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

Opera in three acts-Handel???s Agrippina HWV 6 was performed with great success at the 2015 International Handel Festival in G?ttingen (Germany) using the new B?renreiter edition including the performance material and this vocal score.Agrippina is the last opera that Handel completed and premiered in Italy. The excellent libretto is one of the few original opera libretti that he set to music. The plot is tightly constructed the characters sharply etched and equipped with a wide range of human emotions. Agrippina is married to her third husband the Roman emperor Claudius. After he is presumed dead she attempts with deception andintrigue to place her son Nero on the throne.The vocal score includes all the numbers from the appendix of the full score. These were used either during the successful Venetian series of performances in 1709/10 or were deleted or replaced by other numbers versions and variants.Urtext edition based on the Halle Handel EditionPerformance material available for hireHardback full score (BA4092-01) and paperback vocal score (BA4092-90) available for saleVocal scores includes:- A singing translation in German- Extensive bilingual Foreword (Ger/Eng)- Idiomatic uncluttered Piano reduction

Messiah occupies a unique position in Handel’s work. Even if it does not represent the absolute zenith several other oratorios could challenge it in this respect its strongly universal character and directness of expression which appeal to men of all creeds make it the most renowned work in the whole of the composer’s monumental output.That this oratorio is unquestionably a work of individual character is shown by all its features: its material which presents liturgical traditions alongside popular elements; its structure which combines an ever-changing variety of elements from opera cantata concerto and anthem; its musicalorganization which at once unifies and dramatically juxtaposes the various styles. All are united in an extraordinary manner with great artistry most accomplished technique and superb invention.Urtext of the Halle Handel EditionFull score and performance material (BA4012) vocal score (BA4012-73 English; BA4012-90 English-German) and study score format 22.5 x 16.5cm (TP175) available for sale.

Tragédie-opéra Drame héroïque en trois actes-Christoph Willibald Gluck's most popular opera 'Orphée et Euridice' was performed in 1774 in Paris to sensational success. This new adaption followed the original Viennese version with Italian text that was first performed in 1762 under the direction of the composer in the Burgtheater. For the Paris version Gluck changed the leading part Orpheus from an alto to a tenor role and composed new recitatives.Both versions of Gluck's reform drama are based on a libretto by Ranieri de' Calzabigi and revolutionised metastasian opera of the 18th century. Solo and choral music instrumental music pantomime and dance are all closely connected; the myth replaces a historical plotsurrounded by intrigue; where there would have been a da-capo aria there are now simple song forms and coloratura is largely abandoned. These meticulously revised vocal scores of both versions are also newly set.Urtext editions based on 'Gluck The Complete Works'Revised and newly setThe revised editions are compatible with the old editionsT48Full score (BA2282-01) and vocal score (BA2282-90) available for salePerformance material (BA2282-72) available for hire

Acte de Ballet. Par RAMEAU JEAN-PHILIPPE. Rameau Io RCT 45 (Vocal Score) In Rameau's operatic oeuvre, 'Io' is certainly the work shrouded in the most mystery: the acte de ballet has survived only in the form of a copy of the score and parts which was made by a collector from the generation after Rameau from the autograph that now is lost. Although the copy seems to have been used, presumably for a trial read-through, the work was apparently never regularly performed during Rameau's lifetime. And for good reason: the work breaks off abruptly at the beginning of the divertissement; neither the librettist nor a plan for a theatre location are known. Because of its incompleteness, 'Io' was long regarded as Rameau's last work, but there is much to suggest that the composition must have been written between 1740 and 1745. The introduction to this edition examines the references regarding the dating as well as various hypotheses about performance possibilities and librettists. The plot revolves around one of those typical mythological flirtations that are inevitably to be expected when Jupiter and a nymph, here Io, are involved. With the appearance of madness, La Folia, the work reaches a dramaturgical climax. However after this, the opera breaks off. In order to make the piece performable, the editors of ?Opera Omnia Rameau? propose an addition to the divertissement as well as an ending borrowed from the ballet bouffon 'Platée' in its 1745 version, which shows numerous parallels to 'Io'. Thus, these additions come as close as possible to Rameau's style of the 1740s while bringing the plot to a conclusion. - Fragmentary work completed with original music by Rameau - Based on the score of ?Opera Omnia Rameau?, Volume V/1 - Particularly suitable for academies and conservatories as few soloists are required and the few choral movements can be sung by soloists / Date parution : 2023-06-01/ Répertoire / Opéra

Crit. Ed. Fabrizio Della Seta. Par BELLINI VINCENZO. I PURITANI is the last work of Vincenzo Bellini: composed in nine months, from April 1834 to January 1835 (a gestation unusually long for that time), was performed for the first time in Paris, Théâtre Italien, 24 January 1835. The new Critical Edition is based on the autograph, on the libretto of the first performance and on four manuscript copies produced in the context of the Théâtre Italien in the first months of life of the work, three of which contain autographinterventions (these sources are now kept at the Biblioteca Comunale in Palermo, at the Museo Civico Belliniano in Catania, at the Archivio Storico Ricordi in Milano and at the Staatsbibliothek zur Preussischer Kulturbesitz in Berlin). This edition presents for the first time all the music composed by Bellini, it restores the sections deleted before or after the first performance in Paris and returns the modified sections of the Naples version. It consists of three-score volumes -introduced by a detailed reconstruction of the historical context - and of a 'Apparati' volume with a description of the Sources and the Critical Commentary to the musical text. / Opéra-opérette / Répertoire / Opéra

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.

