recalled: “Mussorgsky greatly admired the expressiveness of these pictures.” So this piece, strictly speaking, is not a picture “at an exhibition”, but rather from Mussorgsky’s personal collection. But, of course, this circumstance does not affect our perception in any way. musical content"Pictures." In this play, Mussorgsky almost teeters on the verge of caricature. And here this ability of his - to convey the very essence of character - manifested itself unusually clearly, almost more visibly than in the best works of the greatest Itinerant artists. Contemporaries are known to say that he had the ability to depict anything with sounds.

We have reached the middle of the cycle - not so much in arithmetic terms (in terms of the number of numbers already performed and still remaining), but in terms of the artistic impression that this work gives us as a whole. And Mussorgsky, clearly realizing this, allows the listener a longer rest - here the “Walk” is heard almost exactly in the version in which it sounded at the beginning of the work (the last sound is extended by one “extra” measure: a kind of theatrical gesture - a raised index finger finger: “Something else will happen!”).

The autograph contains a remark (in French, later crossed out by Mussorgsky): “Big news: Mr. Pimpan from Ponta Pontaleon has just found his cow: Runaway. “Yes, madam, it was yesterday. - No, madam, it was yesterday. Well, yes, madam, a cow was wandering next door. - Well, no, madam, the cow did not wander at all. Etc.”

In the catalog of W. Hartmann's paintings at the exhibition there were about 70 drawings by Limoges: “Limoges. Ruined wall”, “Castle in Limoges and a 112-year-old old woman”, “Limoges”, “Sculptures on the street”, etc. Find, however, the drawing “Limoges. Market" failed. But among this mass of sketches there is a sheet with fourteen pen drawings. This sheet is closest to Mussorgsky's play.

The plot of the play is comical and simple-minded. A glance at the sheet music involuntarily suggests that Hartmann and Mussorgsky saw the “French” in this cycle – the Tuileries Garden and the market in Limoges – in the same emotional key. The reading by the performers highlights these plays in different ways. This play, depicting “bazaar women” and their argument, sounds more energetic than a child’s quarrel. At the same time, it should be noted that the performers, wanting to enhance the effect and sharpen the contrasts, in a certain sense ignore the composer’s instructions: in the State Orchestra’s performance of the orchestral version of M. Ravel, the tempo is very fast, in essence, it Presto. It creates a feeling of rapid movement somewhere. Mussorgsky prescribed Allegretto. He uses sounds to describe the lively scene taking place on one place surrounded by a “Brownian movement” crowd, as can be observed in any crowded and busy market. We hear a stream of rapid-fire speech, sharp increases in sonority ( crescendi), sharp accents ( sforzandi). At the end of the performance of this piece, the movement accelerates even more, and on the crest of this whirlwind we “fall” into...

...How can one not remember the lines of A. Maykov!

Ex tenebris lux

Your soul grieves. From the day -

From a sunny day - fell

You're right into the night and, still cursing,

The mortal has already taken the vial...

Before this number in the autograph there is a remark by Mussorgsky in Russian: “NB: Latin text: with the dead in a dead language. It would be nice to have a Latin text: the creative spirit of the deceased Hartmann leads me to the skulls, calls to them, the skulls quietly boasted.”

Hartmann's drawing is one of the few surviving ones from which Mussorgsky wrote his “Pictures”. It depicts the artist himself with his companion and another person who accompanies them, lighting the way with a lantern. There are shelves with skulls all around.

V. Stasov described this play in a letter to N. Rimsky-Korsakov: “In the same second part [“Pictures at an Exhibition.” – A.M.] there are several lines that are unusually poetic. This is the music for Hartmann's picture "The Catacombs of Paris", all consisting of skulls. At the Musoryanin (as Stasov affectionately called Mussorgsky. - A. M.) first a gloomy dungeon is depicted (with long drawn out chords, often orchestral, with large fermata). [It is noteworthy that Mussorgsky’s contemporaries already saw “Pictures” as an orchestral work. – A.M.] Then the theme of the first promenade comes on tremolando in a minor key - the lights in the skulls lit up, and then suddenly Hartmann’s magical, poetic call to Mussorgsky is heard.”

