St John's Eve - Night On Bald Mountain

Night On Bald Mountain

Mussorgsky’s (1839-81) Night on Bald Mountain was actually titled St. John’s Night on the Bare Mountain. St. John’s Night, or St. John’s Eve, is the night before the Feast of St. John which happens to fall around the summer solstice. Eastern Europeans have long celebrated it with a mixture of pagan trick-or-treat traditions and religious observances and bonfires. The first version appeared in 1867 and was revised around 1872 and again in 1880. In this last version he added a hauntingly beautiful quiet ending in which a church bell announces the dawn and daybreak chases away the evil sprites. Night on Bald Mountain has remained an audience favorite ever since its appearance in Walt Disney’s landmark movie, Fantasia.

Read more about this topic:  St John's Eve

Famous quotes containing the words night, bald and/or mountain:

    Where is the nightingale,
    in what myrrh-wood and dim?
    ah, let the night come back,
    for we would conjure back
    all that enchanted him,
    all that enchanted him.
    Hilda Doolittle (1886–1961)

    Love set you going like a fat gold watch.
    The midwife slapped your footsoles, and your bald cry
    Took its place among the elements.
    Sylvia Plath (1932–1963)

    The mountain throws a shadow,
    Thin is the moon’s horn;
    What did we remember
    Under the ragged thorn?
    Dread has followed longing,
    And our hearts are torn.
    William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)