Mussorgsky “Pictures at an Exhibition” Introductory Learning Bundle

You may purchase this resource individually here.

3 items:

• Question sheet (3 pages)
• Insert (2 pages)
• Answer sheet (3 pages)

A useful first encounter! There is no better way to encourage students to ACTIVELY listen to and deeply engage with the sound of the works they will be studying than to make an aural exercise out of their first encounter. Several of the questions in this aural exercise highlight features that they may well find themselves writing about in the exam.

I imagine that you will be setting this for self/home study, so I have omitted any reference to the title of the work/composer on the question sheet/insert. You will, therefore, need to provide an audio track that doesn’t give this away.  Though, if you prefer, you can simply refer the students to this recording on YouTube.

I would recommend this recording for the aural exercise for a number of reasons:

• It isn’t live, so students don’t need to wait for applause etc.
• The tempo is a little slower and more measured than a lot of other recordings.
• It is beautifully clear!

You may purchase this resource individually here.

2 items:

• Student Booklet (12 pages)
• Answers, Notes and Observations (13 pages)

A series of questions that will encourage students to explore the circumstances of composition and gain an overview of the entire work.  Two or three focussed questions on each picture that will ensure that your students listen to and engage thoughtfully with every piece.

Once again, questions are about features that they may well find themselves writing about in the exam and designed to highlight how the elements of music relate to the programme.  

You may purchase this resource individually here.

2 items:

• Student Booklet (6 pages)
• Answers, Notes and Observations (6 pages).

An exercise involving 25 questions designed to focus their listening on a 30-minute section of a lecture on YouTube that will put Mussorgsky and his place in “The Mighty Five” into context. In doing so, this lecture gives an excellent overview of the social and cultural context and artistic ideals (inc. Nationalism and Realism) that were such an important influence on Mussorgsky’s musical style.

You may purchase this resource individually here.

2 items:

• Student Booklet (6 pages)
• Answers, Notes and Observations (10 pages)

A series of questions/activities that will encourage your students to explore how the different elements of music express the programmatic idea behind the opening “Promenade”.

Pictures at an Exhibition wasn’t actually published while Mussorgsky was still alive. On Mussorgky’s death Rimsky Korsakov was asked to “edit” Mussorgsky’s scores and, as Michael Russ the Mussorgsky scholar states, “thus began one of the major controversies in musical history” (p.22)¹.

Bearing this in mind, what struck me quite forcefully as I started to work on Pictures was the noticeable differences between the editions. It has been rather a balancing act to recommend an appropriate edition based on both availability and accuracy.  Ideally one would use an Urtext edition, but the three most recent Urtext editions, as detailed below, are all too recent to appear on IMSLP.    

1. The Peter’s Edition (ed. Hellmundt, which I believe was produced in 1975).
2. The Wiener Urtext Edition (ed. Schandert and Ashkenazy, pub. 1984)
3. The Bäreneiter Urtext (ed.Christoph Flamm, pub. 2013 and updated as recently as 2020)
   

So, with half an eye to cost and availability to students see the list of five editions given below which are to be found on IMSLP.  The one I have given links to in the resources is No.5 on the list below. I have chosen this score for the following reasons:  

• The clarity and simplicity of the score itself. (Some of the scores have fingering added which is I feel is an unnecessary detail, bearing in mind how cluttered student scores can become as they study a piece.)
• It is the most user-friendly in terms of student use. (Titles, for example, are given in English)
• This edition is faithful to Mussorgsky’s practice of NOT using key signatures in Promenades 2-4.

That said, unfortunately this edition contains neither page nor bar numbers. None of the editions includes bar numbers. I have given a bit more detail about each of the editions below in case you would prefer to use one other than that which I have used.

Editions on IMSLP:

At the time of going to press the available editions are as follows:

1. The first edition (ed. Rimsky-Korsakov). Titles are not translated though it does have page numbers. Didn’t feel that the layout was as clear and simple as No.5.
2. Augener edition (ed. Thümer). As it states on the score, it has been “Revised, phrased and fingered O. Thümer”. Described by Russ as “the most accurate of the early editions” (p.24). I discounted this edition because the fingering, which is quite extensive in places and can make the score feel a bit cluttered.  Does have page numbers.
3. The Schirmer Edition (ed Bauer)– omits the 5^th Promenade, puts in the key signatures in Promenades 2-4 and according to Russ (p.28) “freely” translates the titles of the pieces.
4. The Kalmus edition, from the Complete Collected Works (ed. Lamm). Titles not in English and the typeface not as user-friendly as No.5
5. Same as above but reprinted by Dover in 1990. (The scan by Guifré)

Ideally, students should have their own “hard copy” of the score, (to which page and bar numbers can be added) especially if this is one of the works you have chosen to study in detail.

1. 1. Russ, Michael. ‘Musorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition’ Cambridge Music Handbooks (Cambridge, 1992).