Night on Bald Mountain | Fantasy Orchestral Piece, Russian Composer, Symphonic Poem

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Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). </div> <div class="type-menu"> <label for="feedback-type" class="label mb-10">Feedback Type</label> <select id="feedback-type" class="form-select mb-30" name="feedbackTypeId" required> <option value="" selected="selected">Select a type (Required)</option> <option value="1">Factual Correction</option> <option value="2">Spelling/Grammar Correction</option> <option value="3">Link Correction</option> <option value="4">Additional Information</option> <option value="5">Other</option> </select> </div> <label for="feedback" class="label mb-10">Your Feedback</label> <textarea id="feedback" class="form-control mb-30" name="feedback" maxlength="3000" rows="7" required></textarea> <button class="btn btn-blue" type="submit">Submit Feedback</button> </form> <div class="success-messaging d-none mt-30"> <div class="title">Thank you for your feedback</div> <p>Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.</p> </div> </div> </div> <div class="md-websites-modal size-lg d-none"> <div class="md-modal-body"> <div class="h2 font-serif pb-15 border-bottom font-weight-bold"> External Websites </div> <div class="pb-20"> <ul class="list-unstyled mt-20 lh-lg"> <li><a class="external" href="http://www.allmusic.com/composition/night-on-bald-mountain-noch-na-l%C3%AFsoy-gore-symphonic-poem-edited-by-stokowski-mc0002669600" target="_blank" rel="noopener ">AllMusic - Night on Bald Mountain</a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="toc-header-marker"></div> <button class="ai-ask-button btn border-2 js-header-ai-ask-button d-none btn-sm btn-outline-red-400 border-red-400 mr-0 mr-lg-10 ml-5 ml-sm-10 ml-lg-0 p-10"> Ask the Chatbot a Question </button> <div class="caption alternate-titles">Also known as: “Night on Bare Mountain”, “Noch na lysoy gore”</div> <div class="md-byline module-spacing "> <div class="font-serif font-12"> <span class="written-by text-gray-700"> Written by </span> <div class="editor-popover popover p-0"> <a class="d-block p-20 qa-editor-popup gtm-byline font-12 byline-contributor" href="/contributor/Betsy-Schwarm/9297586" > <div class="editor-title font-16 font-weight-bold">Betsy Schwarm</div> <div class="editor-description font-12 font-serif mt-5 clamp-description text-black">Betsy Schwarm is a music historian based in Colorado. She serves on the music faculty of Metropolitan State University of Denver and gives pre-performance talks for Opera Colorado and the Colorado Symphony...</div> </a> <div data-popper-arrow></div> </div> <span class="btn btn-link editor-link p-0 qa-byline-link gtm-byline font-12 byline-contributor text-decoration-underline"> Betsy Schwarm</span></div> <div class="font-serif font-12 text-gray-700"> <span class="qa-fact-checked-by">Fact-checked by</span> <div class="editor-popover popover p-0"> <a class="d-block p-20 qa-editor-popup font-12" href="/editor/The-Editors-of-Encyclopaedia-Britannica/4419" > <div class="editor-title font-16 font-weight-bold">The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica</div> <div class="editor-description font-12 font-serif mt-5 text-black">Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors.</div> </a> <div data-popper-arrow></div> </div> <span class="btn btn-link editor-link p-0 qa-byline-link font-12 "> The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica</span></div> <div class="last-updated font-12 font-serif"> <a class="byline-edit-history" href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Night-on-Bald-Mountain-by-Mussorgsky/additional-info#history" rel="nofollow">Article History</a> </div></div> </div> <button class="d-flex d-lg-none btn btn-outline-blue border rounded-sm shadow-sm mobile-toc-button gtm-mobile-toc-inline-button d-none d-sm-block js-sections-inline-button module-spacing btn d-lg-none"> <em class="material-icons mr-5 ml-n10 my-n5 md-icon" data-icon="toc"></em> Table of Contents </button> <div class="d-flex d-sm-none flex-row"> <button class="d-flex d-lg-none btn btn-outline-blue border rounded-sm shadow-sm mobile-toc-button gtm-mobile-toc-inline-button js-sections-inline-button module-spacing"> <em class="material-icons mr-5 ml-n10 my-n5 md-icon" data-icon="toc"></em> Table of Contents </button> <button class="ai-ask-button btn border-2 ai-ask-button btn border-2 module-spacing btn-sm js-inline-ai-ask-button btn-outline-red-400 border-red-400 p-10 ml-5"> Ask the Chatbot a Question </button> </div> <div class="js-qf-module qf-module px-40 px-sm-20 py-15 mx-auto module-spacing font-14 bg-gray-50 rounded"> <div class="facts-list mt-10"> <div class=""> <div class="js-fact mb-10 line-clamp clamp-3"> <dl> <dt>Russian: </dt> <dd>Noch na lysoy gore</dd> </dl> <button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-gray-50" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"> <em class="js-content link-blue">(Show more)</em> </button> </div> </div> <div class=""> <div class="js-fact mb-10 line-clamp