In 1879, Mussorgsky quit a civil service job, and, from August to November, accompanied contralto Darya Leonova (Дарья Леонова, 1829-1896) on a tour to Southern Russia, as her piano accompanist.
The music score of the "Song of the Flea" was published after Mussorgsky's death, in 1883 with Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov as the editor.
[1] It was originally composed for a female voice, but it has been sung by bass singers, such as Feodor Chaliapin.
[2] The tenor, Vladimir Rosing, also recorded the "Song of the Flea", once for Vocalion in the early 1920s, and again for Parlophone in 1933.
[3] The lyrics used were from the Russian translation by Alexander N. Strugovshchikov (1808-1878) of "Mephistopheles' song at Auerbach Cellar" (Russian: Песня Мефистофеля в погребке Ауербаха) in Part One of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust.