Guide to the Practical Study of Harmony

Tchaikovsky Research

Tchaikovsky's Guide to the Practical Study of Harmony (Руководство к практическому изучению гармоний) (TH 255 ; ČW 513) was written in July and August 1871 in Moscow.

According to Nikolay Kashkin's memoirs, the Guide was based on Tchaikovsky's lectures at the Moscow Conservatory, written down by one of his students [1].

History

Work on the Guide was begun by 15/27 July 1871 [2], and completed at Nizy on 2/14 August 1871 (according to Tchaikovsky's date at the end of the foreword).

Publication

The Guide was first published in Moscow by Pyotr Jurgenson in 1872 [3], and was reprinted in 1876, 1881, 1885, 1891, 1902, 1905 and 1914. In 1957, it was included in volume III-а of the Complete Collected Works, edited by Vladimir Protopopov.

A German translation by Paul Juon, as Leitfaden zum praktischen Erlernen der Harmonie, was published by Jurgenson in 1899. This formed the basis for an English version by Emil Krall and James Liebling, brought out by the same publisher in 1900 [4]. Both the German and English editions have been reprinted many times.

Autographs

Tchaikovsky's autograph manuscript is now preserved in the Russian National Museum of Music in Moscow (ф. 88, No. 168) [view].

External Links

Notes and References

  1. Nikolay Kashkin, Воспоминания о П. И. Чайковском (1954), pp. 54–55.
  2. See Letter 236, to Pyotr Jurgenson, 15/27 July 1871.
  3. Руководство к практическому изучению гармоний. Учебник сост. профессором Московской консерваторий П. Чайковским. Moscow (printed Leipzig): P. Jurgenson, 1872.
  4. A facsimile reprint of the first English edition is available through the Internet Music Score Library Project (IMSLP).