clamp-3"> <dl> <dt>Also called: </dt> <dd>Night on Bare Mountain</dd> </dl> <button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-gray-50" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"> <em class="js-content link-blue">(Show more)</em> </button> </div> <div class="text-center"> <a class="btn btn-sm btn-link p-0" href="/facts/Night-on-Bald-Mountain-by-Mussorgsky"> See all related content </a> </div> </div> </div> </div><span class="marker before-article"></span><section data-level="1" id="ref1"><span class="marker PREMOD1 mod-inline"></span><div class="assemblies"><div class="w-100"><figure class="md-assembly m-0 mb-md-0 card card-borderless print-false" data-assembly-id="177379" data-asm-type="audio"><div class="md-assembly-wrapper card-media" data-type="audio"><audio src="https://cdn.britannica.com/38/92538-005-98723F5B/Excerpt-section-Assembly-of-Witches-arrangement-Their-1952.mp3" type="audio/mpeg" controls=""></audio></div><figcaption class="card-body"><div class="md-assembly-caption text-muted font-14 font-serif line-clamp"><span><a class="gtm-assembly-link md-assembly-title font-weight-bold d-inline font-sans-serif mr-5 media-overlay-link" href="https://cdn.britannica.com/38/92538-005-98723F5B/Excerpt-section-Assembly-of-Witches-arrangement-Their-1952.mp3" data-href="/media/1/1669633/177379">Mussorgsky, Modest: <em>Night on Bald Mountain</em></a><span>Excerpt from the section “Assembly of Witches, Their Gossip and Chatter” from Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov's arrangement of Modest Mussorgsky's <em>Night on Bald Mountain</em>; from a 1952 recording by L'Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire de Paris conducted by André Cluytens. </span><button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-white js-content" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"><span class="link-blue">(more)</span></button></span></div></figcaption></figure></div></div><p class="topic-paragraph"><strong><span id="ref1165883"></span>Night on Bald Mountain</strong>, orchestral work by the Russian composer <span id="ref1175468"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Modest-Mussorgsky" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Modest Mussorgsky</a> that was completed in June 1867. The work had not been performed in public at the time of the composer’s death in 1881; it was revised by his colleagues and still later by other generations of composers and conductors. Not until it was used in the <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="penultimate" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/penultimate" data-type="MW">penultimate</a> scene of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Walt-Disney" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Walt Disney</a> movie <em><span id="ref1175470"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Fantasia-film" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Fantasia</a></em> (1940) did it garner a wider audience. For a Western public, it remains largely associated with that movie and with the celebration of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Halloween" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Halloween</a>.</p><span class="marker MOD1 mod-inline"></span><span class="marker PREMOD2 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Mussorgsky’s contemporaries and friends included the composers <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Pyotr-Ilyich-Tchaikovsky" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky</a> and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Nikolay-Rimsky-Korsakov" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov</a>. Of those three, Mussorgsky alone resisted the establishment and struck out on his own. But he was troubled and began to show signs of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/alcoholism" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">alcoholism</a>, to the degree that drinking eventually caused his death just days after his 42nd birthday. At the time of his death, many of his works, including <em>Night on Bald Mountain</em>, were both unpublished and unrevised.</p><span class="marker MOD2 mod-inline"></span><span class="marker PREMOD3 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Originally titled <em>Ivanova noch na lysoy gore</em> (<em>St. John’s Night on Bald Mountain</em>), the piece evoked the pagan festivities of the midsummer <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Slav" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Slavic</a> holiday associated with the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/summer-solstice-astronomy" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">summer solstice</a>, involving fire, water, and fertility rituals as well as the gathering of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/witchcraft" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">witches</a> and spirits. The name of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-John-the-Baptist" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">St. John</a> became attached to the ancient holiday when the Christian church attempted to appropriate and alter the celebrations. Mussorgsky was inspired by <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Nikolay-Gogol" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Nikolay Gogol</a>’s <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/short-story" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">short story</a> “St. John’s Eve.”