SKU: BR.PB-5364

ISBN 9790004211458. 10 x 12.5 inches.

Autograph lays bare Mendelssohn's Overture to A Midsummer Night's Dream To this day, Mendelssohns epoch-making Overture to A Midsummer Night's Dream has been performed on the basis of a more than dubious transmission. Neither the first edition of the parts (1832), and certainly not the print of the score based on these parts (1835) go back directly to the autograph of the 17-year-old composer, which is now located in Krakow. No wonder, since Mendelssohn had breezily given away his original at an early date. The result: during his lifetime, versions were published with his authorization, even though they were full of unintended inconsistencies. Yet the autograph of 1826 is unequivocal: it is clear, practically free of irregularities and diverges considerably from the corrupted printed version. Christian Martin Schmidt comes up with occasionally differing musical passages, but above all with logical and compositionally compelling performance instructions, laying bare to musical practice the original form buried beneath layers of falsified material for the first time.

Christian Martin Schmidt is laying bare to musical practice the original form of Mendelssohn's epoch-making Overture to A Midsummer Night's Dream buried beneath layers of falsified material for the first time.

SKU: BR.PB-5505

ISBN 9790004211519. 10 x 12.5 inches.

A visit to the opera whetted the composers creative appetite to explore the fairy-tale-like theme of Knight Raimunds love for the beautiful mermaid Melusine, which provided the basis for Mendelssohns fourth concert overture. As usual, Mendelssohn worked out the composition in his mind before committing it to paper, a task he most likely began towards the end of March 1833. The works premiere performance took place in London on 7 April 1834; the revised version was given its first account in Leipzig on 23 November 1835. Its ranking as No. 4 of the concert overtures was assigned around 1857 in a posthumous edition.(Ralf Wehner in the Study Edition of the Mendelssohn Work Catalogue).

SKU: BR.PB-5503

ISBN 9790004211465. 10 x 12.5 inches.

Mendelssohn s overture drew its inspiration from two poems by Goethe which had already inspired Ludwig van Beethoven to write a choral work on them with orchestral accompaniment. The larger part of the work on this piece must have been carried out in the summer of 1828. The first public performance took place in Berlin on 1 December 1832. The revised version of the work was first performed in Leipzig on 20 April 1834. Its ranking as No. 3 of the concert overtures was laid down when the score was first printed in 1835 (Breitkopf & Hartel).(Ralf Wehner in the Study Edition of the Mendelssohn Work Catalogue).

SKU: BR.PB-5522-07

ISBN 9790004212530. 6.5 x 9 inches.

To all extents and purposes, Germany is the land of artists, wrote Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy in 1831 while on his travels in Italy; but Italy, he added, is the land of art. Indeed, everywhere he went in Italy, the 22-year-old composer found impulses for his symphony: I have to save the work until I have seen Naples. But although the country fired his inspiration: It will be the merriest piece that I have ever written, he did not actually write the Italian Symphony there. This did not occur until early 1833, when Mendelssohn obtained a commission from London, where he then conducted the first performance in May 1833. Begun the following year, his revision of the piece remained fragmentary, and the composer no longer performed the work himself. The familiar London version thus represents the only closed form of the work which the composer presented to the public. This is the version of the Italian Symphony that is now appearing in the Breitkopf Urtext collection based on the Complete Edition.

SKU: BR.OB-5624-30

ISBN 9790004348710. 10 x 12.5 inches.

The Overture to Ruy Blas, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy's last overture, was not composed as an autonomously conceived score, but as the opening piece of a stage work. Nevertheless, its immediate success at the Leipzig first performance in 1839, as well as the fact that no further contributions to Victor Hugo's drama followed from Mendelssohn's pen soon made it well known in the concert hall. The work's special history, including several arrangements occasioned by various performances, led to the fact that the overture had its largest circulation in the version of the posthumous first edition on which this edition is also based.

First printing posthumously 1851 (Rietz).

