Pictures at an Exhibition

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Pictures at an Exhibition
Modest Mussorgsky

• 9 original pieces of artwork by Victor Hartmann
• Mussorgsky, shocked by Hartmanns death, wrote
  piano piece as tribute
• Ravel commissioned by Sergey Koussevitzky to
  orchestrate Mussorgskys piece

Maurice Ravel
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Overall Transformations

• From pictures to piano arrangement Hartmanns
  ideas are transformed from static to real-time
  presentation
• From piano to orchestra arrangement Hartmanns
  ideas are more specifically presented through
  diverse instrument timbres
• With every transformation, the ideas behind
  Hartmanns original artwork are reinterpreted
  with added dimensions

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Hartmanns sketches Ballet of the Unborn Chicks

• Originally commissioned as costume design
  sketches for 1871 production of the ballet
  Trillby
• Eggshell costumes represent chicks in shells
  prior to hatching

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Mussorgskys Ballet of the Unborn Chicks

• Scherzino vivo, leggiero jokingly,
  lightheartedly, alive
• Grace notes imply movement, unborn chicks pecking
  at shell
• Trills (right) quick pulse (left)
  unsteadiness, wavering of limbs inside shells
• High F grace-note consistently used chicks
  cheeping

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Ravels Ballet of the Unborn Chicks

• Woodwinds used to vocalize chicks
• Bassoon bass to indicate clumsiness of the unborn
  chicks in shells
• Trills given to strings for fluttery sound
• Use of glockenspiel, cymbal splashes and triangle
  for ringy, whimsical effect
• Piccolo cheeping sound (high F)

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Hartmanns Pictures of Two Jews

• Hartmann visited Jewish ghetto in Sandomir,
  Poland in 1868

• Rich Jew
• Confident

• Poor Jew
• Hopeless

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Mussorgskys Samuel Goldenberg and Schmuÿle

• 2 pictures ? 1 piece examining relationship
• Rich Jew speaks first
• Low ? deep, powerful voice
• Two hands in unison ? assertive
• Slow tempo, pauses for breath ? composed
• Poor Jew
• High, with quick repeated notes ? weak,
  high-pitched whining
• Triplet tremolo ? teeth chattering, body shaking

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Mussorgsky's Samuel Goldenberg and Schmuyle

• Rich Jew starts talking before poor Jew finishes
• Gets more attention
• Keeps going after poor Jew stops
• Ends with both Jews in unison
• Rich Jew sends poor Jew off with nothing

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Ravels Samuel Goldenberg and Schmuyle

• Brings out contrast between rich and poor Jew
• Rich Jew
• Strings (and woodwinds) playing tutti
• Poor Jew
• 1 muted piccolo trumpet over accompaniment
• Ends with two voices in unison, but different
  timbres

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Hartmanns Hut on Chicken Legs

• Pencil sketch design for a clock 14th century
  Russian style
• The clock sits on two hens feet. It is the House
  of Baba Yaga (a fairy-tale motif)
• Very ornate with rope-like and textile
  ornamentation and patterns

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The Story of Baba Yaga

• Baba Yaga is a witch who lives in a house on
  chicken feet
• She kills and eats little children crushing
  their bones in her giant mortar in which she
  flies around
• Both Hartmann and Mussorgsky have an interest in
  old Russian culture

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Mussorgsky's House on Chicken Legs

• Music is not very representative of the clock
  design, other than quarter note 120, making
  each measure last exactly one secondlike a clock
• Music is Mussorgsky's representation of the story
  of Baba Yagaher flying in a mortar chasing after
  little children

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Mussorgsky continued

• Starts with low rumble in the left hand
• Pounding,with a repetitive descending line.like
  she is circling her prey
• Trills and descending chromatic scalecreate
  tension
• The tone is angry and frantic, created by a
  flurry of notes

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Ravels Hut on Chicken Legs

• Pretty loyal to Mussorgsky's version, but with
  more depth and texturehe has different voices to
  work with
• blaring harsh brass, loud percussion, high flutes
  add contrast

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Hartmanns The Great Gate of Kiev

• Design competition for gate
• Commemorate Tsar Alexander IIs escaped
  assassination
• Competition ultimately called off
• Hartmanns design
• Archway on granite pillars
• Russian state eagle at peak
• Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the
  Lord

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Mussorgsky's The Great Gate of Kiev

• Exposition
• Powerful opening processional tune
• Repeated several times, emphasis on majesty
• Religious undertones
• Intertwining of Russian Orthodox Church choir
  music
• As you are baptized in Christ

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Mussorgsky's The Great Gate of Kiev

• Recapitulation and close
• Introduction of super triplets then regular
  triplets into piece
• Return of open theme superimposed on top of
  developed religious theme
• End with the opening of Gates of Kiev

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Ravels The Great Gate of Kiev

• Use of tutti brass in opening to encapsulate
  grandeur
• Contrasted by soft woodwind choir interludes
• Orchestral ornamentation
• Ending written in 3/2, original in 2/2
• Straight triplets only
• Doubling of half notes in end
• Representation of church bells
• Pulsating, dissonant mass of sound
• Restatement on end note for finality

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In Conclusion

• There are multiple transformations taking place.
  The Hartmann pictures Mussorgsky piano piece
  Ravel orchestration
• Every time a piece of art is transformed, a new
  dimension is added.

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Transformations

• From Pictures to Music-- an element of time
• From Piano to Orchestra -- an element of texture
  and color
• Transformations tend to adapt the original work
  to the conventions of the timethus
  transformations help ensure the survival of the
  original work

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Works Referenced

• 1. Brown, David. Mussorgsky His Life and
  Works. 2002
• University Press, Oxford.
• 2. Calvocoresi, M.D. Modest Mussorgsky. 1956
  Salisbury Square, London.
• 3. Eagen, Tim. Images for Pictures at an
  Exhibition
• http//www.stmoroky.com/reviews/gallery/pictures/h
  artmann.htm. Jan. 2000.
• 4. Mussorgsky, Modest. Pictures at an
  Exhibition piano score. 1983 Breitkopf
  Hartell Wiesbaden.
• 5. Mussorgsky, Modest. Pictures at an
  Exhibition sound recording. 1997
  Longworth, Peter.
• 6. Ravel, Maurice. Pictures at an Exhibition
  musical score. 1929 Boosey Hawkes,
  London.
• 7. Ravel, Maurice. Pictures at an Exhibition
  sound recording. 1993 New York
  Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein.
• 8. Russ, Michael. Musorgsky Pictures at an
  Exhibition. 1992 Cambridge University Press,
  Cambridge.