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.

24 Folk Songs and Memories is a lovely book for you and your double-strung harp. 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 \"All the Pretty Little Horses,\" \"All Through the Night,\" \"The Ash Grove,\" \"Barbara Allen,\" \"Bicycle Built For Two,\" \"Carolan\'s Dream,\" \"Cockles and Mussels,\" \"Down By the Sally Gardens,\" \"Down in the Valley,\" \"Flow Gently, Sweet Afton,\" \"Grandfather\'s Clock,\" \"Home On the Range,\" \"Home, Sweet Home,\" \"Loch Lomond,\" \"Londonderry Aire,\" \"Long, Long Ago,\" \"My Bonnie,\" \"Oh, Dear, What Can the Matter Be?\", \"Oh, Shendandoah,\" \"Red River Valley,\" \"Scarborough Fair,\" \"Simple Gifts,\" \"Streets of Laredo,\" and \"Sweet Betsy From Pike.\"

I have included five sample pages so you can see what the arrangements are like. The audio sample is \"Flow Gently, Sweet Afton.\" It was digitally produced.

?Anthology? is a collection of fifty themes and melodies in a smart format developed by Ray Pool. It is in ?enhanced lead sheet? format that includes fully fingered melody lines, and in-depth liner notes, unlike traditional fake books. Conveniently indexed according to topic (folk, Celtic, children, hymns, spirituals, plainsong, Jewish, Christmas, opera, and classical), alphabet, and level so that no matter what, the harpist may always find his/her music. It includes four pages of basic chord progressions, and helpful performance notes. Perfect for the harpist of any type or level!
Includes: Air (?Water Music?), All Through the Night, Amazing Grace, Angels We Have Heard on High, Aura Lee, Away in a Manger, Barcarolle, Blest Be the Tie That Binds, Candle Blessing, Chanuka Chag Ya?fe, Cockles and Mussels, Creator of the Stars of Night, Down By the Salley Gardens, Eine Kleine Nacht Musik, Erev Shel Shoshanim, Fairest Lord Jesus, Hinnei Mah Tov, Humbly I Adore Thee, I Gave My Love a Cherry, I Know Where I?m Goin?, I?m a Little Teapot, Intermezzo, Jacob?s Ladder, Kum Ba Yah, Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence, Let Us Break Bread Together, Loch Lomond, London Bridge, Lord, I Want To Be a Christian, Lullaby (Brahms), Morning, Musetta?s Song, O! mio babbino caro, Old Hundredth, Polovetzian Dance #1, Rondo in C (Clementi), Shalom Chaverim, Sheep May Safely Graze, Shenandoah, Silent Night, Sonata in C (Haydn), Swing Low, Sweet Chariot, The Farmer in the Dell, The Harp That Once, The King of Love, This Old Man, To a Wild Rose, Traumerei, Un bel di vedremo.