SKU: BA.BA04025-01

ISBN 9790006443222. 33 x 26 cm inches. Text Language: English.

Handelâ??s â??Semeleâ?, which premiered in February 1744, is based on an adapted version of William Congreveâ??s opera libretto titled â??The Story of Semeleâ?, originally published in 1706. However, neither Handel nor his librettist referred to â??Semeleâ? as an opera or an oratorio, which, according to the understanding at the time, would have required a biblical and/or Christian subject matter. Contemporary audiences also disagreed on the genre. The problematic classification as an oratorio has persisted into the present day, likely due to the edition labeled as such by Chrysander. The â??Halle Handel Editionâ? (HHA) distances itself from this classification and, considering the available sources, refrains from assigning a genre label.

Congreve deviates from the mythological source multiple times in order to create tensions among the characters. The desired marriage between Semele and Athamas, whom she does not love, is an addition by Congreve to provoke the envy of her sister Ino, who desires Athamas herself. Therefore, Ino sees her own advantage in Semeleâ??s abduction by Jupiter. While Jupiterâ??s wife Juno decides to destroy Semele out of jealousy for his relationship with her, Jupiter brings Ino to his palace to console Semele. The vengeful Juno takes advantage of Inoâ??s presence and transforms into her likeness, persuading Semele to carry out a plan that later proves fatal. In the end, Ino emerges as the winner, as she is able to convince their father, Cadmus, to marry her to Athamas. The appearance of Apollo in the final scene to announce that Semeleâ??s immortal son Bacchus was saved from her ashes provides little consolation. However, this twist allows the drama to conclude with exuberant joy and a magnificent final chorus after the tragic scenes in the third act, culminating in the death of the protagonist.

Handelâ??s autograph score shows significant deviations from and numerous revisions of the original version premiered. All surviving early versions, the musical movements deleted before the premiere, and the version of the December 1744, are given in the appendix to the HHA.

SKU: CA.5527803

ISBN 9790007188528. Language: English.

Handel's Utrecht Te Deum HWV 278 enthralled London audiences right from its first performance, and it continues to do so today in concert halls and churches all over the world. It was performed for the first time in a festive service on 13 July 1713 in St. Paul's Cathedral to celebrate the Peace marking the end of the twelve year-long War of the Spanish Succession in 1713. The Te Deum was the first commission by the English royal house and was also Handel's first sacred work in the English language. For Handel the Utrecht Te Deum was an important milestone at the beginning of his London career. The composition brought him an annual pension from Queen Anne and helped him to establish himself as a composer of prestigious music for the English royal family. Four further settings of the Ambrosian hymn of praise by Handel followed, including the equally popular Dettingen Te Deum (Carus 55.238). The six soloists required can in practice be reduced to four, and the Te Deum does not contain any stand-alone arias. The chorus is scored in five parts in a few movements (SSATB), with the concluding doxology beginning in double-choir scoring (SST/AATB). For this frequently-performed work Carus offers a musical text reflecting the latest scholarly discoveries. The Critical Report contains information on all the important facts about the work in a practicable, compact form. A detailed foreword contains insights into the creation of the work and its reception. The vocal score, chorus score, and orchestral parts provide for the needs of practical performance; these are complemented by carus music, the choir app for practising the choral parts, as well as the Carus Choir Coach practice CDs and a Vocal Score XL in reader-friendly large print.

SKU: CA.2800705

ISBN 9790007338657. Latin.

The Missa latina is a complete setting of the Latin Mass for solo soprano, large mixed choir (SATB divisi as well as soloists from the choir) and a band consisting of violin, bandoneon (accordion), piano, double bass, drums and percussion. The word latina not only refers to the Latin text, but also to the musical style which makes use of Latin-American rhythms. Thus elements from Argentinian tangos stand side by side with Caribbean rhythms and Latin jazz with enough space provided for instrumental improvisations. Score available separately - see item CA.2800700.

SKU: CA.2729303

ISBN 9790007171797. Text language: Latin.

Antonin Dvorak's impressive Stabat Mater for soloists, chorus and orchestra is probably the best-known of the composer's sacred works. Some painful experiences - in 1875 his first daughter died, and in 1877 he lost two other children in quick succession - may have led to Dvorak's preoccupation with the suffering of the Mother of God, who stands weeping beneath the cross of her son. The music enters into the different moods of the liturgical texts with great sensitivity. Nine movements in slow to moderate tempi serve as a kind of Passion meditation, before the ecstasy of a vision of the resurrection wins the upper hand at the end of the tenth movement. With our newly-published arrangement for chamber orchestra (flute, oboe, clarinet, horn, bassoon, timpani, and strings), smaller choirs now have the opportunity of performing this work without the choir being drowned out by a large-scale symphony orchestra. The symphonic character of the work is nevertheless preserved. This scoring offers an optimal balance between transparency and orchestral sound. All vocal parts (soloists and chorus) are identical with the original version. Vocal score and choral score can be used also together with the original version, which is in preparation.

SKU: CA.4068805

ISBN 9790007131012. Language: Latin.

With its tonal language of subjective avowal, the first of Beethoven's two masses opens up new worlds of expression for the liturgical texts of the Mass which are expressly modern and point towards the future. Not to be considered a preliminary work to the Missa solemnis, it is an entirely independent work which set standards for the further development of settings of the Mass in the 19th century. Its newness, of which the composer himself was fully aware (I do not speak gladly of my Mass, or of myself, but I do believe that I have treated the text in a manner in which only few have treated it.), paves a way to an hitherto unknown, contemporary avenue to faith which today is still current. Carus presents this important work of church music history in a new critical edition by the Beethoven expert Ernst Herttrich. Score available separately - see item CA.4068800.

SKU: TM.08537SET

Girls & Boys Come Out to Play, Upon Paul's Steeple Stands a Tree, Dame Get Up and Bake Your Pies, I Saw 3 Ships Go Sailing By, Sing a Song of Sixpence, There was a Lady Loved a Swine, Over the Hills & Far Away, The Frog and the Crow.