"Absurd, disconnected harmony, ugly part-writing, sometimes
strikingly illogical modulation, sometimes a depressing lack
of it, unsuccessful scoring of the orchestral things."
--Rimsky-Korsakov, on Boris Gudunov
"He was the most strikingly individual Russian composer of the
late nineteenth century."
--The New Groves Dictionary
"As an absolute musician, he is hopelessly limited, with
remarkably little ability to construct pure music or even a
purely musical texture."
--Gerald Abraham, on Mussorgsky
Which evaluation of Mussorgsky will prevail? Which of the contradictory appraisals of his achievement will prove valid?
Which image of him will survive the glassy-eyed, disorganized alcoholic painted in 1881 by Ilya Repin, or the dapper aristocrat in black tie and former guardsman photographed in 1875?
The nineteenth century enjoyed the dark side of genius, relished portraying the creator as fallen angel. It tried to find explanations for inspiration in the supernatural, even the darkly supernatural; just as there was a fascination with the satanic, there was a preoccupation with the creative artist as being somehow in league with the Devil. The bohemian life provided the freedom necessary for art, and artists were often forgiven much for the sake of their creations. One has only to recall Wagner, with his disordered love life and unscrupulous financial dealings; Liszt, with the cigar-smoking Princess Caroline and vast quantities of gin; Poe, who clearly united an interest in the macabre with human frailties; Coleridge, with his opium habit. The list could be prolonged at length.
Czarist Russia was no exception to this intellectual mood. It found its clearest expression in the preaching of Rasputin, who encouraged his followers to find mystical experience in physical excess of all sorts.
New Appraisal
Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky, born 150 years ago this month, on March 21, 1839, was in many ways the victim of this attitude. His creations were iconoclastic for his own time and remain so even in ours. His way of life and ways of thinking were at variance with those of the majority of his colleagues, especially those who were either aristocrats or bureaucrats. This made it all the easier for well-intentioned friends to tidy up after him, to impose their order on his disorganized output, to make his strikingly original creations more respectable and acceptable to nineteenth-century conventions. It is only now that we are beginning to recognize his true stature and the true measure of his originality. This new appraisal of his works, especially of Boris Godunov, his masterpiece, emphasizes that he was highly successful in the realization of his artistic and philosophical goals, an
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