Mussorgsky for kids: his life, his music, and what to play first

Modest Mussorgsky was a Russian composer who lived from 1839 to 1881. He wrote Pictures at an Exhibition and Night on Bald Mountain, two pieces full of witches, chicks, castles, and bells. He had little formal training, and his music sounds bold and rough in a way that was new. The best first piece for a child is the “Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks,” which lasts about a minute.

Quick facts

• Born: 1839, in Karevo, Russia
• Died: 1881, in St. Petersburg, Russia
• Era: Romantic
• Played: piano
• Known for: Pictures at an Exhibition, Night on Bald Mountain, and the opera Boris Godunov

The life in short

Mussorgsky grew up on his family’s country estate. His mother taught him the piano. His nurse told him Russian fairy tales, and he later said those stories made him want to make music.

At 13, he was sent to a school for army officers in St. Petersburg. He became an officer at 17 and played the piano at parties.

Then he met a group of young composers who wanted to write music that sounded Russian. They did not want to copy German and Italian styles. He left the army at 19 to compose. The group became known as “The Five,” and it included Rimsky-Korsakov.

His family lost most of its money, so Mussorgsky took a job as a government clerk. He wrote music in his spare time.

In 1873, his friend Viktor Hartmann, an artist, died at 39. Friends held a show of Hartmann’s drawings and designs. Mussorgsky walked through it and wrote Pictures at an Exhibition in a few weeks.

His last years were hard. He lost his job, his health failed, and he died at 42. His friends finished and arranged many of his pieces so they could be played.

What the music sounds like

Mussorgsky’s music is blunt and strong. He liked heavy chords, the sound of Russian church bells, and tunes shaped like Russian folk songs and speech.

He wrote Pictures at an Exhibition for piano alone. Nearly 50 years later, the French composer Ravel arranged it for orchestra. That version is the one most people know.

Four pieces to play first

“Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks.” Chicks dance while still half inside their shells. High woodwinds peep and peck.

“The Great Gate of Kiev.” The last picture. A grand hymn for full orchestra builds to pealing bells. Play it loud.

“The Hut on Hen’s Legs.” The witch Baba Yaga’s hut stomps through the forest on chicken legs. The Pictures at an Exhibition listening guide covers all ten pictures.

Night on Bald Mountain. Witches and spirits gather on a mountaintop until a bell rings at dawn. See the Night on Bald Mountain listening guide.

Things to do together

Walk the gallery. Tape five of your child’s drawings to a wall. Play the “Promenade” and walk from one to the next, as Mussorgsky walked through his friend’s show.

Draw the picture. Play one picture with no title. Ask your child to draw what it shows. Then share the name.

Peck and peep. Play the “Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks.” Dance as a chick with its shell still on.

Piano or orchestra. Play “The Great Gate of Kiev” on piano, then in Ravel’s version for orchestra. Ask which one your child likes and why.

One composer, many hands

Much of the Mussorgsky heard in concerts was arranged by someone else. Rimsky-Korsakov reworked Night on Bald Mountain, and Ravel gave Pictures at an Exhibition its orchestra colors. Read about them in Rimsky-Korsakov for kids and Ravel for kids.

Print and play

Fill in a composer study notebook page for Mussorgsky. Draw each picture on a listening journal page. For more spooky pieces, see spooky classical music for kids.

For more composers from the same country, read Russian composers for kids. For more composers by era, see classical composers for kids.