Premiered in Vienna in February 1892 under the direction of Hans Richter Massenet's Werther has proven an enduring work one of the composer's most tightly constructed and dramatically urgent. The libretto was fashioned bywriters Georges Hartmann Edouard Blau and Paul Millet after Goethe's 'Sorrows of Young Werther'. Charlotte the eldest daughter of a baliff is engaged to Albert. In his absence she is escorted to the local ball by ayoung visiting poet Werther. Albert returns unexpectedly disappointed at not finding Charlotte he promises her sister he will return in the morning. At the ball Werther falls in love with Charlotte but realises that Alberthas returned and urges Charlotte not to break her promise to marry Albert. Three months later Charlotte and Albert now married walk across the town square on their way to church followed by Werther who is stilldistraught. Albert realizes that Werther must be in love with his wife and Charlotte tells him he must leave town until Christmas. Werther rushes away contemplating suicide.Alone at home on Christmas Eve as Charlotterereads the dejected love letters written to her by Werther he appears and reads to her a passage from a poem where the poet foresees his own death. Charlotte begs him to stop and he realises she loves him too. But she runs fromhis embrace and Werther leaves resolved to die. Albert enters and a message arrives from Werther asking to borrow Albert's pistol. Her reaction convinces him of her love for Werther. The pistols are dispensed and when Albert hasgone she hurries off arriving at his quarters to find him dying. She declares her love and he begs forgiveness and dies.This is the Schirmer edition of the Libretto in French and English.

Ballet Heroïque With A Prologue and Four Acts-The main body of the new edition of Les Indes galantes published in Opera Omnia Rameau (OOR IV.2 7) restores the version authorised by Rameau in 1736. This basic editorial decision has made it possible to present a fully coherent and authenticated reading of the work (after the adjustments from the earliest performances). All other versions before and after 1736 are gathered together in 19 appendices.Sylvie Bouissou?s new edition differs markedly from previous modern editions and all existing recordings. With its appendices she does justice to the performer?s need for Rameau?s various revisions while finally making accessible a version actually authorised byRameau. For the first time it is presented in its complete stylistic and dramatic context.Practical vocal score by François Saint-Yves for keyboard accompanimentBased on a reassessment of all sources and versionsDestined to have a clear impact on performances of Rameau?s magnum opusUrtext edition from the Rameau edition 'Opera omnia'.Full score (BA8860) and vocal score (BA8860-90) available for sale.Performance material (BA8860-72) available for hire.

Menotti's 'The Medium' is something of a cautionary tale which had its genesis in a séance attended by the composer himself. The plot of the libretto (by Menotti himself) runs as follows: Living in conditions of near-squalor Baba poses as a medium with her daughter Monica posing as ghosts from the beyond. She takes in Toby a mute as a lodger but distrusts him. The business continues until during a séance she feels a 'cold hand' tightening abouther throat. When her customers return for another session she tells them that she is a fake and demonstrates her tricks but her clients protest that she must be real that it was not Monica's voice they heard. She drives themout and resolves to cast out Toby as well. When Toby returns she shoots and inadvertently kills him. At the conclusion she still wonders if it had been Toby. This Libretto is in English only.

Wagner completed the first version of the opera in 1845 during his tenure as Kapellmeister at the royal court of Dresden but he continued to redraft and revise it for the rest of his life. The setting is medieval Germany: the minstrel Tannhauser has fallen into sin with the goddess Venus but after a year in a moment of realisation he demands to leave. He finds himself near his home and is reunited with Elisabeth a girl he once loved. Elisabeth's uncle the landgrave organises a singing competition between Tannhauser and Wolfram who also loves her. Wolfram's song is simple and moving while Tannhauser confused by Venus outrages the audience by singing of profane love.He is banished to Rome on a pilgrimage to seek redemption and Elisabeth follows him with Wolfram. After much searching she gives up and dies just missing Tannhauser who Wolfram discovers creeping back to Venus the Pope having said that it was as impossible for him to be forgiven as for his staff to sprout flowers. Tannhauser sees Elisabeth and casts himself to die by her coffin and the Pope's staff bursts into bloom. This is the Schirmer edition of the Vocal Score edited and translated into English by Natalia MacFarren.