Hartmann's drawing depicted a clock in the form of Baba Yaga's hut on chicken legs, Mussorgsky added Baba Yaga's train in a mortar.

If we consider “Pictures at an Exhibition” not only as separate work, but in the context of Mussorgsky’s entire work, it can be noted that destructive and creative forces in his music exist inseparably, although at each moment one of them prevails. So, in this play we will find a combination of ominous, mystical black colors, on the one hand, and light ones, on the other. And the intonations here are of two types: on the one hand, maliciously rollicking, frightening, piercingly sharp, on the other hand, cheerful, cheerfully inviting. One group of intonations seems to depress, the second, on the contrary, inspires and activates. The image of Baba Yaga, according to popular beliefs, is the focus of everything cruel, destroying good motives, interfering with the implementation of good, good deeds. However, the composer, showing Baba Yaga from this side (remark at the beginning of the play: feroce[ital. - fiercely]), took the story into a different plane, contrasting the idea of ​​destruction with the idea of ​​growth and victory of good principles. Towards the end of the piece, the music becomes more and more impulsive, the joyful ringing increases, and, in the end, from the depths of the dark registers of the piano a huge sound wave, finally dissolving all gloomy impulses and selflessly preparing the coming of the most victorious, most jubilant image of the cycle - the anthem of the “Bogatyr Gate”.

This play reveals a series of images and works depicting all sorts of devilry, evil spirits and obsession - “Night on Bald Mountain” by M. Mussorgsky himself, “Baba Yaga” and “Kikimora” by A. Lyadov, Leshy in “The Snow Maiden” by N. Rimsky-Korsakov, “Obsession” by S. Prokofiev... Orchestrated by M. Ravel this play is listed as number 13. Is it a coincidence?

Ill. V. Hartmann. Sketch of the city gate

The reason for writing this play was Hartmann's sketch for the city gates in Kyiv, which were to be installed to commemorate the fact that Emperor Alexander II managed to escape death during the assassination attempt on him on April 4, 1866.

The tradition of such final festive scenes in Russian operas found vivid expression in the music of M. Mussorgsky. The play is perceived precisely as this kind of operatic finale. You can even point to a specific prototype - , which ends M. Glinka. The final piece of Mussorgsky's cycle is the intonation, dynamic, textural culmination of the entire work. This is especially vividly conveyed in the orchestral version of “Pictures at an Exhibition”, orchestrated by M. Ravel. The composer himself outlined the nature of the music with the words: Maestoso.Congrandezza(Italian - solemnly, majestically). The theme of the piece is nothing more than a jubilant version of the melody of “The Walk.” The whole work ends festively and joyfully, with the powerful ringing of bells. Mussorgsky started the tradition of similar bell ringings, recreated not by bell means - , Second piano concert, C minor by S. Rachmaninov , his first Prelude in C sharp minor for piano …

© AlexanderMAIKAPAR

The Suite Pictures at an Exhibition was written by Modest Mussorgsky in 1874 as a tribute to his friendship with the artist and architect Victor Hartmann (who died before he was forty). 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 sequence of ten independent plays united by a common concept. Like every play - a musical picture, reflecting the impression of Mussorgsky, inspired by one or another drawing by Hartmann.
There are bright everyday pictures, apt sketches of human characters, landscapes, and images of Russian fairy tales and epics. Individual miniatures contrast with each other in content and expressive means.

The cycle begins with the play “Walk,” which personifies the composer’s own walk through the gallery from painting to painting, therefore this topic repeated between descriptions of paintings.
The work consists of ten parts, each of which conveys the image of a painting.

Spanish Svyatoslav Richter
Walk 00:00
I. Gnome 01:06
Walk 03:29
II. Medieval castle 04:14
Walk 08:39
III.Thuile 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. Bogatyr Gate. In the capital city of Kyiv 25:02


The first picture is “Gnome”. Hartmann's drawing depicted a nutcracker in the form of a clumsy gnome. Mussorgsky endows the gnome with features in his music human character, while maintaining the appearance of a fabulous and whimsical creature. In this small play one can hear deep suffering, and it also captures the angular gait of the gloomy gnome.

