Indeed, the opera was not staged within Rimsky-Korsakov's lifetime, surviving excerpts being staged in 1913 and the first completion (by Cui) being performed in 1917.
Rimsky-Korsakov's arrangement of A Night on Bald Mountain is based on the version Mussorgsky created for interpolation in Sorochintsi Fair. This explains why his widely-performed arrangement ends lyrically and peacefully rather than with a bang as in the original score (1867). Rimsky-Korsakov's performing version of this "tone poem" was premiered in 1886.
Message Thread Mussorgsky: Sorochintsi Fair - Review - John Smith December 3, 2024, 11:37 am
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