SKU: FA.MFCD007PN

8.27 x 11.69 inches.

Debussy's friendship with the versatile poet and playwright Gabriel Mourey began in 1899, and in July 1907 Mourey offered Debussy a libretto based on Le roman de Tristan - Joseph Bedier's adaptation of a twelfth-century Breton romance by the Anglo-Norman poet known as Thomas - which had recently been published in Paris. Debussy enthusiastically outlined the four-act plot to Victor Segalen that October, and the main differences from Wagner's Tristan und Isolde are that none of the action takes place in Cornwall and that Isolde of the White Hands is found guilty of cuckolding King Marc with Tristan, who has to rescue her from the leper colony in which she is abandoned in Act 1. She also betrays him when he goes mad at the end.

The idea of a Tristan that restored its 'legendary character' and had no connections with Wagner, appealed to Debussy, who was extremely moved by the circumstances of Tristan's death. Even if he thought that Mourey's poetry was 'not very lyrical and many passages do not exactly invite music', he did work on the libretto and the music that summer and sent his publisher, Jacques Durand, 'one of the 363 themes for the Roman de Tristan' in a letter sent from Pourville on 23 August, 1907. The present prelude grows from this theme, together with the poignant Breton folksong Le Faucon. After a short atmospheric introduction, Debussy's dance-like theme (which is definitely not a leitmotif) gradually gains momentum and after it reaches its ecstatic climax, representing the transient happiness of the lovers, it dissolves into an expressive coda and an elegiac close (all growing from Debussy's opening, off-stage trumpet calls), leaving us with the ultimate tragedy of their ill-fated affair.

Unfortunately, Mourey's actual libretto has been lost and the project eventually foundered because Bedier's cousin, Louis Artus, wanted Debussy to use the scenario he had prepared and copyrighted for the stage, and would not allow him to proceed with Mourey's version. Debussy, it need hardly be said, would never have dreamed of collaborating with the author of the vaudeville hit La culotte (The pants)!

SKU: BA.BVK02305

ISBN 9783761823057. 23.5 x 16 cm inches. Preface: Helmut Loos.

Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy as letter-writer: at the heart of 19th century European culture

As one of the most important letter-writers of the 19th century, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy maintained an extensive correspondence. With great style and eloquence he wrote letters to friends and family, letters from his travels and he also wrote to leading composers, musicians, artists as well as publishers. He corresponded with famous contemporaries such as Robert Schumann, Franz Liszt and Richard Wagner as well as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Carl Friedrich Zelter and Alexander von Humboldt.

The correspondence begins in 1816 and ends in 1847 with the composer’s death. These letters are invaluable documents shedding light not only on the genesis, publication and revision of his musical works, but also on a period when relations between Christians and Jews still had a chance to become harmonious, as Moses Mendelssohn, the imminent scholar and grandfather of the composer had advocated.

This edition will therefore be of great interest far beyond the circles of musicologists and music specialists. It will appeal to those who are interested in the history of culture and ideas and to those who perceive Mendelssohn and his family as representatives of a unique, diverse cultural epoch.

The complete correspondence shows that Mendelssohn not only went on to become one of the leading figures of German musical culture in the 1840s, but that he also maintained a network of musical contacts throughout Europe.

The edition of the complete letters
This scholarly-critical complete edition comprises 5,855 letters by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy. Previously only a small part of his correspondence had been published and made accessible to the public. The complete edition is based on Mendelssohn letters which have been compiled over decades by Rudolf Elvers as well as on international research carried out by an academic workgroup in Leipzig spearheaded by chief editors Helmut Loos and Wilhelm Seidel. They determined 500 additional letters hitherto unknown.

Versions of the letter texts have been compiled from a scholarly-critical analysis of the sources, their historical context has been discussed and comments on all points in need of explanation have been made.