</p><div class="module-spacing"> </div><div class="one-good-fact-module"> </div><span class="marker MOD3 mod-inline"></span><span class="marker PREMOD4 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">After Mussorgsky’s death, <span id="ref1175469"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Nikolay-Rimsky-Korsakov" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Rimsky-Korsakov</a> took up <em>Night on Bald Mountain</em>, rearranging and reorchestrating it in a more <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="conservative" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/conservative" data-type="MW">conservative</a> manner, retaining Mussorgsky’s ferocious energy while somewhat lessening the piece’s demonic sound. Rejecting his friend’s original conclusion of crashing <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="dissonance" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dissonance" data-type="MW">dissonance</a> and savagery, Rimsky-Korsakov substituted an ending in which dawn and church bells disperse the gathered demons. The piece first reached an international audience in this form, when Rimsky-Korsakov conducted it in concert at the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Paris" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Paris</a> Exhibition of 1887. Mussorgsky’s original version was not published until 1968.</p><span class="marker MOD4 mod-inline"></span></section> <span class="md-signature"><a href="/contributor/Betsy-Schwarm/9297586">Betsy Schwarm</a></span> <span class="marker end-of-content"></span><span class="marker after-article"></span></div> <div id="chatbot-root"></div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="ai-dialog-placeholder"></div> </div> </div> <aside class="col-md-da-320"></aside> </div> </div> </div> </div> </article></div> </div></div> </div> </main> <div id="md-footer"></div> <noscript><iframe src="//www.googletagmanager.com/ns.html?id=GTM-5W6NC8" height="0" width="0" style="display:none;visibility:hidden"></iframe></noscript> <script type="text/javascript" id="_informizely_script_tag"> var IzWidget = IzWidget || {}; (function (d) { var scriptElement = d.createElement('script'); scriptElement.type = 'text/javascript'; scriptElement.async = true; scriptElement.src = "https://insitez.blob.core.windows.net/site/f780f33e-a610-4ac2-af81-3eb184037547.js"; var node = d.getElementById('_informizely_script_tag'); node.parentNode.insertBefore(scriptElement, node); } )(document); </script>  <script> window.ap3c = window.ap3c || {}; var ap3c = window.ap3c; ap3c.cmd = ap3c.cmd || []; ap3c.cmd.push(function() { ap3c.init('ZO4siT4cLwnykPnzZWJtd3Byb2Q', 'https://engage.email.britannica.com/'); ap3c.track({v: 0}); }); ap3c.activity = function(act) { ap3c.act = (ap3c.act || []); ap3c.act.push(act); }; var s, t; s = document.createElement('script'); s.type = 'text/javascript'; s.src = "https://engage.email.britannica.com/app.js"; t = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; t.parentNode.insertBefore(s, t); </script> <script class="marketing-page-info" type="application/json"> {"pageType":"Topic","templateName":"DESKTOP","pageNumber":1,"pagesTotal":1,"pageId":1669633,"pageLength":324,"initialLoad":true,"lastPageOfScroll":false} </script> <script class="marketing-content-info" type="application/json"> [] </script> <script src="https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-131/js/libs/jquery-3.5.0.min.js?v=3.131.7"></script> <script type="text/javascript" data-type="Init Mendel Code Splitting"> (function() { $.ajax({ dataType: 'script', cache: true, url: 'https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-131/dist/topic-page.js?v=3.131.7' }); })(); </script> <script class="analytics-metadata" type="application/json"> {"leg":"B","adLeg":"B","userType":"ANONYMOUS","pageType":"Topic","pageSubtype":null,"articleTemplateType":"MEDIUM","gisted":false,"pageNumber":1,"hasSummarizeButton":false,"hasAskButton":true} </script> <script type="text/javascript"> EBStat={accountId:-1,hostnameOverride:'webstats.eb.com',domain:'www.britannica.com', json:''}; </script> <script type="text/javascript"> ( function() { $.ajax( { dataType: 'script', cache: true, url: '//www.britannica.com/webstats/mendelstats.js?v=1' } ) .done( function() { try {writeStat(null,EBStat);} catch(err){} } ); })(); </script> <div id="bc-fixed-dialogue"></div> </body> </html>

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Night on Bald Mountain | Fantasy Orchestral Piece, Russian Composer, Symphonic Poem | Britannica