Asaf'yev studied music at the Gymnasium in Kronstadt and history and philology at St. Petersburg University. He also received instruction in orchestration from Rimsky-Korsakov and in composition from Lyadov at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. He helped to organize the music department at the Petrograd Institute for the History of the Arts (later renamed the Leningrad Institute) after the Revolution of 1917. He held many prestigious positions in Soviet musical society, including a period as professor at the Leningrad Conservatory where he founded the musicology department. Asaf'yev is best remembered for his writings on music. His Music as Form and Process explores his theory concerning the expressive nature of musical form. ~ Lynn Vought, Rovi