SKU: BA.BA06861
ISBN 9790260104211. 34.3 x 27 cm inches.
LeoÅ¡ Janácek’s symphonic fragment Dunaj (The Danube) dates from the period of the composition of “Katya Kabanovaâ€. The composer was not concerned with a musical-picturesque description of a river landscape, but with the mythical link between women’s destinies and water.“Pale green waves of the Danube! There are so many of you, and one followed by another. You remain interlocked in a continuous flow. You surprise yourselves where you ended up – on the Czech shores! Look back downstream and you will have an impression of what you have left behind in your haste. It pleases you here. Here I will rest with my symphony.†Thus LeoÅ¡ Janácek described the idea behind the composition project which occupied him in 1923/24. However, after further work, it remained incomplete in 1926. His “symphony†entitled Dunaj has survived as a continuously-notated, four-movement bundle of sketches in score form. It is one of the works which occupied him until his death. The scholarly reconstruction by the two Brno composers MiloÅ¡ Å tedron and LeoÅ¡ Faltus closely follows the original manuscript.A whole conglomeration of motifs stands behind the incomplete work. What at first seems like a counterpart to Smetana’s Vltava, in fact doesn’t turn out to be a musical depiction of the Danube. On the contrary, the fateful link between the destiny of women, water and death permeates the range of motifs found in the work. It seems to be no coincidence that Janácek, whilst working on the opera Katya Kabanova, in which the Volga, as the river bringing death plays an almost mythical role, planned a Danube symphony, and that its content was linked with the destiny of women: in the sketches, two poems were found which may have provided the stimulus for several movements of the symphony. He copied a poem by Pavla Kriciková into the second movement, in which a girl remarks that whilst bathing in a pond, she was observed by a man. Filled with shame, the young naked woman jumps into the water and drowns. The outer movements likewise draw on the poem “Lola†by the Czech writer Sonja Å pálová, published under the pseudonym Alexander Insarov. This is about a prostitute who asks for her heart’s desire: she is given a palace, but then goes on a long search for it and is finally no longer wanted by anyone. She suffers, feels cold and just wants a warm fire. Janácek adds his remark “she jumps into the Danube†to the inconclusive ending.To these tangible literary models is added Adolf Veselý’s verbal account which reports that the composer wanted to portray “in the Danube, the female sex with all its passions and driving forcesâ€. The third movement is said to characterise the city of Vienna in the form of a woman.It is evident that in his composition, Janácek was not striving for a simple, natural lyricism. The River Danube is masculine in the Slavic language – “ten Dunaj†– and assumes an almost mythical significance in the national character, indeed often also a role bringing death. The four movements are motivically conceived. Elements of sound painting, small wave-like figures in the first movement, motoric, driving movements in the third are obvious evocations of water. And the content and the literary level are easy to discover. The “tremolo of the four timpaniâ€, which was amongst Janácek’s first inspirations, appears in the second movement. It is not difficult to retrace in it the fate of the drowning bather. The oboe enters lamentoso towards the end of the movement over timpani playing tremolo, its descending figure is taken over by the flute, then upper strings and intensified considerably. The motif of drowning – Lola’s despair – returns again in the fourth movement in the clarinet, before the work ends abruptly and dramatically.One special effect is the use of a soprano voice in the motor-driven third movement. The singer vocalises mainly in parallel with the solo oboe, but also in dialogue with other parts such as the viola d’amore, which Janácek used in several late works as a sort of “voice of loveâ€.
About Barenreiter Urtext
What can I expect from a Barenreiter Urtext edition?
MUSICOLOGICALLY SOUND - A reliable musical text based on all available sources - A description of the sources - Information on the genesis and history of the work - Valuable notes on performance practice - Includes an introduction with critical commentary explaining source discrepancies and editorial decisions ... AND PRACTICAL - Page-turns, fold-out pages, and cues where you need them - A well-presented layout and a user-friendly format - Excellent print quality - Superior paper and binding
SKU: BR.PB-5549-07
ISBN 9790004213599. 6.5 x 9 inches.
