Modest Mussorgsky and Viktor Hartmann

Plan for a City Gate in Kiev. 1869. Watercolor Russian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Russian Literature (Pushkin House), St. Petersburg. 

Viktor Hartmann, a Russian artist, created his Plan for a City Gate in Kiev as a commemoration piece requested by Tsar Alexander II after his surviving an assassination attempt.  After Hartmann died early from an aneurysm, a large exhibition of his paintings was displayed in St. Petersburg in his honor. Modest Mussorgsky, a friend of Hartmann, took inspiration for his Pictures at an Exhibition from Hartmann’s own exhibit. This piece gave the impression of a viewer walking through Hartmann’s gallery. It consists of ten pieces all composed for ten specific pieces of art. The final movement, The Great Gate of Kiev, depicts the painting displayed in this exhibit.

 Mussorgsky wrote this piece in rondo form introducing three themes or melodies, A, B, and C, in a certain sequence. The first theme, the A theme, begins with a fanfare of brass instruments. This theme is the first gaze at the gate in its entire splendor. The second theme, B theme, is much slower and uses bells and chant to paint the picture of pilgrims entering through the gate on their way to the great city of Kiev. There is a back and forth motion between brass and piano that paints the picture of pilgrims walking through the gate as the bells of the cathedrals swing back and forth. Once through the gate, the music turns back to the gate theme. Then it briefly refers to a C theme, known as the Promenade theme from earlier movements of Mussorgsky’s work. Finally, it returns to the original gate theme as those entering the gate look back upon its beauty once more.