Editing Modest Mussorgsky (section)

==Name==
[[File:Musorgskiy and Brother.jpg|thumb|upright|The aristocratic Mussorgsky brothers—Filaret (also known as "Yevgeniy", left), and Modest (right) in 1858]]
[[File:Modest Mussorgsky Monument Karevo.jpg|thumb|upright|Monument on the site of the Mussorgky family house in [[Karevo, Pskov Oblast]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Heritage of Pskov Land |url=http://www.culture.pskov.ru/ru/objects/object/154 |website=culture.pskov.ru |publisher=Administration of Pskov oblast' |access-date=13 August 2020|language=ru}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=M. P. Mussogrgky Museum-Estate|url=http://www.culture.pskov.ru/ru/objects/object/156 |website=culture.pskov.ru |publisher=Administration of Pskov oblast' |access-date=13 August 2020|language=ru}}</ref>]]
The spelling and pronunciation of the composer's name have caused some confusion.

The family name derives from a 15th- or 16th-century ancestor, Roman Vasilyevich Monastyryov, who appears in the [[Velvet Book]], the 17th-century genealogy of Russian [[boyar]]s. Roman Vasilyevich bore the nickname "Musorga" (from {{langx|el|links=no|μουσουργός|musurgos}}, meaning "music maker"<ref>{{cite web |title=Modest Mussorgsky's business card: where did G go? |url=http://www.trud.ru/article/27-06-2020/1391411_vizitka_modesta_musorgskogo_kuda_propala_g.html |website=trud.ru |publisher=[[Trud (Russian newspaper)|Trud]] |first=Pavel|last=Lukianenko|access-date=29 September 2020 |language=ru |date=26 June 2020}}</ref>), and was the grandfather of the first Mussorgsky. The composer could trace his lineage to [[Rurik]], the legendary ninth-century founder of the Rus state.<ref>Taruskin (1993: pp. xxx, 384)</ref>

In Mussorgsky family documents, the spelling of the name varies: "Musarskiy", "Muserskiy", "Muserskoy", "Musirskoy", "Musorskiy", and "Musurskiy". The baptismal record gives the composer's name as "Muserskiy".<ref>Taruskin (1993: pp. xxvii–xxviii)</ref>

In early (up to 1858) letters to [[Mily Balakirev]], the composer signed his name "Musorskiy" ({{lang|ru|Мусoрский}}).<ref>Musorgskiy (1984: pp. 10–12)</ref> The "g" made its first appearance in a letter to Balakirev in 1863.<ref>Musorgskiy (1984: p. 44)</ref> Mussorgsky used this new spelling ({{lang|ru|Мусoргскій}}, ''Musorgskiy'') to the end of his life, but occasionally reverted to the earlier "Musorskiy".<ref>Musorgskiy (1984: p. 238)</ref><ref name="Taruskin 1993: p. xxviii">Taruskin (1993: p. xxviii)</ref> The addition of the "g" to the name was likely initiated by the composer's elder brother Filaret to obscure the resemblance of the name's root to an unsavory Russian word:<ref>Taruskin (1993: p. xxx)</ref>

:''мусoр'' (músor) — ''n. m.'' debris, rubbish, refuse<ref>Smirnitsky (1985: p. 300)</ref>

Mussorgsky apparently did not take the new spelling seriously and played on the "rubbish" connection in letters to [[Vladimir Stasov]] and to Stasov's family, routinely signing his name ''Musoryanin'', roughly "garbage-dweller" (compare [[Russian nobility|''dvoryanin'']]: "nobleman").<ref name="Taruskin 1993: p. xxviii"/>

The first syllable of the name originally received the [[stress (linguistics)|stress]] (i.e., MÚS-ər-skiy), and does so to this day in Russia, including the composer's home district. The [[akanye|mutability of the second-syllable vowel]] in the versions of the name mentioned above gives evidence that this syllable did not receive the stress.<ref>Taruskin (1993: pp. xxviii, xxx)</ref>

The addition of the "g" and the accompanying shift in stress to the second syllable (i.e., Mu-SÓRK-skiy), sometimes described as a Polish variant, was supported by Filaret Mussorgsky's descendants until his line ended in the 20th century. Their example was followed by many influential Russians, such as [[Feodor Chaliapin|Fyodor Shalyapin]], [[Nikolai Golovanov|Nikolay Golovanov]], and [[Tikhon Khrennikov]], who, perhaps dismayed that the great composer's name was "reminiscent of garbage", supported the erroneous second-syllable stress that has also become entrenched in the West.<ref>Taruskin (1993: pp. xxvii–xxxi)</ref>

The Western convention of doubling the first "s", which is not observed in scholarly literature (e.g., ''[[The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians|The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians]]''), likely arose because in many Western European languages a single [[intervocalic consonant|intervocalic]] /s/ often becomes [[voice (phonetics)|voiced]] to /z/ (as in "music"), unlike in [[Slavic languages]] where the intervocalic /s/ is always unvoiced. Doubling the consonant thus reinforces its voiceless [[sibilant]] /s/ sound.

"Modest" is the Russian form of the name "Modestus" which means "moderate" or "restrained" in [[Late Latin]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Campbell |first1=Mike |title=Meaning, origin and history of the name Modest |url=https://www.behindthename.com/name/modest |access-date=8 March 2019 |work=Behind the Name}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Campbell |first1=Mike |title=Meaning, origin and history of the name Modestus |url=https://www.behindthename.com/name/modestus |website=Behind the Name |access-date=8 March 2019}}</ref> He was called "Modinka" ({{lang|ru|Модинька}}), diminutive form with the stressed O, by his close friends and relatives.<ref>{{cite web |title=Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky |url=https://meduza.io/feature/2019/10/27/muzyka-ostropolitichna-lyubaya-vsegda |website=Culture.ru |access-date=10 May 2020 |language=ru|publisher=[[Ministry of Culture (Russia)]]}}</ref>