The article is devoted to the Department of Music Theory of the Moscow Conservatory in the earliest period (until 1936), when it was part of the Historical and Theoretical Department (led by M. V. Ivanov-Boretsky) as the Methodical Commission for Harmony and Polyphony. Despite the modest status, the numerical predominance of music history teachers and the installation of the auxiliary nature of theoretical disciplines, its role was important. It was in those years that the foundation was laid for Russian theoretical musicology, which determined its appearance and ways of further development. It should also be emphasized that scientific approaches, first announced in the framework of the theoretical problems of the department, subsequently (in the 1960–1980s) became one of the main factors in updating the analytical apparatus of musicology. The article considers the most important aspects of the Commission: the scientific management of theses, the creation of the first textbook of harmony (1934–1935). Some little-known facts were also made public, showing the difficulties that accompanied the formation of Russian musicology in the context of the political circumstances of those years and under administrative pressure from leading organizations.
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