Tchaikovsky Reads Rimsky-Korsakov. On the 140th Anniversary of the “Great Schism” of Russian Methodology

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DOI 10.34690/446

Abstract

At the end of 1884, N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov sent P. I. Tchaikovsky the first version of his harmony manual with a request for his thoughts. An analysis of Tchaikovsky’s notes in the margins of his St. Petersburg colleague’s textbook allows us to evaluate not only the difference in their methods, but above all, the goal-setting of the authors of the first two Russian harmony manuals. This difference is due to the differences in their professional and human makeup. Tchaikovsky’s method avoids regulating harmonic logic. It is focused on the student’s “harmonic feeling” and provides a tool for realizing this feeling—the technique of voice leading. In contrast, Rimsky-Korsakov method is based on the belief that harmonic logic can be codified and taught. Hence the difference in the formats of Tchaikovsky’s “Guide” and Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Manual”: the former adheres to the tone of “recommendations,” the latter—“rules.”

Keywords harmony, methods of music theory, history of Russian musicology, chord, voice leading, harmonic logic

For citation

Dvoskina, E. M. “Tchaikovsky reads Rimsky-Korsakov. On the 140th anniversary of the ‘great schism’ of Russian methodology.” Muzykal’naya akademiya [Music Academy], no. 1, 2025, pp. 46–61, doi:10.34690/446. (In Russ.)

Acknowledgments

Ada Einbinder, Candidate of Art Criticism, Senior Researcher, State Institute for Art Studies, Head of the Department of Manuscript and Printed Sources of the P. I. Tchaikovsky State House-Museum

Published 03.10.2024

Approved 21.12.2024

Submitted 24.03.2025