Every day brings a new story. And each day contributes to the art of story telling -- in prose and poetry, in music, on the stage, on the screen, and, of course, in books.
Today is the story of March 21st
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It is the 80th day of the year, leaving 285 days remaining in 2022.
On this date in 1839, the Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky was born in Karevo, Russia.
He was best known as one of "The Five" -- men who in the mid-19th Century worked together to create and compose music in a distinctive Russian nationalistic style. Mussorgsky sometimes would distinguish his compositions by ignoring or deliberately defying traditional Western standards of music.
After his death, other composers would re-write and re-compose some of his best known work -- the opera Boris Godunov, and the piano concerto Pictures From an Exhibition. Still, his original compositions are sought out and played despite their sometimes difficult forms.
The distinctions Mussorgsky and the others made was to incorporate into their music traditional Russian folk music sounds, but using some to an extreme, such as church bells and chants.
They would also mute tones, which removed the natural progression in the harmony. The music would use a whole tone scale, suggesting an evil or ominous presence. It also used a pentatonic scale, giving a more primitive sound.
The compositions of Mussorgsky and the five were subjected to wide criticism, and Russian composers -- including Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, a comptemporary -- would debate, be influenced by, or reject their work. Tchainkovsky was generally in the latter group.
Mussorgsky, whose life was beset by money problems and alcoholism, died at the age of 42 in St. Petersburg.
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