the Soviet Union—are now independent nations and have their own entries in this
guide. Since most of the scholarly literature on music was written during the Soviet
period, the researcher will encounter the old names of the country and the 15
republics that composed it. All those designations are given in IOM 3, 299–354,
where the principal Russian music literature is identified. In the present guide, the
emphasis is on material in Western languages. Russian works included are those that
have notable illustrations, chronologies, or title lists—the kind of reference features
that should be accessible to persons who can read the alphabet, if not the language.
Russian words are transliterated according to a modification of the Library of
Congress system, in which the supradiacritics are omitted. This procedure is becoming
more common in the age of online catalogues. The reader will bear in mind that there
are many other transliteration systems for Cyrillic and that the system used in a given
publication will affect the indexing and other alphabetical approaches to the material.
A further complication in the life of the researcher in the U.S. is that library col-
lections have demonstrated extremely vague acquisition practice for books and jour-
nals published in Russia. Neither the Library of Congress nor any other great library
consulted in the preparation of this volume gave evidence of a coherent collection pol-
icy for Russian musical materials, so it may well be that important items are missing in
this inventory and that certain titles cited have been superseded by later editions or
new works.
Of the English-language musical reference works, only NGDOcan be recom-
mended for its coverage of opera in Russia. The article “Russia” (v.4, 98–104) by
Richard Taruskin is an excellent overview. Taruskin also made valuable contributions
with entries for individual cities.
Music in General
Gerald Abraham has written widely on Russian music. Many of his essays appear in
three collections:
- Abraham, Gerald. Slavonic and Romantic Music: Essays and Studies.New
York: St. Martin’s, 1968. 360p. ML300 .A16 S6.
Consists of 14 studies about Russian and Eastern European composers, plus
15 essays on non-Slavonic topics. “T chaikovsky’s Operas” is a particularly
useful contribution. Name index. - Abraham, Gerald. Studies in Russian Music.London: Reeves, 1935. vi, 355p.
Reprint, Freeport, N.Y.: Books for Libraries Press, 1968. ML300 .A16 S8.
Essays on individual works by Glinka, Musorgsky, Balakirev, and, in particu-
lar, Rimsky-Korsakov (The Maid of Pskov, May Night, Snow Maiden, Sadko,
Tsar’s Bride, The Invisible City of Kitezh, andThe Golden Cockerel). Name
index. - Abraham, Gerald. On Russian Music. London: Reeves, 1939. 279p. Reprint,
Freeport, N.Y.: Books for Libraries Press, 1970. ISBN 0-8369-1909-9. ML300
.A16 S82.
Essays on various composers, emphasizing their operas. The studies of Mlada
and Tsar Sultan by Rimsky-Korsakov are especially interesting. Name index.
488 Opera