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NIKOLAY RIMSKY-KORSAKOV
English translation by Edward Agate · 1922
Principles of Orchestration
Read the orchestration. Hear the orchestra.
Before you startReading Simplified English
You’re reading Simplified English. Follow links to the numbered examples. Listen to the source orchestral recordings, or play supported notation with sampled orchestral instruments.
All examples are review drafts. Check any of them against the original scan beside it.
This edition uses Project Gutenberg #33900: both volumes of Rimsky-Korsakov’s Principles of Orchestration, translated by Edward Agate and edited by Maximilian Steinberg.
The Gutenberg team already transcribed the prose and music. Credits: Mark C. Orton, Linda Cantoni, Alex Guzman, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
Source recordings preserve orchestral timbres. The interactive player plays each part on a sampled instrument (VSCO 2 Community Edition; voices and celesta from MuseScore General); examples outside its supported notation remain available as recordings and original scores. Finale’s exported MusicXML prioritizes sound over appearance.