Modest Mussorgsky (1839-1881)
Russian
A Night On The Bare Mountain
A Night On The Bare Mountain describes a short story in which St John sees a witches' Sabbath on the Bald Mountain near Kiev in the old Russian Empire. It's a wild and terrifying party with lots of dancing but when the church bell chimes 6am and the sun comes up the witches vanish. Modest Mussorgsky wrote a number of different versions of this piece of music. When he was finally satisfied with it, his music teacher told him it wasn't good enough so he put it aside for years. Eventually his friend and fellow composer Rimsky-Korsakov re-arranged the music for orchestra and this is the piece we know today. Listen out for unsettled strings with trombones, tuba and bassoons thundering out the theme. The very rhythmic oboes and clarinets are quite a contrast.
Notation for Beginners:
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Notation for Grades 1 & 2:
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