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

The third picture - “The Garden of the Tuileries” - sharply contrasts with the previous plays. She depicts children playing in one of the parks in Paris. Everything is joyful and sunny in this music. Fast pace, whimsical accents convey the animation and fun of children's play in the background summer day.

The fourth picture is called "Cattle". Hartmann's drawing shows a peasant cart on high wheels, pulled by two sad oxen. In the music you can hear how the oxen tread tiredly and heavily, and the cart drags slowly and creakingly.

And again the character of the music changes sharply: dissonances in the high register are played provocatively and stupidly, out of place, alternating with chords, and all at a rapid pace. Hartmann's drawing was a costume design for the ballet Trilby. It depicts young students ballet school performing a characteristic dance. Dressed as chicks, they have not yet completely freed themselves from the shell. Hence the funny title of the miniature, “Ballet of the 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 a person’s character as accurately as possible in music through speech intonations. And although there is no vocal part in this song, there are no words, in the sounds of the piano you can unmistakably hear the rough, arrogant voice of the rich man and the timid, humiliated, begging voice of the poor man. For the speech of the rich man, Mussorgsky found imperious intonations, the decisive nature of which is enhanced by the low register. In profound contrast to this is the speech of the poor man - quiet, tremulous, intermittent, in a high register.

The picture “Limoges Market” depicts a motley market crowd. In the music, the composer well conveys the discordant talk, shouts, hustle and bustle of the southern bazaar.


The miniature “Catacombs” was painted based on Hartmann’s drawing “Roman Catacombs”. Chords sound, sometimes quiet and distant, as if echoes lost in the depths of a labyrinth, sometimes sharp, clear, 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 unclear light of a lantern, the glare on the damp walls, an alarming, vague premonition.

The next picture - “The Hut on Chicken Legs” - paints a fairy-tale image of Baba Yaga. The artist depicts a clock in the shape of a fairytale hut. Mussorgsky rethought the image. His music embodies not a beautiful toy hut, but its owner, Baba Yaga. So she whistled and rushed in her mortar to all the devils, chasing them with a broom. The play reeks of epic scale and Russian prowess. It’s 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 kinship with Russian folk music and with the images of epics is felt in the last picture - “The Bogatyr Gate”. Mussorgsky wrote this play under the impression of Hartmann's architectural sketch "City Gates in Kyiv." The music is close to Russian in intonations and its harmonic language folk songs. The character of the play is majestically calm and solemn. Thus, the last picture, symbolizing the power of the native people, naturally completes the entire cycle.

***
The fate of this is very interesting piano cycle.
On the manuscript of “Pictures” there is the inscription “For printing. Mussorgsky. July 26, 74 Petrograd,” however, 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 by V. Bessel in 1886, as revised 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 exactly correspond to the author's manuscript; it had a certain amount of editorial "brilliance". The circulation sold out, and a year later the second edition was published, with a foreword by Stasov. However, the work did not become widely known at that time; pianists dismissed it for a long time, not finding the “usual” virtuosity in it and considering it non-concert and non-piano. Soon M. M. Tushmalov (1861-1896), with the participation of Rimsky-Korsakov, orchestrated the main parts of “Pictures”, the orchestral version was published, the premiere took place on November 30, 1891, and in this form they were quite often performed in St. Petersburg and Pavlovsk, with the final performed by an 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 the young pianist G. N. Beklemishev; in 1905, “Pictures” was performed in Paris at a lecture by M. Calvocoressi on Mussorgsky.

But recognition by the general public came only after Maurice Ravel, using the same edition of Rimsky-Korsakov, created his famous orchestration in 1922, and in 1930 its first recording was released.

However, the cycle was written specifically for piano!
For all the colorfulness of Ravel’s orchestration, he still lost those deeply Russian features of Mussorgsky’s music that are heard specifically in piano performance.

And only in 1931, on the fiftieth anniversary of the composer’s death, “Pictures at an Exhibition” was released in accordance with the author’s manuscript in the academic publication “Muzgiza”, and then they became an integral part of the repertoire Soviet pianists.

Since then, two traditions of piano performance of “Pictures” have coexisted. Among the supporters of the original author's version are pianists such as Svyatoslav Richter (see above) and Vladimir Ashkenazy.

