SKU: HL.49045824

Max Kowalski (18821956) was a full-time lawyer who never gave up on his passion for music: singing lessons during his law studies, conducting and counterpoint classes, among others, at Dr. Hochs Konservatorium in addition to his work at his own law office in Frankfurt. While studying, he already published his first works; 15 song cycles were published until 1933. In the years that followed, the Jewish-born Kowalski was restricted in working both as a lawyer and as a composer due to his persecution by the National Socialists. In 1938 he was arrested, deported to the concentration camp of Buchenwald and finally forcedto flee into exile in London. Contemporaries called Kowalski a lyricist among the composers. The choice of texts of his songs shows his great knowledge and love of German literature. For example, he set to music texts by Friedrich Holderlin or Rainer Maria Rilke, but also Indian or Japanese poems. Kowalski left numerous unpublished songs which are published by Schott Music in a two-volume edition: Volume 1 (ED 22586) contains his Jewish songs (1935-37), the Heinrich Heine cycle (1937) and all English-language songs (1941-46). Volume 2 (ED 22587) contains Kowalski's late works: the songs based on texts by Friedrich Holderlin (1950) and the Geisha Lieder according to Klabund (1951).

SKU: HL.51481639

UPC: 196288215851. 8.25x11.75x0.074 inches.

Gounod had no qualms about arranging well-known works by earlier masters after his own fashion. Thus in 1852 he added a melody with its own operatic climax to the famous arpeggios of the C-major Prelude BWV 846 from Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier. He first published instrumental versions of it under the title “Méditation”, then tried fitting various texts to the melody until in 1859 he arrived at the definitive vocal version using the text of the Ave Maria. Already by the 1890s it was claimed that “[we] have heard this sweet melody innumerable times from the best lady singers”, and its popularity has continued to the present day. Reason enough, then, for Henle Verlag to publish an Urtext edition of this worldwide hit, based on the sources and with appropriate critical commentary. In 1859, at the same time as the original edition for high voice, editions for middle and low voice, presumably commissioned by the publishers, were also issued. Following this model, the Henle Urtext edition of “Ave Maria” is also offered in two transpositions for the lower register.

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