, and his orchestration was colorful and effective. Musorgsky was undoubtedly the most original composer of the Five. Continuing Dargomyzhsky's search for musical realism,he combined an instinctive flair for the nuances of folk music with flexible, textually motivated rhythmic practices and unusualharmonic juxtapositions in his many songs, his operatic masterpiece Boris Godunov (1869-72), and his suite for piano Picturesat an Exhibition (1874). Although he was misunderstood by many of his contemporaries, Mussorgsky's legacy has beenprofoundly important for music in the 20th century. The conspicuous targets of the nationalists were Aleksandr Serov (1820-71), a prominent music critic, Wagnerite, andopera composer, and Anton RUBINSTEIN, a legendary piano virtuoso as well as a prolific composer. Rubinstein and hisbrother Nikolai (1835-81) were responsible for establishing the first music conservatories in Russia, founded on Germanmodels, in Saint Petersburg (1862) and Moscow (1866). Peter Ilich TCHAIKOVSKY was one of the first graduates of theformer and subsequently taught at the latter. Without rejecting his national heritage Tchaikovsky evolved a more cosmopolitan,romantic, yet highly personal style that won him widespread international popularity. Many of his works--including the sixsymphonies, the operas Eugene Onegin (1879) and The Queen of Spades (1890), the ballets Swan Lake (1877), SleepingBeauty (1890) and The Nutcracker (1892)--established themselves as repertory classics. After the October revolution in 1917, many composers and performers chose to leave Russia. Among those who pursuedsuccessful careers in the West were Stravinsky, Rachmaninoff, Nikolai Medtner (1880-1951), Nikolay and AleksandrTCHEREPNIN, and Serge KOUSSEVITZKY. The unexpected official denunciation (1936) of the highly successful operaLady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District by Dmitry SHOSTAKOVICH (1932) was the first explicit application of socialistrealism...
