Do you
remember these scary images from your youth?
Mussorgsky's (1839-81) Night
on Bald Mountain was actually titled St. John’s Night on the
Bare Mountain.
St.
John’s Night, or St. John’s Eve, is the night before the Feast of St. John
which happens to fall around the summer solstice. Eastern Europeans have long
celebrated it with a mixture of pagan trick-or-treat traditions and religious
observances and bonfires.
The
first version appeared in 1867 and was revised around 1872 and again in 1880.
In this last version he added a hauntingly beautiful quiet ending in which a
church bell announces the dawn and daybreak chases away the evil spirit.
Night
on Bald Mountain has remained an audience favorite ever since its appearance in
Walt Disney’s landmark movie, Fantasia.
June 23: Happy
Midsummer’s Eve! Happy St. John’s Eve! Happy St. John’s
Night!
June 24: Happy
Saint John’s Birth Day! Happy St. John’s Feast Day!
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