Standard Version with sung recitatives-Although almost unanimously condemned by contemporary Parisian critics for its overt sexuality and graphic final scene Carmen ultimately reached the public in a way that perhaps no other opera has. Bizet's aim (with Meilhac andHalevy who wrote the libretto) had been to transform the flaccid moralistic bourgeois genre of opéra comique into a more sophisticated type of staged work and he seems to have suceeded in Carmen. Each character has a musicalsignificance and a unique expressive idiom the ultimate example being the dangerous exotic sensual Carmen herself depicted by an exotic and sinewy chromatic motive that also implies the insurmountable power of fate. In aclassic plot device she is contrasted with the 'good girl' of the opera Micaela whose main aria is set in the ternary form of the elevated bel canto French Grand Opera aria to imply her traditionally 'ladylike' retiring nature.Don José's musical styles reflect different levels in his descent from dutiful soldier to the underworld of obsession.This is the Schirmer edition of the Libretto in the original French with an English translation by Ruthand Thomas Martin.

Operas in three acts Version of the premiere, London 1737. Par HAENDEL GEORG FRIEDRICH. “Charming Berenice” – the Earl of Shaftesbury attended a rehearsal of the opera on 12 May 1737 and went into raptures about this “inexpressible delight”. “Berenice” was premiered at Covent Garden Theatre in London just a few days later on 18 May 1737. “Berenice” is one of the “light” operas and offers a wealth of musical gems, the second movement of the overture having become famous as “The Minuet from Berenice”, for instance, as has Berenice’s extended aria in the third act, in which she reflects on the inconstancy of the god Amor in duet with the solo oboist. The musical imagery which Handel worked into the opera is likewise enchanting, such as the imitation of bees humming in Fabio’s “Vedi l’ape” and the sorrowful cooing of a dove in Selene’s “Tortorella che rimira”. The scholarly-critical new edition contains the musical text of the first performance together with pieces in the appendix which Handel excised or shortened in preparation for the premiere. As is customary with our editions, a preface provides a detailed introduction to the genesis of the work, the story’s historical context, the source material and reception. Furthermore, the edition includes a translation of the libretto and an exhaustive Critical Report./ Répertoire / Opéra

Poul Ruders' opera Tycho in 3 Acts was premiered May 15 1987 by Aarhus Symphony Orchestra and Kaare Hansen (conductor) at Helsingør Theater in Aarhus Denmark. Libretto in Danish by Henrik Bjelke. Vocal score: WH31457C Synopsis: In 1597 the famous Danish astronomer and astrologist the nobleman Tycho Brahe flees his castle cum observatory Uraniburg on one of the small islands off the Danish coast. The newly coronated King Christian the Fourth has a grudge against Tycho who in 1572 discovered a new star Stella Nova by using his naked eye only; the telescopewasn’t invented yet. This discovery gained Tycho tremendous fame among his contemporaries within the European scientific circles. The now weakened and embittered old man moves together with his wife Christina whom he raped when she was an adolescent and Jeppe the Dwarf his fool-servant whose life Tycho once saved to the plague-infested city of Prague. There at the Benatky Castle Tycho encounters the main reason for his departure from Denmark: the young German mathematician Johannes Kepler the only scientist among his contemporaries Tycho acknowledges - Tycho is in severe need of intelligent challenge. Which he gets and with a disastrous result for himself. The encouraging encounter with Kepler turns into Tycho's scientific and earthly death verdict. Slowly Tycho realizes that his own conception of the Earth as the indisputable axes of the Universe is shattered by Kepler s theory about Earth encircling the stationary Sun. The ancient picture of the Universe collapses Tycho feels deceived by Kepler who leaves the castle shaken by Tycho's wrath. But they meet again and reunite in a Romanza a Due at Tycho’s death bed. The opera hovers above immense sadness and extreme ridicule - the cast is most peculiar indeed - so in many ways 'TYCHO' may be described at the best as a'Tragic Operetta'

Lohengrin is regarded as Wagner's most fairy-story-like opera its plot interweaving motives from the world of legends and medieval history. The opera was premiered at the Weimar Court Theatre on 28 August 1850 under the direction of Franz Liszt in the composer's absence.This new Eulenburg study score edition follows the Wagner Complete Edition which is based on the autograph score representing the first critical edition of Lohengrin. Previous editions were based on the 1914 edition of the score which differed from the autograph in many details and was published by Michael Balling as part of the first complete edition which has remained unfinished.The original musical text isnow available in a handy format for the first time - and is perfectly suited for study purposes.With German/English preface and Critical Report!

