From the fall to the resurrection: «Pictures at an Exhibition» by M.P. Mussorgsky as interpreted by M.V. Yudina
Abstract
The article provides the first detailed analysis of the article by the outstanding 20th century pianist M. V. Yudina «Pictures at an Exhibition by Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky» (1969). Previously unpublished archival materials from the Yudina collection of the Russian State Library were used in the study. The idea is put forward that Yudina’s study was the first attempt to interpret the music of the cycle from a Christian perspective. This fact is noted as unique for Soviet musicology and art history in general. The article substantiates the methodological approach used by Yudina in interpreting a musical work, which we conditionally designate as the method of Christian semiology. It is based on the understanding of music as the embodied Logos of being, divine thought. It is revealed that when interpreting the symbolic plan of a musical work, Yudina relies on three main methods: the method of artistic synthesis, the method of typological exegesis and the Gospel commentary. The way in which each of them is implemented by Yudina in interpreting the pieces of the cycle is considered. An analysis of Yudin’s comments allows us to conclude that the compositional concept of Pictures at an Exhibition, as interpreted by the outstanding pianist and thinker, represents «death and resurrection» and covers the history of the world from the fall to the general resurrection. Yudina’s discovery of the gospel subtext of the cycle gives Mussorgsky’s work a new dimension and allows us to consider it as an integral part of the composer’s creative legacy, inextricably linked with the embodiment of fundamental Christian ideas.
About the Author
R. M. Alisova
L. Sobinov Saratov State Conservatory
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Raisa M. Alisova, Аpplicant for the degree of Candidate of Art Criticism, Accompanist of the Academic Singing Department
Saratov, 410012
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Review
For citations:
Alisova R.M. From the fall to the resurrection: «Pictures at an Exhibition» by M.P. Mussorgsky as interpreted by M.V. Yudina. ARTE. 2025;(2):17-27. (In Russ.)
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