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.OB-5503-23

ISBN 9790004337479. 10 x 12.5 inches.

Mendelssohns 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.OB-5505-19

ISBN 9790004337776. 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.OB-5364-16

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.

ISBN 9790004337394. 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.