Pastorale Héroïque In One Act-The heroic pastoral Daphnis et Eglé 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 theoriginal state of the final divertissement (presented in the appendix) before it was revised.Urtext edition from the Rameau edition 'Opera omnia'.Full score (BA8862) and vocal score (BA8862-90) available for sale.Performance material (BA8862-72) available for hire.

Opera with a Prologue and four Acts (First version) / Opera in five Acts (Second version) Dialogue versions. Par GOUNOD CHARLES. Charles Gounod’s “Faust” secured its international recognition in the version as an entirely sung opera, which from thenceforth has largely obscured the fact that the work was originally composed with spoken dialogues. The early versions staged prior to the 1869 performance at the Paris Opéra containing substantial unknown material and with dialogues and melodramas are the subject of this new edition. (The third version “version opera” was published in a separate edition BA 8713 in 2016.) Even as the rehearsals were taking place at the Théâtre-Lyrique in 1858, during the first series of performances at the theatre in 1859, furthermore as the 1862 revival was approaching and during the performances on the smaller stage at the Place du Châtelet, there were constant changes and revisions. It is, thus, impossible to identify manifestly definitive versions. Nevertheless, by drawing on the entire source material now at hand (including fascinating material only recently discovered) and on the whole gamut of aspects communicated by the reception, Paul Prévost systematically presents us with a score laid out in two main versions in whose chronology constancy and change become transparent. With all the musical changes having been documented, the result is a practicable score for performances which reveals a still far too unknown “Faust” – a “Faust” that is rooted in the tradition of the opéra comique. Quite a few musical numbers are published as a score for the first time in this edition: the trio for Faust, Wagner and Siebel “À l’étude ô mon maître”, the duet of Valentin and Marguerite “Adieu, mon bon frère!”, Méphistophélès’ air “Maître Scarabée”, Siebel’s romance “Versez vos chagrins dans mon âme!”, Valentin’s air with chorus “Chaque jour, nouvelle affaire”, the chorus of witches “Un deux et trois”, and also seven melodramas whose missing or incomplete orchestration has been written for our edition. It was only recently that the long-lost second part of Faust’s original cavatina “Salut! demeure chaste et pure” was unearthed. Only in details of orchestration do other numbers differ from the well-known pieces./ Répertoire / Opéra

Par HINDEMITH PAUL. The opera is set in a variety of locations between the years 1608 and 1630 and throws a spotlight on individual scenes, sometimes presented simultaneously, from the life of the astronomer Johannes Kepler (1571-1630); the opera takes its name from Kepler’s theoretical work ‘Harmonices mundi’. Hindemith utilises substantial historical studies as the basis for his sketches of individuals within Kepler’s circle who each accompany the astronomer’s scientific endeavours with a variety of personal ambitions. The military commander Wallenstein attempts to utilise Kepler’s astrological abilities to realise his own pretensions to power while Kepler’s assistant Ulrich aspires to scientific fame and recognition. Kepler’s mother urges her son to apply his scientific abilities to the services of her black magic and the Lutheran minister Hizler forbids the astronomer to receive communion because Kepler questions the doctrine of Holy Communion in the Lutheran church and expresses sympathy for Calvinist doctrine. The few figures shed in a positive light include Kepler’s wife Susanna who supports her husband’s pursuit of truth and knowledge and the child Susanna who listens to the voices of nature and the moon in her childish naivety, thereby gaining revelatory knowledge. At the end of his life, Kepler takes stock of his situation, succumbs to a state of resignation and considers death as the greatest harmony of all. In his state of agony, music of the spheres can be heard; the constellations appear as allegorical figures in the opera and contradict Kepler’s negative concepts: lying beyond all that can be researched by mankind is a final majestic realm with the powers to ‘permit us to be amalgamated into a gigantic harmony of the spheres.’ / Date parution : 2022-07-20/ Répertoire / Opéra

A pair of men take an oath of eternal friendship but their vow is threatened by their attraction to the same woman. The object of their rivalry faces her own dilemma torn between worldly passion and her calling as a priestess.Their romantic triangle forms the heart of this 1863 opera Les Pêcheurs De Perles (The Pearl Fishers) in which the composer of Carmen the world's most popular opera made his first mark.Set in ancientCeylon this enchanting tale of friendship love and betrayal has been performed in Opera houses around the world. The famous Baritone/Tenor duet in the second act is among the most recorded of Opera highlights and a copy of thefull score is essential for conductors as well as for students of composition and orchestration. This large-format version of Bizet's three-act Opera offers musicians an affordable alternative to high-priced hard-to-findeditions.

