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 Kinderst�ck?. 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.

Ten Carols for Two Harps - this is particularly aimed at the student and teacher harpist working together, and sometimes working online together. Harp 1 is the easier part, and Harp 2 is at an intermediate level - perfect to use with a student and teacher in the build up to Christmas. Generally the students starts each piece by playing the main tune, but in most arrangements, the student switches over and accompanies or harmonises the tune with Harp 2. The book contains a variety of keys, time signatures, a couple of lever changes.

Christmas Carols included:

O Come Emmanuel

The First Nowell

Christ was Born on Christmas Day

Away in Manger (2 versions)

Infant Holy

Joseph and Mary (2 versions)

Silent Night

Seashells, Christmas Bells, composed by Anna Dunwoodie

Dona Nobis Pacem

Campana Sobre Campana

A tremendous welcome to the repertoire available to modern harpists. The double-strung harp, consisting of two parallel rows of strings, has gained popularity over the past several years, probably since the 1996 International Folk Harp Conference chaired by Laurie Riley. Included are valuable instructions on double-strung harp history, harp techniques possible on a double strung harp, doubling melodies, dividing melodies in half, overlapping chords, setting levers for accidentals, getting your hands working, repeated notes, left hand exercises, two-handed exercises, getting used to looking at the strings, and the actual arrangements themselves.

Contains:
The Rooftops of Langley, Mazurka Michel, Scarborough Fair, Dinny Delaneys, Whelan's Jig, Are You Sleeping Maggie, Slides, La Noche Pasa, Refraction, Greyhound, The Reel of Mullinavat, Fantasy on Leyenda, Noel Nouvelet, Masters in this Hall, and Carol of the Bells.