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 наилучшим способом мысли Мусоргского. Задача была трудная, удовлетворительно разрешить которую мне не удавалось в течение двух лет, между тем как с другими сочинениями Мусоргского я справился сравнительно легко. Не давались мне ни форма, ни модуляции, ни оркестровка, и пьеса лежала без движения до следующего года.» Rimsky-Korsakov made "corrections" typical of him, as he did with "[[Khovanshchina]]", and was later to do with "[[Boris Godunov (opera)|Boris Godunov]]", preserving the general thematic structure, but adding or omitting bars, and making modifications to melody, harmony, rhythm, and dynamics. [[File:Night on the Bare Mountain Score Title Page Bessel 1886a.jpg|thumb|Title page of Rimsky-Korsakov's edition, published