Ed. critica di Charles S. Brauner - Riduzione per canto e pianoforte-Mosè in Egitto (1818) is the fourth of the nine opere serie that Rossini composed for Naples between 1815 and 1822. As his letters to his mother show Rossini was very proud of this opera considering it an especially fine achievement that might appeal more to posterity than to the audiences of his day. In fact it proved to be one of his most frequently performed opere serie. The present reduction for voice and piano in two volumes derives from the critical edition of the score published by Fondazione Rossini Pesaro in collaboration with Casa Ricordi by Charles S. Brauner: the edition is based mainly on the autograph score now housed in theBibliothèque nationale de France in Paris. This autograph score is complete but it is not completely autograph and many sections have offered some problems for the reconstruction of the text: the recitative in Act I and the Aria Mosè in Act II are not by Rossini the first five recitatives in Act II are not in Rossini’s hand and may or may not be by Rossini also not in Rossini’s hand is the Aria Amaltea although undoubtedly by Rossini because borrowed from his earlier opera Ciro in Babilonia. The Preface and the Critical Commentary offer for the first time some valid tools to reconstruct the entire history of the opera since the first performance in Naples (1818 1819) to the Parisian ones (1822 – 1840). In particular in the appendices are included the original Aria Faraone which composed by Michele Carafa for the first two productions of the opera in Naples in 1818 and 1819 was later replaced by the Aria Faraone Rossini himself composed in 1820 and in Appendix II the new ending of the recitative following Duetto N. 3 which Rossini composed for one of the Parisian performances after 1822. 

Monteverdi’s opera “L’Orfeo”, based on the legend of Thracian singer Orpheus and his love of Eurydice, is a masterpiece of musical declamation and ornamentation. It was first performed during the 1607 carnevale in the “Palazzo Ducale” in Mantua. When an edition remains true to its sources, this certainly does not mean that it is not also practical to use, as is demonstrated in this Bärenreiter edition of Monteverdi’s “L’Orfeo”. Edited by Rinaldo Alessandrini, the new publication follows the Bärenreiter edition of Monteverdi’s “Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria”. Two contemporary prints of “L’Orfeo” from the years 1609 and 1615 have been passed down to us. Four copies of each of these prints still survive today in public libraries. The later print includes many corrections to the earlier edition and was accordingly used as the primary source for this Bärenreiter edition. However, when solving musical problems the editor frequently follows the more coherent style of the earlier print. The numerous interesting variants, not only between the two editions but also amongst the eight surviving copies, are listed in the critical commentary. This edition of “L’Orfeo” offers in addition to Monteverdi’s somewhat sparse original figures also figures added to the bass line by the editor. The continuo player should, however, feel free to follow his own judgment. The notation has been, when necessary, adapted to suit modern practice, for example with regard to the clefs. The sections that were originally written in “chiavetta” have been transposed a fifth lower. In the appendix these sections also appear in their original notation in facsimile as well as transposed a fourth lower. - Detailed introduction by the editor (Ital/Eng/Ger) on the work’s genesis and performance practice - Comprehensive critical commentary (Eng) in the score - Idiomatic piano reduction Edition no.: BA 8793-90 ISMN: 9790006533121 Composer / Author: Monteverdi, Claudio Title: L'Orfeo Favola in musica in one prologue and five acts Detailed instrumentation: Soprano solo (7), Tenor solo (4), Bass solo (3), Mixed choir: SSATTB, Male choir: TTBBB, Orchestra Librettist: Striggio, Alessandro (junior) Editor: Alessandrini, Rinaldo Foreword / Introduction: Alessandrini, Rinaldo Product format: Piano reduction, Urtext edition Language(s) of work: Italian Language(s) of text: German, Italian, English Publisher: Bärenreiter Binding: Paperback Print run: 1st printing 2012 Pages / Format: XIV, 143 S. - 27,0 x 19,0 cm Weight: 428 g