Night on Bald Mountain Baron Georgiy Mengden, a military friend of the composer. In 1860 Mussorgsky informed Balakirev that he had been commissioned to write one act of an opera on this subject: However, as with the previous project, it is unknown whether any materials were written down, and, if so, whether they were transferred to subsequent projects. Rimsky-Korsakov declares in his memoirs ("Chronicle of My Musical Life") that in the early 1860s Mussorgsky, under the influence of Franz Liszt's "Totentanz", had written a version of the "Bald Mountain" music for piano and orchestra. However, it is believed that Mussorgsky did not hear Liszt's
Symphony on a French Mountain Air concertante from some critics. It consists of three movements and lasts just under half an hour: The symphony begins with an evocative melody played first by a cor anglais. The main themes of subsequent movements are based on this melody, and as the symphony progresses each subsequent variation becomes more and more like the original version. The work was dedicated to Marie-Léontine Bordes-Pène, who was the soloist at the premiere in Paris on March 20, 1887. Symphony on a French Mountain Air The Symphony on a French Mountain Air (), Op. 25, written in 1886 by Vincent d'Indy, is virtually