Music and Time Annotation << Back The Word of the biggest symphonist about melody M.G. Valitova The article is addressed to the latest monograph "Melodika" by Sergei Mikhailovich Slonimsky. The work was released in 2018 and became the basis of the course read by him at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, where the Master has been teaching composition for many years. Nowadays Slonimsky is the author of thirty-three symphonies, eight operas, among which are the famous Virineas, Mary Stuart, King Lear, the creator of three ballets and a series of instrumental concerts, vocal-symphonic cycles, vocal lyrics to poems of Russian and foreign poets, and piano (including children's) music. For many years, the genre of the symphony has remained the main thing in the master's genre palette. The basis of the composer’s creative laboratory, a central element of his musical system, is melody, a musical phenomenon that Slonimsky considers to be the most important and most complex means of musical expression. And in musical practice, he proves his conviction, because Slonimsky is one of the largest Russian melodists. In his new book, the composer examines the history of the evolution of melody from the standpoint of stylistic analysis, which provides a voluminous body of musical examples, as well as practical tasks for musicians studying in various specialties. Keywords: Sergey Slonimsky, musicology, melody, symphony, history, pedagogy. Contacts: E-mail: 1804_consta@mail.ru Pp. 52-54.