St. Petersburg Conservatory and the Beginnings of Russian Musicology

Abstract

This chapter looks at St. Petersburg Conservatory and Soviet musicology. The St. Petersburg Conservatory bears Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's name not only on account of the composer's contribution to the Russian classical music canon, but because he is perceived as a progenitor of the institutionalized study of music in Russia—both practical and theoretical. It is true that Rimsky-Korsakov played a leading role in shaping the first syllabi of music-theoretical courses at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. However, the lineage that connects these courses to the present-day curricula is by no means as direct as it is sometimes painted. The chapter then argues that under Rimsky-Korsakov, music theory was seen as the handmaiden to composition, which hindered the institutionalization of historical musicology.