Guide to the Practical Study of Harmony

Pyotr Tchaikovsky is one of the Romantic period’s greatest composers and the first Russian composer to achieve international fame and admiration. Written during the years that he worked as a professor of music theory at the Moscow Conservatory from 1865 until 1878, Guide to the Practical Study of Harmony is Tchaikovsky’s illuminating and instructive work on the fundamentals of musical composition. The guide was not widely distributed after it was published and remains rare as one of the few instructional works written by a famous and gifted composer. Tchaikovsky was composing some of his most important and creative works during his tenure as a professor, such as his early operas, including Voyavoda and Swan Lake , as well Variations on a Rococo Theme , and his Third and Fourth Symphonies. Guide to the Practical Study of Harmony is not only a fascinating glimpse into the mind and creative process of one of history’s greatest composers, but it endures as a useful and helpful guide full of examples and exercises for all teachers and advanced students of music to use in understanding the role that harmony plays in compositions. This edition is printed on premium acid-free paper and follows the translation of Emil Krall and James Liebling.