Beschrijving

Modest Petrovitch Mussorgsky was born in 1839 in the governate of Pskov. In the first place he wanted to embark on the career of an officer, and therefore joined one of the noble guards regiments. However, he abandoned that vocation after having met Dragomirshki, Balakirev, and Cui and completely turned to music. Deep in his heart he felt that he was called to speak to the entire Russian population through his music, and therefore wanted to devote all of his power to this goal. His fragile state of health eventually barred him from this aim, as he already died in 1881 when he was only 42 years old. His remains are buried at the Aleksandr Nevsky cemetery in St. Petersburg. The ten pictures of his suite “Pictures at an Exhibition” was composed on the occasion of a posthumously organized exhibition for his friend Victor Hartmann who had been a painter and architect. THE GREAT GATE OF KIEV is the last of the ten pictures that are linked by the so-called PROMENADE, an interlude that does not change throughout the suite. The picture shows a pageant of victorious armies under the peal of bells. For the nationalistic composer this picture also was a symbol of Russian historic demands, as such circles considered the empire of Kiev to be the direct descendant of the Byzantine Empire. As a consequence this meant that the Czar was entitled to consider himself the direct heir to the Byzantine emperors.