Robert Schumann placed great importance on the genre of the overture, as can be seen in the chronology of the genesis of his sole opera Genoveva. In his Haushaltbuch the composer entered as his first idea thoughts of an overture, then produced the score even before having begun working on the actual opera. Schumann was right on the mark when he suspected that the overture alone should enjoy a favorable reception. The Overture appeared in print at about the same time that the opera was premiered. It established itself in the concert hall as an autonomous work and ranks today - along with the Manfred Overture - among Schumann's most beloved concert overtures. The Genoveva Overture is being released in a text-critical Breitkopf Urtext edition for the first time. The main source is the first printing revised by Schumann.The Urtext debut of Schumann's beloved overture.
SKU: BR.SON-633
ISBN 9790004803684. 10 x 12.5 inches.
Symphony, symphonic poem, fantasy, or something else entirely different? For a long time while working on the Sixth Symphony, Sibelius was not certain what his new orchestral work was now about to become or what to call it. He had to interrupt work on the symphony time and again during the Finnish civil war and because of financial difficulties that forced him to earn a living with little things. So, it is not surprising that many small ideas for other works repeatedly culminated in the Sixth. In a letter to a friend, he describes his early ideas for the work: The 6th symphony is wild and turbulent in character. Gloomy with pastoral contrasts. Probably in 4 movements with a conclusion growing into a dark orchestral shower in which the main theme drowns. The editor Kai Lindberg now presents the definitive version within the context of the Sibelius Complete Edition.
SKU: HL.35011049
Invention is an exciting work for high school or college orchestra that features an accented, multi-metered main theme, contrapuntal writing, a fugue, a reflective melodic interlude, and an optional extended violin cadenza. The title refers to the process undertaken by great inventors such as Thomas Edison and Leonardo Da Vinci. In this work, the composer reflects the many emotions and processes an inventor might experience as he is working on his creation: the spark of inspiration, the excitement of a new project, trial and error, frustration and anger, intensity, and, at last, success!
SKU: AP.35971S
UPC: 038081411781. English.
This lovely German song offers the opportunity to teach compound meter, isolating excerpts collaterally with rhythmic exercises, and working on smooth string crossings. Extended positions are featured in the cello part with accidentals sprinkled throughout the other parts as well. A beautiful soli section will be popular with cellists against a moving bass line.
SKU: BA.BA07569
ISBN 9790006523375. 32.9 x 23.9 cm inches. Text Language: French/German. Preface: Soury, Thomas. 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 “Zaïsâ€, “Zoroastre†and “Les Boradesâ€. 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 “Arurisâ€, 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.
SKU: HL.49047172
UPC: 196288143406.
When the 24-year-old Richard Strauss, assistant conductor in Munich, began the composition of his third tone poem in the summer of 1888, he saw himself close to the aspiration prescribed by his mentor Alexander Ritter: to become the successor of Richard Wagner as a musical dramatist. Strauss had already been working on the text of his first opera Guntram for a year and additionally devoted himself to programmatic orchestral works oriented to the musical language of Liszt and Wagner in order to prepare himself compositionally for his new task. With the aid of Strauss and other musicians including Ludwig Thuille and Friedrich Rösch who had been gathering for “Ritter's round table†in Munich between 1886 and 1889, RitterÂ’s intention was to achieve success on a broad front with the New German School following the death of its two protagonists Wagner and Liszt. We do not know whether Ritter and his supporters jointly planned Strauss's compositional path towards opera, determined the subjectsof his prospective tone poems and considered various strategies of their musical realization, but the influence of this group shouldnot be underestimated. It cannot be ruled out that the number of three tone poems was fixed, as was their sequence of composition, which would progressively achieve its zenith in an increasing orientation to Liszt and Wagner. The circle could possibly have also discussed initial links to literary subjects (Macbeth and Don Juan) and ultimately the abstention from this practice in the third and final tone poem. The subject of the work, or rather in StraussÂ’s formulation its “poetic modelâ€, has occasionally been interpreted from an autobiographical aspect. Strauss however did not experience serious illness until May 1891 and once more in June 1892, long after Tod und Verklärung had been composed. Even without an external reason, the material would have been only too attractive for an admirer of Wagner and Liszt like Strauss, not to mention for his mentor Alexander Ritter. The concept of 'death and transfiguration' had already played a central role in LisztÂ’s symphonic poems Tasso and Prometheus.
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