Boris Asafyev's Unpublished Legacy of Modest Mussorgsky

Boris Asafyev’s unpublished works about M.P. Mussorgsky fundamentally change the existing perceptions of his contribution to the study and publication of the great Russian composer’s legacy. Published in the Soviet times, Asafyev’s works provided insights just into a tiny part of the art history texts about Mussorgsky’s music. The completed research project based on the materials from Moscow and St. Petersburg archives (transcripts of unpublished writings (around 150 letters), official documents, and marginalia on music sheets) fully uncovers the activities of the musicologist that have, until recently, remained unexplored in the context of the humanities. Asafyev took part in the publication of Mussorgsky’s works as P.A. Lamm’s co-editor, music expert and textual critic, music editor preparing the score of “Boris Godunov” for publication, co-author-composer completing the unfinished musical fragments, and composer-orchestrator who fully instrumented “Khovanshchina” in stylistic synchrony with Mussorgsky’s original score.