One movement.
Allegro - Slower - Faster - Largo - Allegro - Allegro maestoso - Slow
Clefs
Treble, bass
Meters
5/4, 6/4, 4/4, 3/4, 6/8, 2/4, ¢
Key signatures
None
Range
Horn 1: f1 - c3
Horn 2: f1 - a2
Horn 3: bb - g2
Horn 4: a - f2
Horn 5: a - f2
Horn 6: f - b1
Horn 7: d - g1
Horn 8: G - g1
Creator's Comments
Performance Notes
Pictures at an exhibition is Mussorgsky's best known work, originally written for piano in 1874. It is better known in its orchestral version, mainly the one by Maurice Ravel (1922), but there are others by Mikhail Tushmalov (1886), Henry Wood (1915), Leo Funtek (1922), Leonidas
Leonardi (1924), Lucien Cailliet (1937) and Walter
Goehr (1942).
Meyer's version is for eight horns, and includes only a "glimpse" at the full work, namely (excerpts from):
Promenade I
The gnome
The old castle
Bydlo
Ballet of the unhatched chickens
Catacombs
The hut on fowl's legs
The great gate at Kiev
Most of the "glimpses" only last a few bars, except for the Promenade and The gate at Kiev. This arrangement is an ideal introduction to the big orchestral work, with intermediate parts that are accessible to many horn ensembles.