Editing Modest Mussorgsky (section)

===Decline===
From this peak, a pattern of decline became increasingly apparent. At this point, the Balakirev circle was disintegrating, something Mussorgsky was especially bitter about. He wrote to [[Vladimir Stasov]], "[T]he Mighty Handful has degenerated into soulless traitors."<ref>Letter to Vladimir Stasov, 9 October 1875. As quoted in Rimsky-Korsakov (1923: pp. 154–55, footnote 24).</ref> In drifting away from his old friends, Mussorgsky had been seen to fall victim to "fits of madness" that could well have been alcoholism-related. His friend [[Viktor Hartmann]] had died, and his relative and recent roommate [[Arseny Golenishchev-Kutuzov]] (who furnished the poems for the song-cycle ''[[Sunless (song cycle)|Sunless]]'' and would go on to provide those for the ''[[Songs and Dances of Death]]'') had moved away to get married. Mussorgsky engaged a new and prominent personal private physician about 1870, Dr. George Leon Carrick, sometime Secretary and later President of the St. Petersburg Physicians' Society<ref>Ashby, F., "The Carricks of St.Petersburg" in ''The Caledonian Phalanx – Scots in Russia'', Edinburgh, 1987, p. 96.</ref> and a cousin of [[Sir Harry Lauder]].<ref>"The Ancestry of Sir Harry Lauder" by Gregory Lauder-Frost, F.S.A. Scot., in ''The Scottish Genealogist''. vol. LIII, No. 2, June 2006, {{ISSN|0300-337X}}, pp. 74–87, where Dr.Carrick's mother is given as the sister of Harry Lauder's grandfather, John Lauder.</ref>

[[File:Modest Músorgski, por Iliá Repin.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[Ilya Repin]]'s celebrated portrait of Mussorgsky, painted 2–5 March 1881, only a few days before the composer's death]]
While Mussorgsky suffered personally from alcoholism, it was also a behavior pattern considered typical for those of Mussorgsky's generation who wanted to oppose the establishment and protest through extreme forms of behavior.<ref name=Volkov87>Volkov (1995: p. 87).</ref> One contemporary noted, "an intense worship of [[Bacchus]] was considered to be almost obligatory for a writer of that period. It was a showing off, a 'pose,' for the best people of the [eighteen-]sixties." Another writes, "Talented people in Russia who love the simple folk cannot but drink."<ref>Quoted in ''Sovietskaia muzyka'' (''Soviet Music'') 9 (1980), 104. As quoted in Volkov (1995: p. 87).</ref> Mussorgsky spent day and night in a Saint Petersburg tavern of low repute, the Maly Yaroslavets, accompanied by other bohemian dropouts. He and his fellow drinkers idealized their alcoholism, perhaps seeing it as ethical and aesthetic opposition.<ref name=Volkov87 />

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|filename3=Modest Mussorgsky - Pictures at an Exhibition, movement 3.ogg|title3=Part 3|description3=Arrangement for two pianos}}
For a time, Mussorgsky was able to maintain his creative output: his compositions from 1874 include ''Sunless'', the ''Khovanshchina'' Prelude, and the piano suite ''[[Pictures at an Exhibition]]'' (in memory of Hartmann); Mussorgsky also began working on another opera based on Gogol, ''[[The Fair at Sorochyntsi]]'' (for which he produced another choral version of ''Night on Bald Mountain'').

