SKU: BR.PB-5142

ISBN 9790004208878. 10 x 12.5 inches.

Despite the numbering, the overture Leonore No. 2 was Beethoven's first effort to precede his only opera with an adequate introduction. It had been composed last minute and in between the rehearsals for the premiere of the opera Leonore oder Der Triumph der ehelichen Liebe (Leonore, or The Triumph of Marital Love) on 20 November 1805 at the Theater an der Wien. This comprehensive, programmatic work was met with incomprehension at first performances just like the opera itself. Beethoven felt compelled to re-write Leonore completely and presented it under its new title Fidelio. In 1806 he revised the overture to such an extent that a symphonic sonata movement emerged; with another incorrect numbering, Leonore No. 3 has gone down in music history and above all it has achieved a regular place in concert repertory. And in order to complete the confusion: written in 1806/07, only Overture No. 1 is Beethoven's chronologically last effort to write an overture for Leonore, before he - many years later - put an end to this infinite subject with the so-called Fidelio overture for the third version of the opera. After all, thanks to the search after a dramaturgically convincing beginning of the opera, the music world has been enriched by four quite different orchestra scores.The music text of the present score is based on Volume 11 of the Supplements to the Complete Edition. The performance material of the Fidelio and Leonore No. 3 overtures is available in Breitkopf Urtext editions..

SKU: BR.PB-5364

ISBN 9790004211458. 10 x 12.5 inches.

Autograph lays bare Mendelssohn's Overture to A Midsummer Night's Dream To this day, Mendelssohns epoch-making Overture to A Midsummer Night's Dream has been performed on the basis of a more than dubious transmission. Neither the first edition of the parts (1832), and certainly not the print of the score based on these parts (1835) go back directly to the autograph of the 17-year-old composer, which is now located in Krakow. No wonder, since Mendelssohn had breezily given away his original at an early date. The result: during his lifetime, versions were published with his authorization, even though they were full of unintended inconsistencies. Yet the autograph of 1826 is unequivocal: it is clear, practically free of irregularities and diverges considerably from the corrupted printed version. Christian Martin Schmidt comes up with occasionally differing musical passages, but above all with logical and compositionally compelling performance instructions, laying bare to musical practice the original form buried beneath layers of falsified material for the first time.

Christian Martin Schmidt is laying bare to musical practice the original form of Mendelssohn's epoch-making Overture to A Midsummer Night's Dream buried beneath layers of falsified material for the first time.

SKU: BR.PB-5566-07

3 Work Stages, 2 Versions, 1 Edition

,,… the musical text is fine. This is a valuable improvement. (Clifford Bartlett, Early Music Review)

ISBN 9790004213766. 6.5 x 9 inches.

With the new edition of the G-minor Symphony, a vital work group in Mozart's oeuvre is now complete: the three late symphonies K. 543, 550 and 551, now available in Urtext editions. As in his new edition of the Hafner Symphony, Henrik Wiese uncovers in the present Breitkopf Urtext score three different stages in the genesis of the G-minor Symphony. Mozart initially wrote the work without clarinets (1st stage), and then he added the clarinets (2nd stage). Not until a final stage did he change the wind instrumentation in the Andante (3rd stage). Mozart thus returned to the 1st version again after completing the 2nd version (with clarinets). This advances the importance of the 1st version without clarinets as Fassung letzter Hand. A compelling insight which sheds new light on the famous G-minor Symphony. Both versions are of equal value and can now be compared with one another, studied and, above all, performed for the first time ever thanks to the new score and parts.Another extremly practical aspect that should be noted: the orchestral parts offer solutions for all the problematic page turns for the first time ever (please see the sample pages of OB 5542 - Violin II.),,... the musical text is fine. This is a valuable improvement. (Clifford Bartlett, Early Music Review)

3 Work Stages, 2 Versions, 1 Edition.

SKU: HL.49045561

ISBN 9783901974045.

Stra uss's first tone poem distinguishes itself from all other subsequent orchestral compositions in its existence in three different versions. Even among the operas and other compositions in his hand there is no other work with a comparable history of origin and publication. What is more, the final version of Macbeth is the only valid form of the work and the only variant with further sources (cf. Critical Report) in addition to the autograph score. In contrast, the second version has only been preserved in an autograph score and autograph piano reduction (the orchestral parts which must have existed have obviously not survived). This was never printed and was replaced by the published third version. The two surviving versions should therefore not be considered to be of equal status. Unlike the case of Ariadne auf Naxos in which the earlier version was for a time the sole valid alternative and was yet never completely displaced by the soon dominating later version of the opera, only the final third version of Macbeth is considered as valid. Right from the outset, it was a matter of course for the editors of the present volume to include the second version as a first publication (in addition to the above-mentioned surviving pages of the first version), albeit in different forms. The surviving pages of the first version are reproduced in facsimile and the second version, as a subordinate form of the work, appears alongside Strauss's piano reduction in a modified source edition, i.e. without intervention on the part of the editors. The ultimate third version is published as a full edition (please refer to the Critical Report for further details). In order to facilitate a comparative study of the second and third versions, the relevant page numbers of the score are placed opposite one another (the autograph piano reduction of the second version is included at the end of the music section of the volume). The editors hope that this synoptic representation will prompt interest in further studies on Strauss's art of orchestration: a field of research which has still remained insufficiently examined. A study of Macbeth namely illuminates as clearly as could be wished how much significance Strauss allotted to sound alongside form. The subjects were not merely intended to generate an individual figure, but also specific tonal colours, and the instrumentation was simultaneously designed to provide an optimal communication of thematic-motivic texture to the audience. The 'new path' threw up consequences which caused Strauss a considerable amount of difficulty. He was however a fast learner and had already swum free with Don Juan and all the more with Tod und Verklarung.