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
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