A Night on the Bare Mountain

(orch. Rimsky-Korsakov)

Modest Mussorgsky
(1839-1881)

Mussorgskys life began in riches and ultimately ended in poverty and death via chronic alcoholism. He dabbled in many styles, including opera along with instrumental pieces. While completing a number of works, many were left unfinished or in need of re-orchestration. One of these pieces is A Night on the Bare Mountain, which was finished and re-orchestrated by Mussorgskys friend Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. Mussorgsky wrote this piece as a tone-poem, or a piece designed to allow the audience to picture what the music was describing. In this case, it was a Witchs Sabbath. The vision is created by the fast, chromatic runs of the high strings and the evil-sounding ostinatos of the basses. The sudden soft entrances and gradual builds could be taken to depict the dark beings coming out to begin their night of terror. The brass produce loud fanfares, proclaiming the coming of the monsters and the destruction to come. At last, the monster is driven away as the first twinges of dawn come over the barren mountainside (shown through the clarinet and flute solo). The chimes that enter here are meant to depict the churchs bells ringing on Sunday morning. Gradually, the light takes over and pushes the evil spirits back entirely, as morning blooms softly.