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



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

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Pictures from the exhibition With sand animation.

Rock version of Pictures at an Exhibition.

Wassily Kandinsky. Synthesis of Arts.
Kandinsky’s step towards realizing the idea of ​​“monumental art” was the production of “Pictures at an Exhibition” by Modest Mussorgsky “with its own scenery and characters – light, color and geometric shapes.”
This was the first and only time he agreed to work from a finished score, which was a clear indication of his deepest interest.
The premiere on April 4, 1928 at the Friedrich Theater in Dessau was a resounding success. The music was performed on the piano. The production was very cumbersome, because 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 violet, while dimmers (rheostats) did not yet exist.

Modest Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition” has more than once inspired artists to create moving videos. In 1963, choreographer Fyodor Lopukhov staged the ballet “Pictures from an Exhibition” in musical theater Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko. In the USA, Japan, France, and the USSR, talented cartoons based on the theme of “Pictures at an Exhibition” were created.

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

The capabilities of the computer inspire artists to create 2D and 3D animation. Another one of the most interesting experiences in creating “moving” paintings by Wassily Kandinsky.

***
text from many sources

M.P. Mussorgsky "Pictures at an Exhibition"

It is impossible to imagine the piano work of Modest Mussorgsky without famous cycle"Pictures from an Exhibition." Bold, truly innovative musical solutions were implemented by the composer in this work. Vivid, satirical images and theatricality are what characterize this series. Listen to the works, find out interesting facts and the history of creation, as well as read the musical annotations for each number in this article.

History of creation

Modest Mussorgsky was a sympathetic person by nature, so people were drawn to him and tried to establish friendly relations with him. One of the composer's best friends was the talented artist and architect Victor Hartmann. They spent a lot of time talking and often met, discussing art. The death of such a close-minded person horrified the musician. After a tragic event Mussorgsky recalled that when last meeting I didn’t pay attention to the terrible state of the architect’s health. He thought that such attacks in breathing were the consequences of active nervous activity, which is so characteristic of creative people.

A year after Hartmann’s death, at the behest of Stasov, a huge exhibition was organized, which included the works of a talented master from watercolors to oils. Of course, Modest Petrovich could not miss this event. The exhibition was a success. The artistic works made a strong impression on the composer, so he immediately began composing a cycle of works. That spring, 1874, the writer limited himself to improvisation, but in the summer all the miniatures were ready in just three weeks.

Interesting facts

  • Modest Mussorgsky wrote this cycle of works for piano; the famous composer managed to create the most successful orchestration Maurice Ravel. The selection of timbres fully corresponds to the images. The premiere of the orchestrated version took place in the fall of 1922 in Paris. After the first performance, the forgotten “Pictures at an Exhibition” regained popularity. Many world-famous conductors wanted to perform the cycle.
  • The cycle was never published during the author's lifetime. The first publication took place only five years after his death.
  • There are 19 orchestrations of this suite.
  • Hartmann's gnome is a nutcracker with crooked legs.
  • About four hundred different exhibits were presented at the exhibition. Mussorgsky chose only a few of the most striking paintings, in his opinion.
  • Unfortunately, the samples of drawings from which the miniatures were painted were lost.
  • Despite the fact that the inspiration was the work of Hartmann, the cycle was dedicated to Stasov, who provided enormous assistance and assistance in the implementation of Mussorgsky's plans.
  • The editors of the first collection published in print belong to the genius Rimsky-Korsakov. At the same time, as a teacher at the conservatory, the composer tried hard to correct all sorts of author’s “mistakes.” Thus, the works have lost a lot, they have lost their innovation. Nevertheless, the circulation sold out quite quickly. The second edition was under the leadership of Stasov, who did not change anything in the manuscripts. The popularity of this edition did not live up to the critic's hopes; pianists believed that they were too difficult to perform.

“Pictures at an Exhibition” is a unique suite woven from piano miniatures. The author helps the listener feel like a visitor to Hartmann's exhibition. The paintings change one after another, uniting the entire “Walk” cycle. Despite the fact that the suite has a program, the music paints fairly free images and plots, interconnected by the musical material of the first number. It changes depending on the author’s attitude towards what he sees. In this way, the end-to-end form of the work can be traced and it continuously develops. The alternation of numbers is carried out according to the contrasting principle.


