Gorbunov, who attended art college and Moscow University (which he never graduated) and had the profound knowledge of Russian history, culture and folklore, was a self-taught folklore scholar. It was him who introduced Modest Musorgsky to the folk song "Iskhodila mladyuoshenka" (Исходила младёшенька) which the latter used in his Khovanshchina opera, as "Marfa's Song".Гумеров Ш. А. Горбунов Иван Фёдорович // Русские писатели, 1800—1917 : Биогр. словарь / Гл. ред. П. А. Николаев. — М.: Сов. энцикл., 1989- (Русские писатели, 11-20 вв. : Серия биогр. словарей). Т.1. С.633-634.
