the following years were difficult for mussorgsky. he had a lot of depression. he composed some piano pieces and some songs. it was also a difficult time for his family who lost a lot of their wealth in 1861 when the new tsar of russia ordered that the serfs could be free. mussorgsky became a member of a group of five composers who became known as the mighty handful. the other four were balakirev, borodin, cui and nikolai rimsky-korsakov. the five were not together for very long. the others became too busy with careers outside music, or their musical tastes became very different from mussorgsky’s. in 1863 he started to compose an opera "salammbô" but he never finished it.