Format : Sheet music + CD
SKU: HL.51481458
UPC: 840126989601. 8.25x11.75x0.14 inches.
Written in 1885, the eight songs after texts by the now little-known poet Hermann von Gilm have a special place in Richard Strauss' corpus of Lieder. For the first time, he composed an entire set of songs on texts by a single poet, collecting them into one opus that was also to appear in print. Some of the numbers in it, like Zueignung, Die Nacht, and Allerseelen, are among the most popular Strauss songs of all time, but the entire cycle with its well-planned structure is also worthy of closer examination and performance. The aspiring composer quite consciously aligns himself with the tradition ranging from Schubert to Wolf, choosing the highly Romantic subject of unrequited love and illuminating its most diverse facets. The primary source for the Henle Urtext edition is the first edition from 1887, which Strauss furnished with a dedication to the Royal Bavarian chamber singer Heinrich Vogl - a serious invitation to today's male singers not to leave these wonderful Strauss songs solely to female singers!
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SKU: BA.BA06861
ISBN 9790260104211. 34.3 x 27 cm inches.
LeoÅ¡ Janácek’s symphonic fragment Dunaj (The Danube) dates from the period of the composition of “Katya Kabanovaâ€. 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 LeoÅ¡ 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 MiloÅ¡ Å tedron and LeoÅ¡ 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 Å pálová, 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 forcesâ€. 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 timpaniâ€, 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 loveâ€.
About Barenreiter Urtext
What can I expect from a Barenreiter Urtext edition?
MUSICOLOGICALLY 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: BA.BA04066
ISBN 9790006495832. 33 x 26 cm inches. Text Language: Italian. Nicola Francesco Haym.
This volume of the “Halle Handel Edition†presents the music of the second version of the opera which was premiered on 28 December 1720 at the King's Theatre, Haymarket, London as well as the amendments made for November 1721 revival. The appendix includes the amendments for the January/February 1728 version.The first season of the Royal Academy ended on 25 June 1720. The new vocal soloists arrived in London in September. As the first version of “Radamisto†had been a great success during the first season, Handel revised the opera for the oncoming season to accommodate it to his new more proficient cast.The revision was extensive. It included:1) Changes to the vocal range of Radamisto (soprano to alto for the singer Senesino), Zenobia (alto to soprano for the female singer Durastanti) and Tiridate (tenor to bass for the singer Boschi),2) compositions of new arias and ensembles,3) significant changes to the plot consisting of the reduction of Fraartes’ role from brother to servant Tiridates and the omission of his not so original love affair to Zenobia.For most of Handel's operas it can be said that the first version is the best version. This is due to the fact that when a work was performed again in later seasons, Handel was often forced to make changes due to casting constraints which often affected the equilibrium and the dramatic context of the work. “Radamisto†is an exception to this rule – the December 1720 adaptation is a much more superior composition than the version performed in April of the same year.
SKU: BA.BA04081
ISBN 9790006497782. 33 x 25.8 cm inches.
In his libretto for “ Riccardo primoâ€, 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‹’ 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.