the composer signed his name "Musorskiy" ???o?????. The "g" made its first appearance in a letter to Balakirev in 1863. Mussorgsky used this new spelling (???o??????, Musorgskiy) to the end of his life, but occasionally reverted to the earlier "Musorskiy". The addition of the "g" to the name was likely initiated by the composer's elder brother Filaret to obscure the resemblance of the name's root to an unsavory Russian word:

:???o? (músor) -- n. m. debris, rubbish, refuse

Mussorgsky apparently did not take the

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