1. Gnomus (Latin: The Gnome). Key of e flat minor, in 3/4 time. This piece is based on Hartmann’s design sketch of a toy nutcracker shaped like "a little gnome walking awkwardly on deformed legs".
Promenade. Key of A flat major. The promenade theme, illustrating the viewer walking from work to work.
2. Il vecchio castello (Italian: The Old Castle). Key of g sharp minor, in 6/8 time. This piece is based on Hartmann’s painting of a troubadour singing in front of a castle.
Promenade. Key of B major. Extremely short (8 measures).
3. Tuileries (Dispute d'enfants après jeux) (French: Tuileries (Dispute between Children at Play)). Key of B major. Hartmann originally pictured an empty garden near the Louvre in Paris, France. Mussorgsky musically added children chattering and playing in the garden.
4. Bydłlo (Polish: Cattle). Key of g sharp minor, in 2/4 time. This was probably a drawing of a Polish oxcart.
Promenade. Key of d minor.
5. Balet nevylupivshikhsya ptentsov (Russian: Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks). Key of F major, in 2/4 time. This is based on Hartmann’s costume design sketches for the ballet Trilbi; the chicks are canaries.
6. “Samuel” Goldenberg und “Schmuÿle” (Yiddish). Key of b flat minor. Vladimir Stasov adds a description “Two Jews: Rich and Poor” ; some have incorrectly perceived this description to be part of the original title. Some arrangements have retitled this piece as "Two Polish Jews, Rich and Poor (a.k.a. Samuel Goldenberg and Schmuyle)". The title given here is the one used in Mussorgsky’s original manuscript. These are two separate pencil drawings, presented by Hartmann to Mussorgsky.The use of augmented second intervals approximate Jewish modes such as the Phrygian dominant scale.
Promenade. Key of B flat major. Many arrangements including Ravel’s omit it.
7. Limoges, le marché (La grande nouvelle) (French: The Market at Limoges (The Great News)). Key of E flat major, in 4/4 time. Limoges is a city in central France. Musically this piece represents a bustling market place.
8. Catacombae (Latin: The Catacombs). Hartmann pictured himself in the subterranean tombs of Paris. The first part of Mussorgsky’s musical translation is called Sepulcrum Romanum (Latin: Roman Sepulcher). Key of b minor, in 3/4 time. The second part is called Cum mortuis in lingua mortua (Latin: With the Dead in a Dead Language). Key of b minor, in 6/4 time. In his manuscript, Mussorgsky states: “The creative spirit of the dead Hartmann leads me towards the skulls, calls to them - the skulls quietly begin to shine”.
9. Izbushka na kur'ikh nozhkakh (Baba-Yaga), The Hut on Hen’s Legs (Baba Yaga). Key of C minor, in 2/4 time. This is based on a drawing of an elaborately carved clock representing the hut of Baba Yaga (a witch in old Russian legends). This piece is one of the more demanding of the set with a 64th note tremolo during the entire middle part.
10. Bogatyrskie vorota (v stol'nom gorode vo Kieve) The Bogatyr Gates (in the Capital, in Kiev). Key of E flat major. This movement is commonly translated “The Great Gate of Kiev”. It is based on sketches Hartmann made for a planned (but never built) monumental gate for Tsar Alexander II. This gate was to have commemorated the Tsar’s narrow escape from an assassination attempt on 1866-04-04. Viktor Hartmann felt that his design for the gate was the finest work he had yet done, and it won the competition for the gate’s design.
