Comparison and examination of different editions of modest Petrovich Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition

Modest Mussorgsky finished the manuscript of the piano piece "Pictures at an Exhibition" in June 1874. Although he put an inscription on the cover page of the manuscript that he had prepared it for publication, the work was not published for twelve years. The first edition of the work was published in 1886 by "W. Bessel & Co." It was realized by the publishing house, and the editor was composer Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov. While creating the Rimsky-Korsakov edition, he changed many elements in the composer's manuscript and transferred it to print in this way. In 1930, editor Pavel Lamm created an edition that is much closer to the original and takes the manuscript as its source. This edition was published by "Muzgiz" Publishing House. Although this edition is much closer to the composer's manuscript, there are certain differences. In the following years, many publishing houses in the world copied these editions and transferred them to print. In 1975, when the manuscript of the work was copied and transferred to print, "Urtext" editions began to appear. Among these editions, the "Wiener Urtext Edition", edited by Manfred Schandert and Vladimir Ashkenazy, is known to be the most reliable. The aim of this study is to compare these three selected editions with the composer's own manuscript in detail, to identify the differences and errors in notation, rhythm, dynamic, articulation, slur, harmony, musical terminology in the editions, and as a result of all these, the most faithful edition to the composer's manuscript is to revealed. It is aimed to shed light on the choice of edition and presenting the ideal data to the pianists who will play this piece in the future. Keywords: Mussorgsky, Pictures at an Exhibition, edition, Rimsky-Korsakov, Lamm, Ashkenazy