Night on Bald Mountain (Russian: Ночь на лысой горе, romanized: Noch′ na lysoy gore), 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 (Russian: Иванова ночь на лысой горе, romanized: Ivanova noch′ na lysoy gore) on the theme of a Witches' Sabbath occurring at Bald Mountain on St. John's Eve, which he completed on that very night, 23 June 1867. Together with Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's Sadko (1867), it is one of the first tone poems by a Russian composer.[1] Although Mussorgsky was proud of his youthful effort, his mentor, Mily Balakirev, refused to perform it. To salvage what he considered worthy material, Mussorgsky attempted to insert his Bald Mountain music, recast for vocal soloists, chorus, and orchestra, into two subsequent projects—the collaborative opera-ballet Mlada (1872), and the opera The Fair at Sorochyntsi (1880). However, Night on Bald Mountain was never performed in any form during Mussorgsky's lifetime.[2] In 1886, five years after Mussorgsky's death, Rimsky-Korsakov published an arrangement of the work, described as a "fantasy for orchestra." Some musical scholars consider this version to be an original composition of Rimsky-Korsakov, albeit one based on Mussorgsky's last version of the music, for The Fair at Sorochyntsi: I need hardly remind the reader that the orchestral piece universally known as 'Mussorgsky's Night on the Bare Mountain' is an orchestral composition by Rimsky-Korsakov based on the later version of the Bare Mountain music which Mussorgsky prepared for Sorochintsy Fair.[3] — Gerald Abraham, musicologist and an authority on Mussorgsky, 1945 It is through Rimsky-Korsakov's version that Night on Bald Mountain achieved lasting fame. Premiering in Saint Petersburg in 1886, the work became a concert favourite. Half a century later, the work obtained perhaps its greatest exposure through the Walt Disney animated film Fantasia (1940), featuring an arrangement by Leopold Stokowski, based on Rimsky-Korsakov's version. Mussorgsky's tone poem was not published in its original form until 1968. It has started to gain exposure and become familiar to modern audiences.[citation needed]
Night on Bald Mountain
Songs
for Songs in Disney's A NIGHT ON BALD MOUNTAIN (Live Action Movie)
Suggested by enzotakerian
Based on the Fantasia segment and the musical composition of the same night, this story is centered around the mythical elements of Walpurgis Night or St. John Eve, which is basically like Halloween. It involves bonfires and dances and the myths behind it involve witches and demons gathering around as the veil between Earth and the spirit world is opened and these creatures dance around and practice dark rituals. And all this activity is watched over by a giant demon known as Chernabog. This night of terror will end as dawn begins and the morning church bells ring. In the story, Chernabog has a totally evil plan to make it nighttime forever so that his reign of terror will never end. A young man and woman trying to put a stop to this, but they need help, and unfortunately no one in town believes them because the townsfolk always ignore all the rumours involving superstitions.
