SKU: BA.BA08858

ISBN 9790006523368. 33.5 x 25.5 cm inches. Text Language: French. Preface: Sylvie Bouissou. Louis de Cahusac.

Rameau's “Les Fêtes de l'Hymen et de l'Amour” was long considered second-rate because its première was associated with a political event. Yet this ballet abounds in novel dramaturgical effects that foreshadow his later operas, such as “Zaïs”, “Zoroastre” and “Les Borades”. Working together with his librettist Cahusac, Rameau sought to weave the dance numbers, choruses and stage machinery more tightly into the main plot. He also experimented with stylistic devices unique to this work, the most famous being unquestionably the scene in which the Nile overflows its banks (an impressive ten-voice double chorus with solo voices and orchestra) and the sextet from “Aruris”, a scoring found nowhere else in his uvre.

For the first time, this scholarly-critical edition of “Les Fêtes de l'Hymen et de l'Amour” presents a reference version of the work that is based on all the major sources for both the libretto and the music, including two recent musical discoveries. As most of the performance material for the première has vanished, our edition is based on the version prepared for the Acadmie Royale de Musique in 1748.

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SKU: BA.BA04045

ISBN 9790006443536. 33 x 26.1 cm inches. Text Language: Italian. Anonymus.

In 1734 Handel provided the pasticcio “ Oreste ” for his third operatic enterprise which, following the bankruptcy of the Royal Academy and its successor academy, felt threatened by competition from the newly-founded Opera of the Nobility. Hence, the composer did not compile the work from favourite movements from his own and other composer's pieces as was usual at that time; rather in “ Oreste ” he presented a selection of the most beautiful arias and ensembles exclusively from his own operas. In addition, he expanded the ballet and choral scenes which he thought would make a great impact after the move into the newly built Covent Garden Theatre.
As most of the singers in his Italian company had been enticed away by the competition, Handel increasingly began to engage English virtuosi. He probably even worked on the new version of the libretto himself in order to place the new stars in the limelight to the best effect.

The new vocal score is based on Volume 1 of the Supplement to Series II of the “Halle Handel” Edition edited by Bernd Baselt .

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SKU: BA.BA08862

ISBN 9790006558216. 33.7 x 25.8 cm inches. Text Language: French. Preface: Bouissou, Sylvie / Kocevar, Érik. Text: Charles Colle.

The heroic pastoral Daphnis et Egl was performed only once, on 29 October 1753, for the entertainment of King Louis XV at Fontainebleau and remained unpublished until today.

This edition is based on Rameau's autograph manuscript, a copy of the separate parts, and the libretto published by Ballard in 1753. A comparison of the sources reveals two versions of the work: the original version and the one revised for Fontainebleau, whereby the differences lie mainly in the final divertissement. This edition recommends the Fontainebleau version—which is actually more complete in its musical form, in particular with its overture and two ariettas—but also reconstructs the original state of the final divertissement (presented in the appendix) before it was revised.

About Barenreiter Urtext