The Sound Of Music - Women's Edition V. 34 - Melody Line, Lyrics And Chords

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”.

About Barenreiter Urtext

What can I expect from a Barenreiter Urtext edition?< /p>

MUSICOLOGICA LLY 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: HL.49018171

ISBN 9781423498629. UPC: 884088528126. 7.5x10.75x0.008 inches. Latin.

The number of choral works by Nino Rota published by Schott is increased by the first edition of 'Custodi nos, Domine'.The quiet work with its beautiful sound for two-part children's or female-voice choir with organ accompaniment (without pedal) is headed 'Semplice, con fervore'. There are no major rhythmic or musical difficulties, an aspect that will certainly be welcomed by small choirs or choirs with only little performance practice. The piece can be used both in church services and for performances in church concerts and sounds great even in small rooms.

SKU: HL.49017958

ISBN 9790001170017. UPC: 884088520014. 0.066 inches. Latvian.

Peteris Vasks' strong attachment to his Latvian home country shows particularly in his choral music. Nature, customs and traditions as well as the idea of freedom are the central themes of the texts he sets to music, while carefully using modern techniques of choral singing as well. Alternating with traditional, even archaic singing, the music creates a multi-faceted, immediately effective sound image in the listener's mind.These three songs for female choir centre on the themes of man, nature and transience, and home in aphoristic brevity. Vasks wrote music on these folk poems which contains rewarding tasks for the choir and opens up a fascinating world of sound to the listener.

SKU: BA.BA04081

ISBN 9790006497782. 33 x 25.8 cm inches.

In his libretto for “ Riccardo primo”, Paolo Rolli drew on Antonio Lotti’s opera “ Isacio tiranno ” which had been performed in Venice in 1710. Handel needed a text with two great women’s roles, for the two best female singers of the day were members of his troupe – Francesca Cuzzoni and Faustina Bordoni . He had already written the operas “Alessandro” and “ Admeto ” for them. He began composing “ Riccardo ” in spring 1727, completing the first version on 16 May.
However, following the death of King George I on 11 June 1727, the theatres remained closed. For Handel, who had become a British citizen in February 1727, the accession of George II to the throne offered new possibilities, and he embarked on a revision of the opera. With this, he was able to offer a new opera for the coronation festivities, the hero of which was one of King George’s charismatic forebears.
From May onwards, Handel thoroughly revised the present score, wrote some parts anew and expanded it with particularly splendid music. Handel and Rolli also improved the plot and introduced patriotic elements to honour the British monarchy.

The historic background is the third crusade against Saladin, the Sultan of Egypt and Syria , who had recaptured Jerusalem in 1187. Although King Richard I captured Cyprus and together with French crusaders stormed the fortress of Akko in the Holy Land, the crusade ended with a ceasefire and Jerusalem remained in Saladin’s hands. Richard was given the title ‘Coeur-de-lion†¹â€™ by the English for his great military ability and bravery, although the Sicilians had first given him this name because of his relentless cruelty in clashes around Messina .

The vocal score is based on the Halle Handel Edition volume published in 2005, edited by Terence Best, and contains the second version of the opera which was premiered in November 1727.

About Barenreiter Urtext

What can I expect from a Barenreiter Urtext edition?< /p>

MUSICOLOGICA LLY 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: CA.925000

ISBN M-007-24902-1. Key: E flat major. Language: French. Text: Baudelaire, Charles.

The harmonic turns and piano configurations in La vie anterieure - the former life - seem almost exuberantly lyrical. At the beginning, the archaic sounds and words of the male choir conjure up a dream world that is soon flooded with the power of the waves and the rich polyphonic harmony of the choir and the piano. With the outcry C'est la que j'ai vecu! [I have lived there] which expresses the fervent yearning to return to a past life, the collective desperately reinforces the longing for the past. Once more, the women's choir conjures up this lost paradise in an undulating soft sound before the desolate sadness is pierced by the power of the music of the piano postlude, creating a moment that is completely in the present.

SKU: BA.BA04919

ISBN 9790006495306. 30 x 26 cm inches. Text Language: Swedish.

About Barenreiter Urtext

What can I expect from a Barenreiter Urtext edition?< /p>

MUSICOLOGICA LLY 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