SKU: BA.BA06861

ISBN 9790260104211. 34.3 x 27 cm inches.

Leoš Janácek’s symphonic fragment Dunaj (The Danube) dates from the period of the composition of “Katya Kabanova”. 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 Leoš 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 Miloš Štedron and Leoš 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 Špálová, 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 forces”. 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 timpani”, 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 love”.

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SKU: BA.BA08893

ISBN 9790006567560. 33 x 24.3 cm inches. Text: Duplat de Monticourt, Pierre-Jacques.

This edition unites all the purely instrumental parts of Rameau’s comdie-ballet “Les Paladins” for performance as a suite in the concert hall.

In view of the wealth of the work’s musical treasures and the stylistic innovations – similar to the “Borades” – the rather frosty reception of the premiere series in the spring of 1760 seems completely incomprehensible to us today. It led to this stage work not being performed again until well into the 20th century. The story that the comdie-ballet tells is based on a fable by La Fontaine, “Le Petit chien qui secoue de l’argent et des pierreries” (i.e. “The little dog who shakes silver and stones”). In medieval Veneto, the guardian Anselme undermines the love affairs of his ward Argies. Scenes of tragic expression are contrasted with folk-comic ones; and last but not least, the sexually ambiguous fairy Manto may have caused difficulties for the bold work at the Paris Opra.

This critical edition is based on the corresponding volume issued in the series “Opera omnia Rameau” (BA 8870-01). Since “Les Paladins” remained unpublished during Rameau’s lifetime and was also not included in the “Œuvres complètes”, this is the first edition of the work. It satisfies both scholarly demand and the practical needs of musicians.

The orchestral parts are available on hire.

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SKU: BA.BA10974

ISBN 9790006522767. 31 x 24.3 cm inches. Key: B-flat major. Language: German/English. Preface: Andreas Friesenhagen.

Haydn’s “Sturm und Drang” symphonies along with the London and the Paris symphonies belong to his most popular works today. The “Sturm und Drang” works contain not only masterpieces such as the already published “Farewell-Symphony” and the “Maria Theresia” symphony but also gems such as the recently published “La Passione” symphony (2013) and now the Symphony in B major No. 46.

The publication of this symphony represents a continuation of the collaboration between Bärenreiter and the Henle publishing company in the areas of large vocal compositions, operas and symphonic works. The Symphony in B major is based on the Henle Complete Edition of the “Works of Joseph Haydn” and is published with a full score and large format performing material on sale.

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SKU: BA.BA10986

ISBN 9790006569106. 31 x 24.3 cm inches. Key: B-flat major. Preface: Andreas Friesenhagen.

Haydn composed his Symphony No. 77 along with his Symphonies Nos. 76 and 78 for a planned journey to England that never took place. Nonetheless, H.C. Robbins Landon calls these works the “English symphonies” as they are stylistically closely linked to the “London Bach”, Johann Christian Bach. Haydn himself, in a letter of 1783 to his Parisian publisher Charles-Georges Boyer, described the symphonies as ‘Leicht und nicht vil Concertirend”, meaning that they were light in spirit and did not contain extensive solo passages but rather a clear sense of classical form.

Continuing the cooperation between Bärenreiter and the G. Henle publisher regarding Haydn’s large-scale choral works, operas and symphonies, this edition is based on the G. Henle Complete Edition of the “Works of Joseph Haydn”. The Bärenreiter catalogue now includes the complete performance material for several “Sturm und Drang” symphonies as well as all the London and Paris symphonies.

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SKU: BA.BA10985

ISBN 9790006568123. 31 x 24.3 cm inches. Key: C minor. Preface: Andreas Friesenhagen.

Along with Symphonies Nos. 76 and 77 Haydn composed Symphony No. 78 for a journey to England that never took place. Nonetheless, H. C. Robbins Landon referred to these works as the “English Symphonies” as they are stylistically closely linked to “the London Bach”, Johann Christian Bach. In a letter Haydn wrote to his Paris publisher Charles-Georges Boyer in 1783, he described the works as “Leicht und nicht vil Concertirend”, meaning they were light in spirit and did not contain extensive solo passages but rather a clear sense of classical form.

Continuing the cooperation between Bärenreiter and the G. Henle publishing company regarding Haydn’s large-scale choral works, operas, and symphonies, this edition is based on the G. Henle Complete Edition of the “Works of Joseph Haydn”. To date, Bärenreiter has published the complete performance material for several of Haydn’s “Sturm und Drang” symphonies as well as the complete London and Paris symphonies.

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SKU: BA.BA08891

ISBN 9790006564149. 33 x 24 cm inches. Preface: Sylvie Bouissou.

Christoph Willibald Gluck's opera in four acts about the Curse of the House of Atreus is based on a tragedy by the classical Greek dramatist Euripides. The mythological plot about the siblings Iphigenia and Orestes is characterized by hatred, ritual sacrifice, and murder and was especially popular during the 18th century. The premiere of Gluck's opera in 1779 was immensely successful.

Barenreiter now presents a carefully edited and corrected piano reduction that was newly set to meet Barenreiter's current quality standards. An informative preface (Ger/En/Fr) supplements the edition, which also includes all appendices of the score volume the edition is based on, as contained in the Gluck Complete Edition (GGA).

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