Georg Frideric Händel?s Serse (Xerxes) has everything one would expect from a B...(+)
Georg Frideric Händel?s Serse (Xerxes) has everything one would expect from a Baroque opera - many intertwining love stories affairs intrigues scheming misunderstanding and forgiving allpresented in the great master?s magnificent music.The opera is set in Persia in 480 BC and is very loosely based upon Xerxes I of Persia though there is little in either the Baroque libretto or music that is relevant tothat setting the main focus is on the characters (Serse Arsamene Amastre Romilda Atalanta Ariodate and Elviro some of which are based on real historical persons) and their plotting. The English version forthe opera in three acts was made for the English National Opera?s production first performed in 1985 on the 300th anniversary of Händel?s birth.In this edition of the Vocal score with the original Italian and thelater English lyrics accompaniment is provided by the instruments indicated in the orchestration (2 Recorders (or Flutes) 2 Oboes 2 Horns in F Trumpet in D Strings and Continuo [Harpsichord Cello Double Bass Bassoon]) butcan also be played by the Piano. Serse?s part originally sung by a castrato can be performed by a Soprano or a Countertenor.
Luis Tinoco (Composer) and Stephen Plaice (Libretto) wrote 'Paint Me' and Opera...(+)
Luis Tinoco (Composer) and Stephen Plaice (Libretto) wrote 'Paint Me' and Opera for six singers and Chamber Orchestra.Rui Horta and Joana Carneiro are responsible for the stage direction and the musicaldirection.'My idea in writing Paint Me was to bring together six characters all of whom have a prolific imaginative interior life and to explore what they would make of each other in the confines of a railwaycompartment. The model for my libretto is Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales. The travellers in Paint Me are also on their way to Canterbury but they are strangers thrown together by the randomness of modern travel. Theirtales are not told publicly but in their own imaginations. Most journeys in the modern age are anonymous and conducted in silence. We have only a visual or perhaps manneristic impression of the people sitting opposite us. Thisintrospection in public opens up a private fantasy space in which our fellow travellers can become the characters in instant psychological dramatisations.I wanted to formalize each character’s fantasy into a full narrative. Theresult is a kind of anthology of operatic short stories surrounded by the framework of an ordinary journey.'    - Stephen Plaice
Edition no.: BVK 2270ISBN: 9783761822708Volume / Series: Documenta musicologica II/45 / Bärenreiter FacsimileEditor: Konrad, UlrichLanguage(s) of work: English, GermanProduct format: FacsimileBinding: Half-leather bindingPages / Format: 405 S. - 41,7 x 30,0 cm 'This Tristan will be something formidable! This last act!''I fear the opera will be banned ' if the whole work is not parodied through bad performance: only mediocre performances can save me! Thoroughly good ones will surely drive people crazy.'Richard WagnerWhile working on the score to 'Tristan und Isolde', Richard Wagner expressed his excitement and elation about his new musical drama. Indeed, the radical originality of the work proved to be both unique and forward-looking: Over 150 years ago it signified the 'dawn' of the modern era and to this day it has not lost any of its fascination. Throughout his life, Richard Wagner was proud of his even handwriting.He constantly strove to produce manuscripts of a high calligraphic standard. The Tristan manuscript is also clearly written. More so than in his other scores however, traces of his working process are evident. It is precisely this aspect of the autograph that makes it fascinating. Reading it, one is witness to Wagner's highlyconcentrated, powerful and relentless writing. This manuscript is in every possible way unparalleled reflecting individuality and uniqueness.In time for the 200th anniversary of Wagner's birth in 2013, this great work will be published as a BÄRENREITER FACSIMILE in cooperation with the National Archive of the Richard-Wagner-Stiftung Bayreuth. In addition to the complete score, the edition includes the autograph concert ending of the Vorspiel as well as three pages that Wagner rejected while composing and later used for sketches.Ulrich Konrad, the renowned musicologist describes the genesis and performance history of the work in his comprehensive commentary. He also details the physical appearance and condition of the autograph as well as giving an insight into the musical language of Wagner.
Ed. critica di Charles S. Brauner - Riduzione per canto e pianoforte-Mosè in Eg...(+)
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.Â