Promenade (Pictures at an Exhibition)

M. Mussorgsky

Key

Bb

Time

5/4

Tempo

♩=108

AO focus

AO3

Form

Promenade — recurring interlude in Mussorgsky's piano cycle 'Pictures at an Exhibition'. Depicts the composer walking between paintings at an exhibition by his friend Hartmann. Famous in Ravel's 1922 orchestral arrangement.

Teaching points

• Asymmetric metre — alternating 5/4 and 6/4 bars produce a slightly limping walk-step
• Modal melody — the theme uses notes from the Mixolydian mode (B♭ Mixolydian = scale of B♭ with no flats except B♭ itself's tonic key sig)
• AO3: piano cycle vs Ravel orchestration — listen to both, discuss what each version emphasises