The Children's Album is dedicated to Tchaikovsky's favorite nephew, Vladimir Davydov. On 12/24 December 1878, Tchaikovsky wrote to Lev Davydov: "Tell Bobik that the music has been printed with pictures, that the music was composed by Uncle Petya, and that on it is written Dedicated to Volodya Davydov. The silly little fellow will not understand what dedicated means... Even so, Bobik is an inimitably delightful figure when he's playing, and he might look at the notes, and think that a whole symphony is dedicated to him?.

In a letter of 30 April/12 May 1878 to Nadezhda von Meck, the composer wrote: "A while ago I thought that it would not be a bad idea to make a small contribution to the stock of children's musical literature, which is very modest. I want to create a series of little individual pieces just for children, and with an attractive title, like Schumann`s.

Some months before this letter was written, while staying in Florence on 14/26 February, Tchaikovsky told Pyotr Jurgenson that he wanted "to write a number of easy pieces, like Kinderstück?. Evidently, the idea of creating a collection of pieces for young people had not been abandoned by the composer, and after his return to Kamenka in April he decided to begin composition. In the aforementioned letter to Nadezhda von Meck, he informed her: "Tomorrow I shall start working on my collection of miniatures for children".

On 1/13 May the composer wrote to Anatoly Tchaikovsky: "I'm working well and have done rather a lot". On 4/16 May the sketches for all 24 pieces were ready. Shortly afterwards, Tchaikovsky accepted an invitation from Nadezhda von Meck to stay at her Brailov estate until the end of May/beginning of June, before spending a few days in Moscow; from there he went to spend five days with his friend Nikolay Kondratyev at Nizy, and in mid/late June he called at Kiev, before returning to Verbovka. In the days following his arrival, he began to put the finishing touches to all the pieces written in April and May. The fair copy of the Children's Album was begun, it seems, on 13/25 July.

By 20 July/1 August the copying out was completed, and on 21 July/2 August the composer told Nadezhda von Meck that he was working on the Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom.

On 29 July/10 August the manuscript of the Children's Album, along with a number of other compositions, was sent to Pyotr Jurgenson in Moscow. In October, after the proofs had been corrected, the album was published.



P.S.- Other than a modest suggestion for an interpretation, this arrangements remain absolute faithful to the original composition.

The first version is in the original key of g minor, the second is transposed to ?a minor?, the third one is intended for a little lap harp and transposed to d minor. It sounds better in the original key of g minor. I used a lot the d minor version and performed it with my little harp very often, always experiencing a very deep musical feedback.

A little nuance was added to the arrangements, thus obliged by its minimal use on the original manuscripts.

I included the original long and expressive leggato bows and left out the staccatos for the left hand between the bars 17 and 20. I felt somehow awkward when applying this technic on the harp myself.

May be the staccatos suites you best, and you should try it.

The score was written on Finale.

The sound file was produced with samplers from Garritan,

intended as an audio support for the presentation of the score.

A reproduction of Tchaikovsky`s original manuscript is added to the file as a reference to the original sources of this composition, it is an extra bonus intentionally didactic and obviously not included in the price of the arrangement itself.

Thank you very much for taking your time to read this text and to listen to the file.

I hope you enjoy the music.

Modern and traditional harmonies, all songs written in the keys of C and G, so they can be played on a C-C lap harp or G-G. Arrangements work on the 26 string harp as well. INTERMEDIATE LEVER OR PEDAL HARP, ALSO SUITABLE FOR SMALL HARP WITH NO LEVERS
Table of Contents:
Angel Hymn, Away in a Manger Medley, Cherry Tree Carol, God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, Good Christian Men, Good King Wenceslas, I Heard the Bells, I Wonder as I Wander, It Came Upon the Midnight Clear Jingle Bells, Joy to the World, O Come All Ye Faithful, O Holy Night, O Little Town of Bethlehem, O Christmas Tree, O Come Emmanuel, Silent Night, The First Noel, Wassail Song, We Three Kings, What Child is This.

15 Hymns is a lovely book for you and your double-strung harp. The book contains 30 pages of music. All of the arrangements include chord symbols. The book varies from early intermediate to advanced intermediate, with most of the music falling somewhere in between.

The book includes "Amazing Grace," "Christ The Lord Is Risen Today," "Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing," "For The Beauty Of The Earth," "Hatikvah," "Holy, Holy, Holy," "How Great Thou Art," "I Sing The Mighty Power Of God," "Jesus Loves Me ," "Jesus Loves the Little Children," "Morning Has Broken," "The Water Is Wide," "This Is My Father's World," "We Gather Together," and "What A Friend We Have In Jesus."

I have included five sample pages so you can get an idea of the arrangements. The audio sample is an excerpt from "Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing." It was digitally produced.