Boris Godunov - San Francisco Opera

When he was 18, he began music lessons from Mily Balakirev, a fellow member of 'The
Five' (or 'The Mighty Handful'), a 19th-century's group of nationalist Russian composers
including Borodin, Rimsky-Korsakov and Cui. They were inspired by Mikhail Glinka, the
father of the Russian nationalist tradition in music. Together,
'The Five' created the
'nationalist' school of Russian music.
Mussorgsky resigned from the army commission in 1858. Few years later, aged 25, the
Russian liberation of the serfs impoverished Mussorgsky's family. Losing their fortune, he
was forced to take a job back in the civil service. Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov offered to share
a room with him.
A habit that eventually killed Mussorgsky was his heavy drinking. At 26, he had his first
attack of delirium tremens.
He toured Russia playing piano for singer Darya Leonova. In 1880 he resigned from the
civil service. A year later, he suffered fits from alcohol abuse and was committed to a
military hospital in St. Petersburg where his portrait was painted
by Ilya Repin (see below.)
His operas were not well received, his drinking increased.
Mussorgsky died on March 28 1881. Although he enjoyed some recognition and fame as
composer of operaBoris Godunov and as a pianist, most of his work was posthumously
published, either revised or completed by Rimsky-Korsakov.
His most famous work is 'Pictures at an Exhibition' which was inspired by a posthumous
exhibition of painting by Mussorgsky's friend Victor Harmann. Each piece is a masterpiece
of descriptive music. Originally written for the piano, the work is best known n Ravel's
brilliant orchestral version.
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