Opera In Three Acts. Par SAINT-SAENS CAMILLE. Today, 'Samson et Dalila? is undoubtedly one of the best-known of Camille Saint-Saëns's thirteen operas, being more present in the repertoire of international stages than most other French 19th century compositions. During Saint-Saëns's lifetime, the opera was already regarded as the pinnacle of his dramatic stage works. The fact that the work's genesis and first performances nonetheless posed substantial difficulties is shown in this edition by Andreas Jacob and Fabien Guilloux (libretto edition). A detailed recount of this complex history, based on meticulous comparisons of all libretti and other musical sources, is the great merit of this critical edition. The edition contains the full score, edited versions of both original libretti, a historical Foreword (Fr/En/Ger), a Critical Commentary (Eng), facsimile pages of 'Livret de mise-en-scène? from the first Paris production, and a musical appendix containing the 'Air de Ballet? (which was inserted before the Bacchanale in act 3 for performances at the Paris Opéra). The underlaid text in the score is presented in two languages and contains the libretto text by Ferdinand Lemaire as well as the text of the Weimar premiere by Richard Pohl (1877), a performance that was initiated by Franz Liszt./ Répertoire / Chant et Orchestre

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

Benvenuto Cellini premiered in 1838 is inspired by the life of the legendary Florentine goldsmith and Renaissance figure. The premiere was a disatster yet even by Berlioz???s high standards it contains music of exceptional inventiveness and beauty.The work is challenging not least due to the three versions which exist:the original version (Paris 1) as Berlioz composed itthe version premiered in Paris (Paris 2) after rehearsal and copied into an archival full scorethe Weimar version based on the revival in 1852 following changes suggested by LisztOur edition offers a solution to the problem of publishing operas which have been heavilyrevised by their composers so that any of its many versions may be adopted on stage today.Urtext of the New Berlioz EditionFull score (BA5441) and vocal score (French) with a supplementary libretto French-German (BA5441-90) available for salePerformance material (BA5441-72) available for hire