Night on Bald Mountain Night on Bald Mountain Night on Bald Mountain (), also known as Night on the Bare Mountain, is a series of compositions by Modest Mussorgsky (1839–1881). Inspired by Russian literary works and legend, Mussorgsky composed a "musical picture", "St. John's Eve on Bald Mountain" () on the theme of a witches' sabbath occurring on St. John's Eve, which he completed on that very night, 23 June 1867. Together with Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov's "Sadko" (1867), it is one of the first tone poems by a Russian composer. Although Mussorgsky was proud of his youthful effort, his mentor, Miliy Balakirev, refused to perform
Night on Bald Mountain April 1890, at the [[Théâtre de la Monnaie]] in [[Brussels]]. The following program is printed in Rimsky-Korsakov's edition of "Night on Bald Mountain", published in 1886 by [[V. Bessel and Co.]]: Subterranean sounds of non-human voices. Appearance of the spirits of darkness, followed by that of Chernobog. Glorification of Chernobog and [[Black Mass|Black Service]]. Sabbath. At the height of the sabbath, the distant ringing of a village church bell is heard; it disperses the spirits of darkness. Morning. Recordings of Rimsky-Korsakov's revision are too numerous to catalog in this article. [[File:Leopold Stokowski LOC 26447u.jpg|upright|thumb|Leopold Stokowski]] Millions of 20th-century listeners owe