Plan for a City Gate in Kiev, by Viktor Hartmann (1834 – 1873) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

MY FATHER DIED AT NOON TODAY, 12 November 2013

He was 95. We had asked the nurses not to let him suffer and to please allow him to go. So he died peacefully.

My father was very fond of music. It was the love of his life. Modest Mussorgsky‘s (21 March 1839 – 28 Marc 1881) Pictures at an Exhibition (Suite 10, “The Great Gate of Kiev”) was a beloved composition. He introduced me to Mussorgsky when I was very young.

My father’s favourite composer (after Beethoven) was Hector Berlioz (11 December 1803 – 8 March 1869), but it’s too soon for a Requiem: La Grande Messe des morts  (op. 5). My father will never die.

RELATED ARTICLE

• Viktor Hartmann, Modest Mussorgsky & the News, 8 September 2012 

Modest Mussorgsky, by Ilya Repin (Photo credit: Medici.tv)

Viktor Hartmann