Modest Petrovich Musorgskiy

Russian composer. Along with Balakirev, Cui, Rimsky-Korsakov, and Borodin, he is counted as one of the "Five" of the Russian national school of music. Born on March 21st to an aristocratic family who owned vast estates in the Pskov region. He was taught piano by his mother from the age of six, and performed Field's Concerto in front of an audience at the age of nine. He studied piano under A. Goerke from 1849 to 1854, and in 1852 he entered the Military Academy in St. Petersburg. He began composing on his own around this time, but joined the academy's choir and was enlightened about Russian church music by Kurbsky, the conductor and theology instructor. He graduated from the academy in 1856 and became an officer in the Imperial Guards Regiment. It was around this time that he met the composer Borodin, and the following year he became acquainted with Dargomuizhsky and Cui. Through them he was further taught by Balakirev, and in 1858 he retired from military service to devote himself to music. In 1960, his orchestral arrangement of the Scherzo in B-flat major for piano was performed at a concert by the newly founded Russian Musical Society. However, the implementation of the abolition of the serfs in 1961 dealt a heavy blow to his family, and in order to gain economic stability he became a civil servant in 1963. During this time, he resonated with the progressive ideas of Chernyshevsky and others and took sympathetic actions toward the peasants, which also reflected his artistic belief that "art is not an end in itself, but a means to communicate with people."

After establishing this artistic creed in 1864, he produced a series of songs based on realism, including Kalistratushka (1864) based on poems by Nekrasov, and wrote the first act of the opera The Marriage (1868, unfinished), based on Gogol's comedy, using the new recitation style pioneered by Dargomuizhsky. The other composers of the "Five" did not approve of the opera, but the group's theoretical leader, critic Stasov, showed a strong interest, and with his support and advice, the opera Boris Godunov was completed. Based on Pushkin's play, this work was completed in 1869 and submitted to the Mariinsky Theatre, but was rejected for performance, so a revised version was written in 1871-72. Overcoming various obstacles, the entire opera was performed in 1874 and was a great success. Next, also with Stasov's advice, he worked on another historical opera, Khovanshchina, and The City of Sorochinsk, based on a short story by Gogol, but neither of these were completed during his lifetime. In addition, in 1974 he composed the piano suite Pictures at an Exhibition, which depicted his impressions of an exhibition of the posthumous works of his friend, the painter V. Hartmann, and the song collection Without Sunshine, and from 1975 to 1977 he wrote the song collection Songs and Dances of Death, which show the final surge of his creative power. However, from this time onwards he began to take a different direction from his colleagues Cui and Rimsky-Korsakov, and in 1979 he toured Russia as the piano accompanist for the singer Leonova, but the following year he suffered from mental disorders due to alcoholism, became an invalid, and died in St. Petersburg on March 28, 1981.

Mussorgsky's greatest achievements, as implied in his artistic beliefs, were in the fields of opera and vocal song, which combined words. He despised formal beauty and technical refinement, and used whole-tone scales and bold harmonies, which had a considerable influence on the impressionist music of Debussy in France. He also explored ways to reproduce human conversation in music, and established a style of recitation that was lyrical but faithful to the intonation of words.

[Mariko Teramoto]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

ロシアの作曲家。バラキレフ、キュイ、リムスキー・コルサコフ、ボロディンとともにロシア国民楽派の「五人組」の一人に数えられる。プスコフ地方に広大な領地を所有する貴族の家に3月21日に生まれる。6歳から母にピアノの手ほどきを受け、早くも9歳でフィールドの協奏曲を聴衆の前で演奏した。1849～54年A・ゲルケにピアノを師事する一方、52年ペテルブルグの陸軍士官学校に進学。このころから独学で作曲を始めるが、士官学校の合唱団に加わり、指揮者で神学の教官であったクルプスキーからロシアの教会音楽について啓発された。56年に士官学校を卒業し、近衛(このえ)連隊の士官になる。このころ作曲家ボロディンと出会い、また翌年にはダルゴムイシスキーとキュイの知遇を得た。さらに彼らを通してバラキレフの指導を受けるようになり、58年音楽に専念するために軍務から退く。60年には、ピアノのためのスケルツォ変ロ長調の管弦楽用編曲が、新たに設立されたロシア音楽協会の演奏会で取り上げられた。しかし61年の農奴解放の実施により彼の家も大きな打撃を受け、経済的安定を得るために63年から官吏となる。この間チェルヌィシェフスキーらの進歩思想に共鳴して農民に同情的な行動をとったことは、「芸術はそれ自身が目的ではなく、人々と語り合うための手段である」という彼の芸術信条にも反映している。

　この芸術信条を確立した1864年以降はネクラーソフの詩による『カリストラートゥシュカ』（1864）をはじめリアリズムに立脚した一連の歌曲を発表、またダルゴムイシスキーの開拓した新しい朗唱様式を用いてゴーゴリの喜劇に基づくオペラ『結婚』（1868。未完）の第1幕を書き上げた。「五人組」の他の作曲家たちはこのオペラに賛同しなかったが、グループの理論的指導者である評論家のスターソフだけは強い関心を示し、彼の支持と助言でオペラ『ボリス・ゴドゥノフ』が成立した。プーシキンの戯曲をもとにしたこの作品は69年に完成、マリンスキー劇場に提出されたが上演を拒否され、71～72年に改訂版が書き上げられた。そしてさまざまな障害を越えて74年に全曲上演され、大成功を収めた。続いてやはりスターソフの助言で別の歴史オペラ『ホバンシチーナ』やゴーゴリの短編に基づく『ソロチンスクの市』に手を染めたが、2曲とも生前には完成されなかった。このほか、74年には友人の画家V・ハルトマンの遺作展覧会の印象を描いたピアノ組曲『展覧会の絵』や歌曲集『日の光もなく』が作曲され、75～77年には歌曲集『死の歌と踊り』が書かれるなど、創作力の最後の高まりがみられる。しかしこのころから、仲間のキュイやリムスキー・コルサコフとは別の方向をとるようになり、79年には歌手レオノーワのピアノ伴奏者としてロシア国内を演奏旅行したが、翌年にはアルコール中毒による精神錯乱をおこし、廃人のようになって81年3月28日ペテルブルグに没した。

　ムソルグスキーのもっとも優れた業績は、前記の芸術信条に暗示されているように、ことばと結合したオペラと独唱歌曲の領域にみられる。そして形式面での美しさや技法的洗練を軽蔑(けいべつ)し、全音音階や大胆な和声を用いたが、それらはフランスのドビュッシーの印象主義の音楽に少なからぬ影響を与えることになった。また、人々の会話を音楽で再現する方法を探求し、叙情的ではあるがことばの抑揚に忠実な朗唱様式を確立した。

［寺本まり子］

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