Modest Petrovich Musorgsky (1839–1881)
The name is also transliterated Mussorgsy or Musorgskii.
Editions
1344.Modest Petrovich Musorgskii. Polnoe akademicheskoe sochineni = Complete
Works.Ed. Eugenii Levasev and Giorgii Vasil’evich Sviridov, for the Institute
of the Russian Federation for the Study of the Arts. Moscow: Muzyka; Mainz:
Schott, 1989–. M3 .M982.
In progress. All the operas are to appear in series 1, v.1–11. The only one seen
is Boris Godunov,in v.2, parts 1 and 2 (1996). It is a full score of the 1869 ver-
sion, with extensive critical notes and introduction in Russian and English.
Information includes a discussion of editing problems, description of the auto-
graphs, discrepancies between full and vocal scores of the original version,
stage directions, historical and literary comments, and text of the libretto.
Name index.Collections of Essays
1345.Musorgsky: In Memoriam, 1881–1981. Ed. Malcolm Hamrick Brown. Ann
Arbor, Mich.: UMI Research, 1982. 337p. ISBN 0-8357-1295-8. ML410
.M97 M98.
Essays by various specialists, including Richard Taruskin, Malcolm Hamrick
Brown, Boris Schwarz, Maria Schneerson, Alexandra Orlova, Robert Oldani,
and Gerald Abraham. Topics covered: life, style, individual works. “Editions of
Boris Godunov,” by Oldani, gives library locations of all the manuscripts and
describes the composer’s piano-vocal score, the Rimsky-Korsakov version, and
the modern edition of Lloyd-Jones (#1354). The study by Orlova and Schneer-
son examines the Borislibretto in terms of its emergence from Pushkin’s play
and a history by Karamzin. Expansive index of names, titles, and topics.- Taruskin, Richard. Musorgsky: Eight Essays and an Epilogue.Princeton, N.J.:
Princeton U.P., 1993. xxxiv, 415p. ISBN 0-691-09147-1. ML410 .M983 T19.
Includes important studies, entered separately, of Serov and Musorgsky
(#1349), the two versions of Boris(#1355), folk song in Boris(#1356), genesis
of Khovanshchina(#1357), and a view of Sorochintsi Fair(#1358). Also in the
book: “Handel, Shakespeare, and Musorgsky” and “Folk Texts in Boris
Godunov.” All except the one on Sorochintsi Fairare reprints of earlier publi-
cations. Expansive index.
Biographies
- Orlova, Alexandra. Musorgsky’s Days and Works: A Biography in Docu-
ments. Trans. and ed. Roy J. Guenther. Ann Arbor, Mich.: UMI Research, - 650p. ISBN 0-8357-1234-5. ML410 .M97 O7.
Originally in Russian (Moscow, 1963). A documentary chronicle, drawing on
all sources: letters, diaries, newpaper articles, and writings of contemporaries.
Includes details of genesis and production for the operas. Bibliographic refer-
ences, index.
Modest Petrovich Musorgsky 259