Nursery (song cycle)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Kinderstube ( Russian Детская , Detskaja ) is the title of a song cycle by Modest Mussorgsky for soprano or tenor and piano, in which sometimes a little boy, sometimes a girl, tells of their everyday adventures.

In the German translation the titles are:

  1. With the njanja
  2. In the corner
  3. The beetle
  4. With the doll
  5. Evening prayer
  6. Hangover sailor
  7. Ride on the hobby horse

Mussorgsky wrote text and music for the nursery 1870–72. The cycle was performed for the first time in Paris, where Claude Debussy praised the composition, which in France represented a completely new, expressive musical style that is very close to the language and the content of the words instead of fulfilling a predetermined form .

The nursery was later orchestrated by Edisson Denisov and Rodion Shchedrin (1974). Versions with two different German translations are available from Verlag Peters , and a French translation is also available.

Web links