The imagery of Pictures at an Exhibition by Mussorgsky

One of the musical mysteries of the nineteenth century, Mussorgsky wrote Pictures at an Exhibition to accompany a retrospective exhibition of paintings by his friend. Later, a progressive rock interpretation of the music led to a new set of images being devised. Which images were involved? This article gives an overview of the images used in this Exhibition.

Mussorgsky music mystery

Mussorgsky wrote this orchestral work of ten movements for piano in 1874, to accompany an exhibition of four hundred pictures painted by his friend Viktor Hartmann, some of them Mussorgsky's personal property. Pictures at an Exhibition adapted
Musicians and conductors wishing to interpret the ten-piece work correctly discover historical obstacles in their research. One such hindrance was that the first published edition of the work had been heavily edited and adapted, which was not put right until 1931, when scholarly research prevailed to restore the original Mussorgsky version of Pictures at an Exhibition.

Images lost and found

Images lost
Though the work was publicly performed, it was not published until 1886, five years after the composer's death. By that time, several of the pictures were lost, and Mussorgsky's titles are the only record of the images they may have portrayed. Only seven pictures named in the exhibition catalogue had been located by the time other composers such as Ravel had adapted and orchestrated Mussorgsky's original. Image titles
These seven pictures were named Two Jews: Rich and Poor, Gnomus, Tuileries, a ballet costume design for unhatched chicks, Catacombs, Hut on Hen's Legs (from a Russian folk tale), and The Bogatyr Gates.

ELP Pictures at an Exhibition

Progressive rock musicians Emerson, Lake & Palmer wrote, arranged and added to Mussorgsky's original. Their ELP Pictures at an Exhibition 1971 progressive rock version was performed and recorded live in Newcastle on Tyne, England, and then released as an album. This was remastered and released as a DVD in 2000, and again since. Images of ELP record covers
The album was issued with picture frames apparently containing no images, although an inner cover, with images, is revealed underneath (although recent versions have the imaged version only). Real oil paintings
The images which can be viewed at Wikipedia.org are fairly literal interpretations of the titles provided, though the perspective on The Castle is from a great height and the Hut of Baba Yagar is overwritten by the playlist. They were painted by William Neal as actual large-scale paintings that were later exhibited at the Hammersmith Town Hall.