Pictures at an Exhibition – Promenade (1874) – Modest Mussorgsky

In this piece (Promenade) Mussorgsky depicts himself “roving through the exhibition, now leisurely, now briskly in order to come close to a picture that had attracted his attention, and at times sadly, thinking of his departed friend.

– Vladimir Stasov

Pictures at an Exhibition Promenade is a piano suite in ten movements, plus a recurring and varied Promenade theme, written in 1874 by Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky. It is a musical depiction of a tour of an exhibition of works by architect and painter Viktor Hartmann (pictured inset) put on at the Imperial Academy of Arts in Saint Petersburg, following his sudden death of an aneurysm at the age of 39. Mussorgsky was deeply affected by Hartmann’s passing and conceived a musical memorial to Hartmann, with each movement depicting one of the artist’s works. It was composed in twenty days. 

Mussorgsky first met Hartmann in 1868 not long after Hartmann’s return to Russia from abroad. Both men were devoted to Russian art and quickly became friends. Hartmann gave Mussorgsky two of the pictures that later formed the basis of Pictures at an Exhibition. Each movement of the suite is based on an individual work, some of which are lost. Mussorgsky links the suite’s movements in a way that depicts the viewer’s own progress through the exhibition. Two Promenade movements stand as portals to the suite’s main sections. Their regular pace and irregular meter depicts the act of walking.

References:
1. Pictures at an Exhibition – Wikipedia
2. Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition”: A Showpiece in Multiple Versions – the listeners club

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