This edition of the complete letters consists of 12 volumes and a CD-ROM. Each volume contains indices of mentioned individuals and institutions, compositions by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy and Fanny Hensel as well as a register of place names and currencies. In this way one obtains an all-encompassing view of this unique historical cosmos.

The Complete edition has been produced to the highest standards in terms of layout, cover and binding. It is an ideal collector’s item for bibliophiles, providing an excellent means for studying the composer and the period in which he lived.

The CD-ROM forms a valuable addition to the printed volumes. It offers the complete printed edition in the form of pdf. files, thereby making its approximately 9,500 pages digitally accessible and enabling letters and the corresponding commentary to be read in parallel. All terms can be located quickly and conveniently via a full text search.
(The 12 volumes as well as the CD-ROM can only be purchased complete).

- German text only


The Editors
Helmut Loos is Professor of Musicology at the University of Leipzig. He specialises in the music of the 19th and 20th centuries, in particular the reception of Beethoven, sacred music and links between Germany and Central and Eastern Europe.

Wilhelm Seidel was professor at the universities of Heidelberg, Marburg and Leipzig. His publications are devoted to the temporal structure of music, music aesthetics in the 18th and 19th centuries and music of the 16th to 20th centuries, currently on Mozart and Mendelssohn.

SKU: HL.14016246

8.25x11.75x0.054 inches.

It is a surprising fact of Beethoven's life that of all the categories of pieces he composed, there are more settings of Irish songs than of any other type of music. Scottish poet Robert Burns convinced a Scottish music publisher to commission Beethoven to set his own words to Irish airs. The death of Burns in 1796 ended the project, but Beethoven went on to harmonise and arrange the songs in 1814 through 1816, mainly, and they were published, though never achieved as great a popularity as a rival set by Thomas Moore.This simplified version for easy Cello and Piano was arranged by composer Hugo Cole, an accomplished cellist who was for many years a music critic for theGuardian newspaper.

SKU: SU.96050020

Poem by Robert FrostInstrumentation: SATB Chorus & Piano
Duration: 7'
Composed: 2017
Published by: Subito Music Publishing.

SKU: BR.OB-15121-15

ISBN 9790004340127. 10 x 12.5 inches.

Schumann's A minor concerto is considered as the ultimate romantic piano concerto. Since the Schumann anniversary year 2010, musicians will be able to base their performance on a complete Urtext edition. The state of the sources is unfortunately patchy, as the original version of the first movement, a Phantasie of 1841 that was given two trial performances, can no longer be reconstructed. On the other hand, the posthumously published score raises certain questions, since it diverges from the editions (solo part and orchestral parts) authorized by Schumann and published in 1846, after the first performance. The pianist Mitsuko Uchida contributed the fingering for the version for two pianos. Schumann's great solo concertos are thus available in their entirety from Breitkopf, in editions prepared with the expert help of major interpreters: the Cello Concerto with Heinrich Schiff and the Violin Concerto with Thomas Zehetmair. Dans l'incomparable qualite de gravure de la plus ancienne maison d'edition musicale au monde! (L'education musicale).

SKU: BR.OB-15121-27

ISBN 9790004340165. 10 x 12.5 inches.

Schumann's A minor concerto is considered as the ultimate romantic piano concerto. Since the Schumann anniversary year 2010, musicians will be able to base their performance on a complete Urtext edition. The state of the sources is unfortunately patchy, as the original version of the first movement, a Phantasie of 1841 that was given two trial performances, can no longer be reconstructed. On the other hand, the posthumously published score raises certain questions, since it diverges from the editions (solo part and orchestral parts) authorized by Schumann and published in 1846, after the first performance. The pianist Mitsuko Uchida contributed the fingering for the version for two pianos. Schumann's great solo concertos are thus available in their entirety from Breitkopf, in editions prepared with the expert help of major interpreters: the Cello Concerto with Heinrich Schiff and the Violin Concerto with Thomas Zehetmair. Dans l'incomparable qualite de gravure de la plus ancienne maison d'edition musicale au monde! (L'education musicale).