The life of Musorgsky

by Caryl Emerson

"Modest Musorgsky is Russia's greatest musical dramatist. When he died in 1881 in St. Petersburg at the age of forty-two, in poverty and relative obscurity, he was known for a single opera, Boris Godunov, and a handful of eccentric "realistic" songs."--Jacket. "In this brief biography, Caryl Emerson amends many of the canonical interpretations of Musorgsky as "victim," "martyr," and "savage genius." If his life was tragic, it is not only because he was misunderstood but also because he was impoverished: by the Emancipation of the serfs, by the loss of his parents and by loneliness, by his impracticality and his addictions. These very deprivations were instrumental in shaping his vision and the book emphasizes the psychological and socioeconomic factors that contributed to the composer's remarkable autodidactic rise and tragic, premature end."--Jacket.