Opera in 3 acts; Also available for sale full score (BA4079) and performance material for hire.'Ariodante? was the first work which Handel composed for the Theatre Royal in Covent Garden after his contract with the King?s Theatre Haymarket ran out in mid-1734.?Ariodante? stands out amongst Handel?s opera works by means of its combination of excellent and challenging music coupled with a first-class plot. There is probably no other Handel opera which contains such a wealth of striking and catchy arias as are found in the first act of ? Ariodante ? alone. The three wide-ranging arias composed for thecastrato Carestini are amongst the greatest bravura pieces.The plot is based on an episode in Ariosto?s epic ? Orlando furioso ? (1516). The central event of the drama the trick with which Duke Polinesso convinces his commander Ariodante that Ginevra is unfaithful was also used by Shakespeare in ?Much Ado About Nothing?.The Vocal score is based on Donald Burrows? 2007 Urtext edition in the ?Halle Handel? Edition (Series II/32). It therefore reflects the latest in musicological research. Based on the Urtext of the Halle Handel EditionStraightforward and easy-to-play Piano reductionOriginal Italian text with German singing translation

Romantische Opera in three acts-Alfonso und Estrella D 732Romatic Opera in 3 ActsIn late September or early October 1821 Schubert and his close friend Franz von Schober vacationed in the countryside of Lower Austria. Their first stopover was at Ochsenburg Castle which belonged to the Bishop of St. Pölten (a close relative of Schober's) after which they moved on to St. Pölten itself. Roughly a year earlier two stage works by Schubert had been performed in Vienna: the one-act singspiel Die Zwillingsbrüder and the melodrama Die Zauberharfe. The librettos were both written by the seasoned Viennese playwright Georg von Hofmann who blamed the press for the indifferent reception the two works weregiven by the audience. Schubert and Schober now decided it would seem to write a grand romantic opera uninfluenced by the workaday world of the theatre and beholden solely to their own ideas of what an opera should be.Not until 24 June 1854 was the opera finally performed in Weimar under the baton of Franz Liszt. It only achieved success however in an arrangement by Johann Nepomuk Fuchs that was staged on many German and Austrian stages in 1881 2 allegedly with 'brilliant acclaim'.Urtext of the New Schubert EditionFull score (BA5540) and vocal score (BA5540-90) available for salePerformance material (BA5540-72) available for hire

Dramma per musica in thre acts-Tamerlano HWV 18; Dramma per musica in 3 acts Handel began the composition of Tamerlano one of the supreme masterpieces of Baroque opera seria on 3rd July 1724. The libretto was an adaptation by Nicola Haym of Agostino Piovene's Tamerlano Tragedia per musica which had been set to music by Francesco Gasparini and performed in Venice in 1711. When Handel dated the last page of the autograph on 4rd July the work appeared to be complete; but during the three months which passed before the premiere at the King's Theatre in the Haymarket on 31 October so many alterations and revisions were made that a fresh performing-score had to be writtern very late inthe proceedings to replace an earlier one which is now 1ost.There were twelve performances between 31 October 1724 and 8 May 1725. Handel revived the opera only once in 1731 for three performances. For this revival he marked in the performing score a number of cuts in the recitatives which are reproduced in the present edition; there is more recitative in Tamerlano than in any other Handel opera.Urtext of the Halle Handel Edition.Full score (BA4052) and vocal score (BA4052-90) available for sale Performance material (BA4052-72) available for hire

Judith Weir’s work is often inspired by narrative folklore and theatre. This creepy-crawly work was inspired by the novel Die Schwarze Spinne by Jeremias Gotthelf a tale about an evil venomous spider including heartless Count heroic village maiden and a truly otherworldly Green Huntsman and a 1983 news story about the mysterious deaths of the archaeologists who opened the tomb of Casimir IV in Krakow in the 1970’s. There are spoken parts bridging the two stories.Weir employs many musical languages in this alternately boisterous and sinister work: patter songs church hymns recitativo among them. Weir is not at all precious about voicing recommending that allthe roles be sung at any convenient octave Altos substituting for basses at the octave if a children’s Chorus is performing the work. The one-act structure works well for young performers.Judith Weir is one of Britain’s most prolific and successful composers widely known for her operas like The Vanishing Bridegroom and A Night At The Chinese Opera and her many Choral works as well as her pieces for Strings and Piano. She was Artistic Director of the Spitalfields Festival and is a professor at Cardiff University.