SKU: BR.OB-5624-16

ISBN 9790004348673. 10 x 12.5 inches.

The Overture to Ruy Blas, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy's last overture, was not composed as an autonomously conceived score, but as the opening piece of a stage work. Nevertheless, its immediate success at the Leipzig first performance in 1839, as well as the fact that no further contributions to Victor Hugo's drama followed from Mendelssohn's pen soon made it well known in the concert hall. The work's special history, including several arrangements occasioned by various performances, led to the fact that the overture had its largest circulation in the version of the posthumous first edition on which this edition is also based.

First printing posthumously 1851 (Rietz).

SKU: BR.OB-5624-15

ISBN 9790004348666. 10 x 12.5 inches.

The Overture to Ruy Blas, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy's last overture, was not composed as an autonomously conceived score, but as the opening piece of a stage work. Nevertheless, its immediate success at the Leipzig first performance in 1839, as well as the fact that no further contributions to Victor Hugo's drama followed from Mendelssohn's pen soon made it well known in the concert hall. The work's special history, including several arrangements occasioned by various performances, led to the fact that the overture had its largest circulation in the version of the posthumous first edition on which this edition is also based.

First printing posthumously 1851 (Rietz).

SKU: BR.PB-5365

ISBN 9790004210512. 10 x 12.5 inches.

With the publication of the performance materials to the Mendelssohn Complete Edition, Breitkopf & Hartel is fulfilling its promise to release the conducting scores, parts and, in the case of well-known orchestral pieces, separate materials as soon as possible after the appearance of the respective volume in the Complete Edition. Breitkopf believes that all these important new scholarly findings should be made available directly to performers and taken into consideration in as many Mendelssohn performances as possible.

SKU: BR.OB-5624-23

ISBN 9790004348697. 10 x 12.5 inches.

The Overture to Ruy Blas, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy's last overture, was not composed as an autonomously conceived score, but as the opening piece of a stage work. Nevertheless, its immediate success at the Leipzig first performance in 1839, as well as the fact that no further contributions to Victor Hugo's drama followed from Mendelssohn's pen soon made it well known in the concert hall. The work's special history, including several arrangements occasioned by various performances, led to the fact that the overture had its largest circulation in the version of the posthumous first edition on which this edition is also based.

First printing posthumously 1851 (Rietz).

SKU: BR.PB-5366

ISBN 9790004210529. 10 x 12.5 inches.

With the publication of the performance materials to the Mendelssohn Complete Edition, Breitkopf & Hartel is fulfilling its promise to release the conducting scores, parts and, in the case of well-known orchestral pieces, separate materials as soon as possible after the appearance of the respective volume in the Complete Edition. Breitkopf believes that all these important new scholarly findings should be made available directly to performers and taken into consideration in as many Mendelssohn performances as possible.

SKU: BR.OB-5624-27

ISBN 9790004348703. 10 x 12.5 inches.

The Overture to Ruy Blas, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy's last overture, was not composed as an autonomously conceived score, but as the opening piece of a stage work. Nevertheless, its immediate success at the Leipzig first performance in 1839, as well as the fact that no further contributions to Victor Hugo's drama followed from Mendelssohn's pen soon made it well known in the concert hall. The work's special history, including several arrangements occasioned by various performances, led to the fact that the overture had its largest circulation in the version of the posthumous first edition on which this edition is also based.

First printing posthumously 1851 (Rietz).

SKU: BR.OB-5624-19

ISBN 9790004348680. 10 x 12.5 inches.

The Overture to Ruy Blas, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy's last overture, was not composed as an autonomously conceived score, but as the opening piece of a stage work. Nevertheless, its immediate success at the Leipzig first performance in 1839, as well as the fact that no further contributions to Victor Hugo's drama followed from Mendelssohn's pen soon made it well known in the concert hall. The work's special history, including several arrangements occasioned by various performances, led to the fact that the overture had its largest circulation in the version of the posthumous first edition on which this edition is also based.

First printing posthumously 1851 (Rietz).