Walk. The first number seems to draw steps. The melody is reminiscent of Russian folk song, not only by variable meter, but also by its own breadth and depth. The hero entered the exhibition hall. Slowly it approaches, the sonority increases, leading to the climax. In letters to Stasov you can read that the author depicts himself examining various exhibits. Light, cleanliness and spaciousness are the sensations that music gives. As mentioned earlier, the theme of the walk will permeate the suite from beginning to end, constantly changing. The only thing that will remain unchanged is the folk style and majesty.

"Walk" (listen)

Dwarf. Funny and at the same time touching number. A fantastic, slightly absurd creature, which is characterized by constant jumps and angularities in the melody, and also knows how to feel the world. Plaintive intonations show that the gnome is sad. This psychological portrait reveals the versatility of the image. The development of the image is rapid. After reaching the climax, the composer again returns the “Walk” theme, significantly shortened compared to the first version, it connects the two numbers.

Old castle. The lyrical hero approaches next piece art to a watercolor painting painted in Italy. What he sees: an old medieval castle, in front of which a troubadour in love is singing. A sad melody flows from the lips young musician. Thoughtfulness, emotion and sadness permeate the musical number. The constantly repeating bass allows you to reproduce the music of the Middle Ages, the theme varies, reminiscent of live singing. The middle part is filled with light, which again gives way to dark shades. Everything gradually calms down, only the last phrase in fortissimo destroys the silence. A short walk to the next picture allows you to modulate into the key of the next number in B major.

“Old Castle” (listen)


Tuileries Garden. A luxurious garden near the Tuileries Palace in Paris is filled with light and joy. Little children frolic and enjoy life in the company of nannies. The rhythm is fully consistent with children's teasers and counting rhymes. The work is polyphonic, two themes are carried out simultaneously, one of them is the image of children, and the other of nannies.

Cattle. The piece begins with a sharp fortissimo, this is a strong contrast. A heavy cart is moving. The two-beat meter emphasizes the simplicity and roughness of the melody. You can hear the creaking of wheels of heavy carts, the lowing of oxen and the joyless song of a peasant. Gradually the music fades away, the cart has gone far, far away. The theme of the first number comes in, but it sounds in a minor key. It conveys the mood lyrical hero, he is lost in his own thoughts.

Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks. The hero did not immediately pay attention to the next exhibit. Vivid sketches for the ballet "Trilby". A light and serene scherzo written in three-movement da capo form. This is the dance of the little canaries. Comedy and naivety literally permeate the number.

“Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks” (listen)

Samuel Goldberg and Shmuile or Two Jews - rich and poor. Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky especially admired two pictures at the exhibition. Figurative expressiveness was evident in this musical number. A special flavor is created using the gypsy color scheme. The second theme is filled with plaintive intonations. In the future, the themes will be connected and sound together. In the story, a poor Jew asks a rich man for help, but he does not agree. The rich man has the last word. This number is characterized by polytonality.

“Two Jews – rich and poor” (listen)

The first part of the cycle ends with a walk that almost completely repeats musical material first number.

Limoges. In a small town in France, the most notorious gossips gathered at the market. The hum of conversations does not stop for a second. There is a spirit of bustle and fun all around. One of the most cheerful and cheerful numbers in the suite. But the lyrical hero’s gaze falls on another picture, the music stops and another number begins.

Catacombs. Everything seems frozen, hopelessness and pain dominate this work. The key of B minor has always been a symbol of tragic predestination. The intonation of the complaint conveys the horror of what he saw. The tonal instability determines the dramatic nature of the suite number. The composer seems to want to convey the irreparable feeling of loss that arose after the death of the talented artist Hartmann. The continuation of this number “With the dead in a dead language” sounds. The theme is based on a walk, which sounds slow and tragic. The feeling of grief is conveyed by dissonant harmonies. Tremolo in the high registers creates an atmosphere of tension. Gradually there is a modulation to major, which means that the person has accepted the fate prepared for him.