In the years that followed, Mussorgsky's decline became increasingly steep. Although now part of a new circle of eminent personages that included singers, medical men, and actors, he was increasingly unable to resist drinking, and a succession of deaths among his closest associates caused him great pain. However, Mussorgsky's alcoholism would seem to be in check at times, and among the most powerful works composed during his last six years are the four ''Songs and Dances of Death''. Mussorgsky's civil service career was made more precarious by his frequent "illnesses" and absences, and Mussorgsky was fortunate to obtain a transfer to a post (in the Office of Government Control), where his music-loving superior treated him with great leniency – even allowing Mussorgsky to spend three months touring 12 cities as a singer's accompanist in 1879.{{citation needed|date=December 2022}}

However, the decline could not be halted. In 1880, Mussorgsky was finally dismissed from government service. Aware of his destitution, one group of friends organized a stipend designed to support the completion of ''Khovanshchina'' while another group organized a similar fund to pay him to complete ''The Fair at Sorochyntsi'', but neither work was completed (although ''Khovanshchina'', in piano score with only two numbers uncomposed, came close to being finished).

[[File:Musorgsky Grave.jpg|thumb|upright|Mussorgsky's grave at [[Tikhvin Cemetery]] of the [[Alexander Nevsky Lavra|Alexander Nevsky Monastery]] in Saint Petersburg]]In early 1881, a desperate Mussorgsky declared to a friend that there was "nothing left but begging" and suffered four [[seizure]]s in rapid succession. Mussorgsky also suffered from [[delirium tremens]] during this period.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.mfiles.co.uk/composers/Modest-Mussorgsky.htm|title=Modest Mussorgsky – an overview of the classical composer, his life and music|website=www.mfiles.co.uk}}</ref> Although he found a comfortable room in a good hospital – and for several weeks even appeared to be rallying – the situation was hopeless. In March 1881, [[Ilya Repin]] painted the famous, red-nosed portrait in what were to be the last days of the composer's life as Mussorgsky died a week after his 42nd birthday. Mussorgsky was interred at the [[Tikhvin Cemetery]] of the [[Alexander Nevsky Lavra|Alexander Nevsky Monastery]] in [[Saint Petersburg]].<ref>Wilson, Scott. ''Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons'', 3d ed.: 2 (Kindle Locations 34064–65). McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. Kindle Edition.</ref>

Mussorgsky, like others of "The Five", was perceived as an extremist by the emperor and much of his court.{{efn|Under [the rule of] Alexander II the dominance of the [[Baltic Germans]] remained. [[Mikhail Katkov]]'s employee, the Latvian Krisjanis Valdemar, in the article "Who rules Russia: the Russians themselves or the Germans?" collected the statistics: "Among ministers – 15% are Germans, among members of the State Council – 25%, among senators – 40%, generals – 50%, governors – 60%. And since the governors run Russia, this will be the answer to the question posed. Since all the Empresses [consorts] are German, it is natural that under their protection the Germans infiltrate into the higher administration. Katkov, having read the article with amazement, did not believe in the numbers. And he told the secretary to check it. The results of the check were even more striking: there were not 40 but 63% of German senators! But Katkov published Valdemar's article, replacing only the words about Empresses with 'high officials'".<ref>{{cite web |last1=Polyakov |first1=Vladimir |title=The tragedy of oblivion |url=https://xn--h1aagokeh.xn--p1ai/journal/%D1%82%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%B3%D0%B5%D0%B4%D0%B8%D1%8F-%D0%B7%D0%B0%D0%B1%D0%B2%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B8%D1%8F/ |website=историк.рф |publisher={{ill|Historian (Russian journal)|ru|Историк (журнал)}} |access-date=16 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190425013532/https://%d0%b8%d1%81%d1%82%d0%be%d1%80%d0%b8%d0%ba.%d1%80%d1%84/journal/%d1%82%d1%80%d0%b0%d0%b3%d0%b5%d0%b4%d0%b8%d1%8f-%d0%b7%d0%b0%d0%b1%d0%b2%d0%b5%d0%bd%d0%b8%d1%8f/ |archive-date=25 April 2019 |language=ru |url-status=live }}</ref>}} This may have been the reason [[Tsar]] [[Alexander III of Russia|Alexander III]] personally crossed off ''Boris Godunov'' from the list of proposed pieces for the Imperial Opera in 1888.<ref>Volkov (1995: pp. 106–07).</ref>