Rules for Young Musicians (Schumann)

Tchaikovsky Research

Rules for Young Musicians (Жизненные правила для молодых музыкантов) (TH 331 ; ČW 629) [1] is Tchaikovsky's translation of Robert Schumann's Musikalische Haus- und Lebensregeln für junge Musiker (1849).

Nothing is known about the history of this translation, which presumably dates from 1868 (it was approved by the state censor on 20 July/1 August that year). It was published by Pyotr Jurgenson in 1869, in an edition with the Russian translation and original German text printed side by side. A second edition was published in 1877, and the title of the third edition (1884) was altered to Rules and Advice for Young Musicians (Жизненные правила и советы молодым музыкантам).

The Rules were included in volume 3Б of Tchaikovsky's Complete Collected Works (1961), edited by Vladimir Protopopov.

Tchaikovsky's autograph manuscript is now preserved in the Russian National Museum of Music in Moscow (ф. 88, No. 176) [view].

Notes and References

  1. Entitled "Rulebook for Young Musicians" in TH, and "Life Rules for Young Musicians" in ČW.