I have long been planning to collect material for Alice and Nikita based on “Pictures at an Exhibition.” Now, probably, it was Igor Romanovsky’s exhibition that pushed me to this, although for the first time I heard “Pictures” in a rock version legendary group Emerson, Lake & Palmer around 1972.
The original, i.e. one of the greatest creations of classical music, the piano suite-cycle by Modest Mussorgsky was written according to vivid impressions from the exhibition of Victor Hartmann, his friend, architect and artist (on the left is Mussorgsky, on the right is Hartmann). Hartmann died suddenly at the age of 39 and, at the suggestion of the great Russian critic and art historian Vladimir Stasov, a posthumous exhibition of about 400 of his works - drawings, watercolors, architectural designs, sketches - was held in 1874 theatrical scenery and costumes, sketches of artistic products. Most they were created during a four-year trip to Europe. And the fact that with the help of the Internet we were able to find the catalog of that exhibition is absolutely fantastic!

Famous artist Ivan Kramskoy wrote about him this way: “Hartmann was an extraordinary man... When you need to build ordinary things, Hartmann is bad, he needs fairy-tale buildings, magical castles, give him palaces, buildings for which there are no and could not be models, here he creates amazing things "Here are a few more fragments from that exhibition.

Mussorgsky's visit to the exhibition became the impetus for the creation of a kind of musical “walk” through an imaginary exhibition gallery. The result is a series of musical paintings that only partially resemble the works seen; Basically, the plays were the result of the free flight of the composer’s imagination. Mussorgsky connected these musical “pictures” with his “walk,” sedately and slowly moving from one hall to another, from one “picture” to the next. As the basis for the “exhibition,” Mussorgsky took Hartmann’s “foreign” drawings, as well as two of his sketches on Russian themes. Mussorgsky was so captivated by the work that the entire cycle was written in just three weeks.

However, during Mussorgsky’s lifetime, “Pictures” were not published or performed by anyone, and only five years after his death the first publication was published, edited by Rimsky-Korsakov. Later there were others, but “Pictures” still did not gain 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 of “Pictures at an Exhibition” today, and in 1930 a recording of the entire suite was made, it became an integral part of the repertoire of many pianists and orchestras.

Some researchers have seen an architecturally symmetrical (another bow to Hartmann!) construction of the plots of the cycle: “at the edges” there are the main themes (“Walk” and “Bogatyr Gate”), followed by closer to the center fairy tale images(Gnome and Baba Yaga), then - “French” stories (“Limoges market”, “”). Behind them are everyday sketches from Poland "Cattle" (by the way, Mussorgsky himself called it "Sandomierz Cattle" (i.e. "cattle" in Polish) and "Two Jews", and in the center there is a joke - "Ballet of Unhatched Chicks" .

Well, how can one not remember from Kyiv the final cycle of “The Heroic Gate (In the capital city of Kyiv)”. This piece is based on Hartmann's sketch for his architectural design for the Kyiv city gates. In honor of the rescue of Emperor Alexander II from an unsuccessful assassination attempt, a competition for gate designs was organized in Kyiv. Hartmann's project, submitted to the competition, was made in the Old Russian style - a dome with a belfry in the form of a hero's helmet, a decoration above the gate in the shape of a kokoshnik. Hartmann's version created the image of Kyiv as an ancient Russian capital. However, the competition was subsequently cancelled, and the successful project was never implemented.



Since then, many interpretations of this symphonic masterpiece have arisen. In 1971, keyboardist Keith Emerson and his trio mates Emerson, Lake and Palmer performed a live rock arrangement of “Pictures” interspersed with their compositions and even songs. For many years it became a signature
group card.

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

With the piano and rock composition (where keyboards still predominated), everything seems clear, 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 turn to today. I think that even the poor VHS quality of Kazuhito’s performance gives an idea of ​​how “Pictures” sounds on guitar (a unique recording from 1984!).

“Pictures” have repeatedly served as inspiration for other genres of art. Themes from the series are regularly inserted into films and TV series. And back 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.

Pictures from the exhibition- one of the best masterpieces in Russian piano music(1874). In form it is a suite consisting of ten pieces, each of which reflects the content of one of the paintings by the artist Viktor Aleksandrovich Hartmann.

Victor Hartmann especially clearly showed himself not so much as an artist, but as a talented architect, who formed his own style in architecture called the “Russian style.”

For Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky, he was a very close friend, so Hartmann’s sudden death in at a young age(only 39 years old!) literally shocked the composer.

A year after this tragic event, at the suggestion of Stasov, an exhibition of paintings by Victor Hartmann was held, dedicated to his memory. However, the best monument to the artist was a piano cycle written by his friend.

The idea for its creation came to Mussorgsky while visiting an exhibition, and within three weeks the cycle was ready! Some paintings can hardly even be called paintings. These are more like sketches, sketches, sometimes just outlines for theatrical costumes.

Only two paintings have a Russian theme - the rest of the drawings are “foreign”. The entire cycle consists of ten plays (pictures) connected by one leitmotif called “Walk”.

This is Mussorgsky himself, walking around exhibition hall and from time to time he stops in front of another picture that interests him (click on the pictures to enlarge them). Here they are:

Picture No. 1 Gnome.

Picture No. 2 “Old Castle” - the image of the old medieval castle has not survived.

Picture No. 3 “Tuileries Garden” - this picture depicted the garden in the Tuileries Palace (Paris). The weather is beautiful, the nannies are walking with the children. The painting also did not survive.

Picture No. 4 “Cattle” (“Sandomierz cattle”, as defined by Mussorgsky himself). The painting depicted a Polish cart drawn by oxen; in the music, the effect of approaching and then moving away from this huge cart with squeaking wheels is clearly audible. The painting also did not survive.

Picture No. 5 “Ballet of unhatched chicks.” In principle, this is not so much a painting as a sketch for ballet costumes for the dance of canary chicks (three-part form).

Picture No. 6 “Two Jews: rich and poor.” For Hartmann, these characters did not exist in one picture. There were two paintings: “A rich Jew in a fur hat”:

and “Poor Jew”: Both Jews are of Polish origin (Sandomierz Jews). At Mussorgsky's they have a conversation, during which each reveals his own character.

Picture No. 7 “Limoges Market” (France): market noise, hubbub, gossip, bustle. The painting also did not survive.

Picture No. 8 “Catacombs. Roman tomb" or "With the dead in a dead language." Hartmann depicted himself in the foreground. To the right you can barely see the dimly lit skulls.

Picture No. 9 “The Hut on Chicken Legs” (Baba Yaga). Hartmann has just a sketch of a clock. Mussorgsky has the image of “evil spirits”.

Picture No. 10 “Bogatyr Gate. In the capital city of Kyiv." The painting represents the project of the Kyiv Gate. This gate was never built, but it was planned to build it after the unsuccessful assassination attempt on Emperor Alexander II and his miraculous escape. Mussorgsky's play sounds like a triumph of Orthodoxy, very realistically depicting the festive bell ringing.

Personally, I became acquainted with “Pictures” at the age of ten: my mother bought a record of Svyatoslav Richter playing. The impression was so vivid that I for many years I literally dreamed of taking at least one look at the pictures that inspired Mussorgsky to create this miracle.

Today, thanks to the Internet, this has become real. However, what I saw greatly disappointed me: Mussorgsky’s music is many times superior to the original source in its artistic value!

In addition, the paintings were sold at the exhibition. Obviously, they were sold after the exhibition, so only 6 paintings remained in the public domain. You can see them on my blog. Of course, these are just reproductions, and even in electronic form, but still better than nothing.

The fate of this piano cycle is very interesting. Firstly, it was not published during the author’s lifetime and, accordingly, was not performed even once during the composer’s lifetime.

Secondly, this work became famous thanks to its orchestral arrangement French composer Maurice Ravel, a recording of this arrangement was published half a century after Mussorgsky's death.

However, the cycle was written specifically for piano! I don’t know about anyone, but personally I like this option the most. Moreover, I never thought that Richter’s performance could ever be relegated to the background for me, I could not imagine a performer who could “outplay” Svyatoslav Richter himself in this masterpiece!

But today I am literally captivated by Mikhail Pletnev’s interpretation. I think it’s the best and that’s why I chose it to post on my blog.

I invite you to enjoy getting acquainted with this “pearl” of the Russian piano heritage, and even in an absolutely wonderful version: