Teterina N.I. Modest Mussorgsky and Mikhail Bulgakov: unexpected parallels

Abstract: This article focuses on the creative parallels between the heritage of M.P. Mussorgsky and M.A. Bulgakov. Using the example of Mussorgsky’s opera "Boris Godunov" and Bulgakov’s novel "The White Guard", the author shows that the historicism of creative thinking was inherent in both the composer and the writer. The patterns and problems of two Russian "Time of Troubles" periods – in the early 17th century and early 20th centuries – are demonstrated through a sustained system of historical and psychological archetypes. Of particular interest is the undoubted dramatic parallelism of the scenes of the coronations of Boris Godunov in the earlier period and of Semyon Petliura in the latter.The methodology of the article is based on a set of key concepts falling within the scope of the philosophy of history, including the nature of the relationship between the past, present and future; the understanding of historical events and the regularities of the historical process; and the correlation between micro- and macro-history in works of fiction.The scholarly innovation of the article lies in the fact that neither in philology nor musicology has an attempt been made before now to find the common features typical of the recreation of history in the works of Mussorgsky and Bulgakov. A detailed study of the musical associations in the work of the writer has a very solid basis in literary studies today. It is possible that the absence of Mussorgsky’s name and semantic references to his writings in the works of Bulgakov may be the reason for this significant lacuna in the numerous works devoted to the world of music in Bulgakov’s oeuvre.

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