Songs and Dances of Death

Songs and Dances of Death (Russian: Песни и пляски смерти, Pesni i plyaski smerti) is a song cycle for voice (usually bass or bass-baritone) and piano by Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky, written in the mid-1870s, to poems by Arseny Golenishchev-Kutuzov, a relative of the composer.

Each song deals with death in a poetic manner although the depictions are realistic in that they reflect experiences not uncommon in 19th century Russia: child death, death in youth, drunken misadventure and war.

The song cycle is considered Mussorgsky's masterpiece in the genre.

Songs and Dances of Death consists of four individual songs, as follows:

1. Lullaby (Колыбельная) (14 April 1875) (in F-sharp minor–A minor)

2. Serenade (Серенада) (11 May 1875) (in E minor–E-flat minor)

3. Trepak (Трепак) (17 February 1875) (in D minor)

4. The Field Marshal (Полководец) (5 June 1877) (in E-flat minor–D minor)

The Songs and Dances of Death have been recorded by numerous vocalists, including Vladimir Rosing, George London,Ferruccio Furlanetto,Nicolai Ghiaurov, Boris Christoff,Kim Borg,Martti Talvela (twice: once with piano accompaniment and once with full orchestra), Matti Salminen,Anatoly Kotcherga,Paata Burchuladze, Aage Haugland,Galina Vishnevskaya, Brigitte Fassbaender, Anja Silja and Yevgeny Nesterenko.

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