The Russian composer Mussorgsky was for the most part self-taught. His contemporaries were not always enthusiastic about the innovations in his music and accused him of lacking technique. Today, however, Mussorgsky is considered the innovator of Russian music par excellence. Although he gained fame primarily as a composer of operas and songs, Mussorgsky also wrote a number of piano works; for example the suite Pictures at an Exhibition, from 1874.