Musical Means in Mussorgsky's 'Songs and Dances of Death': A Singer's Study Guid

Modest Mussorgsky's song cycle Songs and Dances of Death is a series of four miniature dramatic scenes. The text was supplied by Arseny Golenishchev-Kutuzov, who developed a keen relationship with the composer when they shared an apartment. A glance at Mussorgsky's musical life and growth in the "Mighty Handful" circle helps us comprehend the evolution of his compositional style. At the peak of his musical maturity, the composer devoted himself to compositions in the realist, nationalist style. However, Songs and Dances of Death seems to have softened the edge of his style by incorporating lyricism, and possibly also impressionism and symbolism, into his works.;Mussorgsky's music in Songs and Dances of Death is tonal but it does not adhere to a traditional Western music theoretical analysis. Therefore, the musical analysis presented is based on defining the terms musical environment and musical energy as they emerge from the compositional components, an approach that provides yet another dimension of musical understanding in works like Mussorgsky's.;Russian diction is discussed in great detail along with a comprehensive summary of the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) system for the Russian language.