''Sunless'' (russian: Без солнца, ''Bez Solntsa'', literally ''Without Sun'') is a

song cycle A song cycle (german: Liederkreis or Liederzyklus) is a group, or cycle (music), cycle, of individually complete Art song, songs designed to be performed in a sequence as a unit.Susan Youens, ''Grove online'' The songs are either for solo voice ...

Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky ( rus, link=no, Модест Петрович Мусоргский, Modest Petrovich Musorgsky , mɐˈdɛst pʲɪˈtrovʲɪtɕ ˈmusərkskʲɪj, Ru-Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky version.ogg; – ) was a Russian compo ...

, written in 1874, to poems by

Arseny Golenishchev-Kutuzov Arseny Arkadyevich Golenishchev-Kutuzov (; 1848–1913), was a Russian poet known in part for writing the texts of Modest Mussorgsky's two song cycles of the 1870s: '' Sunless'' and '' Songs and Dances of Death''. He was the son of (1812-1859), a ...

, a relative of the composer.

Song titles

The individual song titles are as follows: #"В четырех стенах" ("Within four walls") –

D major D major (or the key of D) is a major scale based on D, consisting of the pitches D, E, F, G, A, B, and C. Its key signature has two sharps. Its relative minor is B minor and its parallel minor is D minor. The D major scale is: : Ch ...

#"Меня в толпе ты не узнала" ("Thou didst not know me in the crowd") – D major #"Окончен праздный шумный день" ("The noisy festival day is ended") –

C major C major (or the key of C) is a major scale based on C, consisting of the pitches C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. C major is one of the most common keys used in music. Its key signature has no flats or sharps. Its relative minor is A minor and ...

#"Скучай" ("Boredom: For the album of a fashionable young lady") –

B minor B minor is a minor scale based on B, consisting of the pitches B, C, D, E, F, G, and A. Its key signature has two sharps. Its relative major is D major and its parallel major is B major. The B natural minor scale is: : Changes neede ...

#"Элегия" ("Elegy") – B minor, ending in

F-sharp minor F-sharp minor is a minor scale based on F, consisting of the pitches F, G, A, B, C, D, and E. Its key signature has three sharps. Its relative major is A major and its parallel major is F-sharp major (or enharmonically G-flat major). T ...

#"Над рекой" ("By the River") –

C-sharp major C-sharp major (or the key of C-sharp) is a major scale based on C, consisting of the pitches C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. It is enharmonically equivalent to D-flat major. Its key signature has seven sharps. The C-sharp major scale is: : It ...

References in popular culture

* The piece was featured and discussed in the film-essay

Sans Soleil ''Sans Soleil'' (; "Sunless") is a 1983 French documentary film directed by Chris Marker. It is a meditation on the nature of human memory, showing the inability to recall the context and nuances of memory, and how, as a result, the perception of ...

by director

Chris Marker Chris Marker (; 29 July 1921 – 29 July 2012) was a French writer, photographer, documentary film director, multimedia artist and Essay#Film, film essayist. His best known films are ''La Jetée'' (1962), ''A Grin Without a Cat'' (1977) and ''S ...

, receiving an electronic experimental interpretation by composer

Isao Tomita , often known simply as Tomita, was a Japanese composer, regarded as one of the pioneers of electronic music and space music, and as one of the most famous producers of analog synthesizer arrangements. In addition to creating note-by-note rea ...

External links

* Song cycles by Modest Mussorgsky 1873 compositions Classical song cycles in Russian {{classical-composition-stub