[1] This manuscript was given to me by Alexander Glazounov; if a Rimsky-Korsakov museum is ever founded it will be placed there.

[2] This preface had already been published in his Notes and Articles on Music (St. Petersburgh, 1911).

[3] Recently the firm of Belaieff has published Rimsky-Korsakov's symphonic works in miniature score, pocket-size.

[4] In the margin of the MS. a question mark is added here. (Editor's note.)

[5] A. Glazounov has well expressed the various degrees of excellence in scoring, which he divides into three classes: 1. When the orchestra sounds well, playing from sight; magnificent, after a few rehearsals. 2. When effects cannot be brought off except with the greatest care and attention on the part of conductor and players. 3. When the orchestra never sounds well. Evidently the chief aim in orchestration is to obtain the first of these results. (Author's note.)

[6] A short review of these various questions forms the first chapter of the book. (Editor's note.)

[7] To give a list of easy three and four-note chords, or to explain the different methods of bowing does not come within the scope of the present book.

[8] Of late years sometimes two tubas are employed, by Glazounov for instance in his Finnish Fantasia. (Editor's note.)

[A] The 7th natural harmonic is everywhere omitted as useless; the same in the horns, the notes 11, 13, 14 and 15.

[B] The b? of the octave -1 does not exist on the trombones.

[9] A Russian instrument which, like the balalaÏka, is better known abroad. (Translator's note.)

[10] A chromatic harp without pedals has now been invented in France (Lyon's system), on which the most abrupt modulations are possible. (Translator's note.)

[11] Rimsky-Korsakov's opera Sadko and Moussorgsky's Boris Godounov are particularly interesting in this respect. (Translator's note.)

[12] Recently, bells have been made of suspended metal plates possessing the rare quality of a fairly pure tone, and which are sufficiently portable to be used on the concert platform. (Editor's note.)

[C] The present volume is divided into two parts, text (pp. 1-152) and musical examples (pp. 1-333). The first page of the second part lists the standard full-score editions of Rimsky-Korsakov's works that are referred to throughout the book. These references to specific passages are always indicated by boxed numbers or boxed letters corresponding to the ones marking the sub-divisions of the particular score. On the other hand, references in the text to the 312 musical examples in the second part of the book are always indicated as "No. 1," "No. 2," etc. Thus, "The Tsar's Bride 84" indicates that the reader should look at section 84 of the score of The Tsar's Bride as published by Belaieff in Leipzig, the music of which is not reprinted here; whereas "No. 1. ShÉhÉrazade 2nd movement B" indicates that the reader should look at the first musical example in the second part of the present book, which comes from the section marked B in the second movement of the score of ShÉhÉrazade as published by Belaieff.

[13] The composer has emended the score in the following manner: from the fifth to the ninth bar after 305, and also from the fifth to the ninth bar after 306, the three clarinets play in unison, the trumpet being marked forte instead of fortissimo; in the example, the first of these passages is corrected according to the composer's alteration. (Editor's note.)

[14] The process of doubling strings and wood-wind in octaves:

etc. often used by the classics to obtain balance of tone, is not to be recommended, as the tone quality of the two groups is so widely different. As a result of the ever-increasing tendency to profusion of colour, this method has recently come into fashion again, notably among the younger French composers. (Editor's note.)

[15] In the full score a misprint occurs in the clarinet part; it is corrected in the example. (Editor's note.)

[16] A splendid example of the combination of strings and brass may be found in the introduction to the 2nd scene of the 4th act of "Khovanstchina" by Moussorgsky, orchestrated by Rimsky-Korsakov. (Editor's note.)

[17] Mention should be made of the happy use of a small orchestra in the wings (2 picc., 2 cl., 2 horns, 1 trombone, tambourine, 4 Vns, 2 violas, 1 D-bass) in The May Night, Act II, Sc. I. M-P. (Editor's note.)

[18] Here the author approaches a question so well known to the Russians that it does not require any further elucidation for their guidance. But a whole book would have to be written to form a compendium of practical rules on this subject, and to point out the errors which nearly all French composers openly commit—even those who are famous for their sense of diction and literary style. We can only conclude that the question has come to be considered of minor importance in France, perhaps on account of the lack of definite stress on the syllables of words, which is characteristic of the French language. It is not within the translator's province to discuss the question of French versification or to elaborate the excellent maxims laid down by Rimsky-Korsakov, the first, among many, to touch upon this delicate and important subject. (Translator's note.)

[19] Contrebasses voices as they are called when mentioned in French works are peculiar to Russia, in which country they are plentiful. (Translator's note.)