Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy: Elijah: SATB: Vocal Score

SKU: BR.SON-429

ISBN 9790004803097. 10 x 12.5 inches. German / English.

The Critical Report on the oratorio Elijah concludes the five-volume edition of this major work by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy. It presents - by way of exception in the form of a volume separate from the music editions - the summary of all the editorial commentaries particularly associated with the early versions (Volume V/11A) and the final version (Volume V/11) of Elijah, which has appeared in print. With the piano reduction (Volume V/11B) and the volume containing sketches and discarded versions (Volume V/11C), the Critical Report interweaves in other ways: Since it was possible to realize an independent, self-contained commentary for the former one, the present complete report only contains the relevant source overviews and descriptions but no source evaluation and text-critical remarks. The volume of sketches and discarded versions, on the other hand, containing a classification and comments on all the musical documents the composer had not intended for the public - among them, in particular, the documentation of the work's modification for the final version - serves not least as a supplement and practical illustration of the verbal explanations contained in the Critical Report. Thus, the Critical Report, as Volume V/11D of the Edition, is intended to bundle, systematize and provide conclusive commentaries on the documents transmitted in connection with the Elijah, including not only the musical, but also all written documents - libretto drafts, correspondence, sources on the (English) reception -- that are specifically presented in this volume. The Critical Report on Elijah contains the presentation and evaluation of a total of six source collections and nearly 260 individual sources, including no fewer than 20 libretto drafts written by Mendelssohn himself or with his participation. An essential component is also a detailed chronology of the work's genesis. Mendelssohn's creative work on his second oratorio took an unusually long period of twelve years, in fact almost a third of his life.

Awarded the German Music Edition Prize 2023.

SKU: BR.SON-426

ISBN 9790004803073. 10 x 12.5 inches.

Elijah - Early Versions document a decade that ranges from the first conceptional ideas of 1837, hence directly after the completion of St. Paul, to the world premiere of Elijah on 26 August 1846. Mendelssohn had already worked out the plan for a libretto with his friend Carl Klingemann in 1837. Shortly thereafter, Klingemann sent a text which the composer then passed on to his friend, the theologian Julius Schubring. Then began a breathtaking logistical marathon in which Mendelssohn, during the final phase, raced to prepare the world premiere in Birmingham from Leipzig, while simultaneously taking the elaboration of the libretto increasingly into his own hands; indeed, he was, as usual, still changing, deleting, and even adding entirely new numbers at the rehearsals - with the result that the performance was ultimately only an essay, a pre-world premiere of the great work which he was later to subject to several more revisions.

Awarded the German Music Edition Prize 2023.

SKU: HL.14021207

SKU: CA.4013019

ISBN 9790007097165. Language: German/English.

Elijah is regarded as a milestone in Mendelssohn's compositional output and as a high point in the oratorio literature of the 19th century. Mendelssohn composed his second great oratorio just a year before his premature death. This excitingly dramatic work also expresses a fervent belief in God, a belief which in the 19th century was no longer self-evident. Mendelssohn transposed the visible world of the Old Testament into numerous musical expressive possibilities in which Old Testament texts, including psalm texts and commentaries from the words of the Prophets, were shaped into biblical dramas. For a subject like Elijah ... the drama must reign supreme ... the characters must be introduced speaking and acting like living people ... a quite vivid world of the sort we find in every chapter of the Old Testament. Mendelssohn to his librettist. Score and parts available separately - see item CA.4013000.