Musorgsky's "Songs And Dances Of Death"

Musorgsky is one of the most outstanding composers of Russia in 19 century. As a member of The Mighty Handful in Russian music school, he was devoted himself to construct the national music of Russia and he was an innovator of it. Songs and Dances of Death is the most important representative work of art song in the late period of Musorgsky's composing career. Although the song cycle was not very popular in the days when the composer lived, it becomes a well-known work as the development of Russian music and the deeper study on Musorgsky. The work is an indispensable piece in every kind of concert now. At present the studies on Musorgsky's compositions are mostly limited on Boris Godunov and the piano suite Pictures at an Exhibition in China. The analytical articles on Songs and Dances of Death are rare. This article on the song cycles is an exploratory research. The aim is to describe the outlines of life and composing career of Musogsky and, at the same time, to reveal the principles and features about the composition.The paper is divided into three chapters:The first chapter talks about the social background in Russia where Musorgsky lived and about the life and experience of the composer. In 19th century serfdom is abolished. This incident is a center of composer's whole life. This chapter tries to disclose the factors that had great influence on Musorgsky's composing. The second chapter mainly reveals the course of creation and the emotional factors in this work, then the trends of composer's aesthetics. Through all of things mentioned above, the characteristics of Songs and Dances of Death are revealed. The last chapter is the analysis from a point of view of techniques. Recitative melodies, varied rhythms, personalized harmony systems and complex modal structures are characteristics of this cycle. In another point of view, the style of the work is strong dramatic, picturesque and expressive. From this work we can have a conclusion with the cultural meanings and Musorgsky's ideal on composition.