Modernism in Modest Mussorsgy

A lot of this nationalism is attributed to a change in class association. For thousands of years people had associated themselves with a social economic class; for example, the bourgeoises, proletarians or aristocrats. This all started to change in the late 19th century when people started identifying themselves with their nations rather than their economic place in society. For three hundred years music seemed only characterized by three different places: France, Italy and G

The word modern came into much different meaning right around this time of the late 19th century. Many of the leading modernists came from the Catholic church who happened to occupy Moscow during part of Mussorsgy’s life. Among the modernists’ ideas came something that deeply touched Mussorsgy’s music. This was the completely revolutionary idea of realism portrayed in art. As many modernists showed realism in their paintings, Mussorsgy showed realism with his use of time in vocal writing. As the viewer watches the opera unfold, they will notice the plot seems to be moving almost in real time. It is Modest’s use of recitative that makes his opera realistic. All of the rhythms, melodies, and vocal lines are very simple. This technique contributes to the seriousness of the words and the story. If Wagner had written “Disaster has come, disaster for all of us, O ye Orthodox,” (Boris Prologue) it might not seem so serious or important for the music behind the words would most likely be in the foreground, making the meaning of the words less important. Mussorsgy, unlike Wagner and his predecessors was making music about a drama, rather than a drama about music.

On January 27th, 1874 Boris Godunov was received for its first time. In the footsteps of the most influential contemporary composer Richard Wagner, Modest Mussorsgy wrote both the music and the libretto to his opera. Mussorsgy’s opera was quite Wagnerian in length and in theatrical size; however, something was quite different from both Wagner’s operas and most composers before his time. Mussorsgy decided to use his own country’s political history as a plot for his music.

Some topics in this essay:
Boris Prologue, Boris Godunov, Modest Mussorsgy, Moscow Mussorsgy’s, Love Death, Tsar Boris, Furthermore Mussorsgy’s, Petersburg Russia, Miss Saigon, , folk music, late 19th, 19th century, boris godunov, mussorsgy’s opera, late 19th century, opera boris, national folk music, mussorsgy realism, modest mussorsgy, music folk, national folk,