Partitions de Novello & Co Ltd. pour Opéra

'Il Ritorno D'Ulisse In Patria' (The Return Of Ulysses) was first performed in Venice in 1640. Its stature among dramatic works of the seventeenth century has grown considerably and is now one of the most frequently performed of Baroque Operas. Alan Curtis has produced the first complete performing edition to be drawn from all available sources carefully annotated throughout the figured bass completed and the newly edited libretto and argomento given in full. Along with a useful scholarly preface and numerous corrections of notes rhythms and harmonies this edition is also of particular service for its careful corrections of the faulty libretto which has until now had to servefor all modern performances. Libretto by Giacomo Badoaro. English Libretto by Anne Ridler.

The Coronation Of Poppea. An opera in a prologue and three acts. Text by G.F. Busenello music attributed to Claudio Monteverdi and Francesco Sacrati. Edited by Alan Curtis and English singing version by Arthur Jacobs.

An Opera for schools which has been devised from Mozart's Magic Flute by Raymond Walker and William Beamont.

An opera from 1607 by Claudio Monteverdi and edited by Denis Stevens. This setting of the story of Orpheus and Euridice is for full renaissance/baroque orchestra.

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.

Opera in three acts edited by Alan Curtis. This opera was first performed in Venice in 1666. It may with justice be considered to be the finest opera written between Monteverdi's 'Poppea' and the dramatic works of the mature Purcell. Having in 1983 presided over the first modern revival of 'Il Tito' in Innsbruck the city of its original commissioning Alan Curtis has now produced the first complete performing edition to be drawn from available sources.

This the first of Purcell's Operas for the professional stage is edited in Vocal Score format by Margaret Laurie. The first performance of this work was produced by Betterton with great success at the Dorset Garden Theatre in June 1690. The text was an adaption almost certainly by Betterton himself of Flethcer and Massinger's play 'The Prophetess'.

King Arthur (Arr. Laurie)-King Arthur was the only one of Purcell's professionally produced operas to have been designed as a semi-opera; the others were all adaptations of earlier plays. Dryden made a real attempt to integrate the music into the drama but since he ascribed to the dramatic conventions of the period which virtually confined music to allegorical or supernatural beings and thier worshippers or servants shepherds and similar characters the main action mostly occurs in the spoken sections and even the two singing characters Philidel and Grimbald speak more than they sing.