Henle Blog

Debussy in Urtext – Part 1: Henle Editions from an experienced duo

Posted on January 29, 2018 by Peter Jost

Claude Debussy (1862–1918)

2012 was the 150^th birthday of Claude Debussy, French music’s great innovator celebrated worldwide, and now 2018 marks the 100^th anniversary of his death (25 March 1918), so that once again a Debussy year lies ahead. We’re taking this opportunity in a short series of bimonthly blog posts to present various aspects of our Debussy Urtext editions and to discuss them with you. These editions were launched in 1983, now 35 years ago, and in today’s first instalment we’d like to describe how it all came about that Debussy’s music could appear at Henle publishers. Continue reading →

Posted in Debussy, Claude, Monday Postings | Tagged Debussy, urtext | Leave a comment

Confusion surrounding Chopin’s Scherzi – episodes 2 & 3

Posted on January 15, 2018 by Norbert Müllemann

Frédéric Chopin (1810–1849)

In my blog post of 21 March 2016, I lamented the existing “confusion” concerning the tied notes in Chopin’s 1^st Scherzo. In the meantime, casually expressed, another 2 Scherzi later, 2 Scherzi more mature – and clearly even more confused, alas. The 2^nd Scherzo, op. 31, and the 3^rd Scherzo, op. 39, are just now appearing in my new edition. So, it makes sense to update my report from the Chopin workshop and to highlight a few problems in these editions. Therefore: “Confusion – episodes 2 & 3”! Continue reading →

Posted in Chopin, Frédéric, Monday Postings, piano solo, Scherzo op. 31 (Chopin), Scherzo op. 39 (Chopin), Sources | Tagged Chopin, Scherzo, sources | 1 Comment

What “der Weihnachtsmann” has in common with “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star”

Posted on December 23, 2017 by publisher

Lights sparkle, candles glow, children’s eyes shine…it’s Christmastime again. Anticipation is growing, children are waiting for Santa Claus who – please, pretty please! – is supposed to bring them many presents. Continue reading →

Posted in Monday Postings | Tagged Christmas | 1 Comment

Autographs and proofread copies for Ludwig van Beethoven’s piano sonatas – an overview

Posted on December 11, 2017 by Norbert Gertsch

Editing a Beethoven work solely on the basis of a first print greatly challenges every editor of a scholarly edition. The composition’s music text is then available for the edition only in a more or less error-prone state. If the autograph is extant, and present are perhaps still other manuscript sources – for example, the engraver’s models for the first print, proofread by the composer himself, – then the goal of a secure music text is clearly a step closer. But, alas, the situation for Beethoven’s piano sonatas is unfortunately not especially rosy. Continue reading →

Posted in autograph, Beethoven, Ludwig van, copy, first edition, Monday Postings, piano solo, Urtext | Tagged Beethoven, Piano Sonatas, sources | 1 Comment

The many footnotes of Rosamunde

Posted on November 27, 2017 by Annette Oppermann

Franz Schubert 1797–1828

All good things come in threes – this is also true of Schubert’s string quartets at Henle, for after “Death and the Maiden” D 810 (HN 9626), and the G-major quartet D 887 (HN 9850) published several years ago, it is now the turn of the Rosamunde quartet D 804 (HN 9849), also the last of the three great Schubert string quartets represented in our catalogue, with which the composer, by his own account, wanted to “pave the way for the great symphony” in 1824. Anyone already looking at our edition may be surprised to discover here on nearly every page the, advisedly at Henle, only very sparingly placed footnotes. Is there really so much to annotate in this quartet? Continue reading →

Posted in dynamics, first edition, Monday Postings, Rosamunde quartet D 804 (Schubert), Schubert, Franz, string quartet | Tagged footnotes, Franz Schubert, Rosamunde quartet | Leave a comment

New editions for the clarinet – Brahms and Gade

Posted on November 13, 2017 by Dominik Rahmer

The clarinet was again featured in our recent editions of two important works to steadily expand its repertoire in our woodwinds’ catalogue.

Continue reading →

Posted in articulation, autograph, Brahms, Johannes, dynamics, first edition, Monday Postings, piano + clarinet | Tagged Brahms, clarinet, Gade | 6 Comments

“Lunga e laboriosa fattica” – Attempting to interpret Mozart’s c-minor trio from the String Quartet K. 465/iii

Posted on October 30, 2017 by Wolf-Dieter Seiffert

When the composer’s autograph manuscript of a music work is extant, then we have a unique opportunity of “looking over the creator’s shoulder” as the ideas are being written down. The mysterious creative process is nevertheless revealed only to those who can then question the existing autograph text, going beyond what is purely philological, editorially speaking. It is my firm conviction that here autograph corrections are the ideal way to start. The musico-analytical curiosity that asks of a correction, “Why?”, in qualitative terms, opens a door otherwise forever closed. Continue reading →

Posted in autograph, Monday Postings, Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus, string quartet, String Quartet K 465, Urtext | Tagged Urtext; Mozart; autograph | 2 Comments

Viva la música española – Spanish music in Henle Urtext Editions

Posted on October 16, 2017 by Peter Jost

Manuel de Falla, Noches en los jardines de España, title page of the first edition

Emerging in the 19^th century in nearly all of Europe were specific national styles inspired by their countries’ own folk music. This development came to Spain only relatively late, and it was French composers, curiously enough, who were initially successful with works atmospherically Spanish – we think of Georges Bizet’s Carmen or Édouard Lalo’s Symphonie espagnole. It was not until about 1880 that the public and critics became aware of equivalent works by native Spaniards, from Pablo de Sarasate via Isaac Albéniz and Enrique Granados to Manuel de Falla.

Continue reading →

Posted in Albéniz, Isaac, Falla, Manuel de, Monday Postings, Noches en los jardines de España, piano + orchestra, Saraste, Pablo de, Spanische Tänze (Sarasate), transcription, Urtext | Tagged Pablo de Sarasate; Manuel de Falla; Noches en los jardines de España, Spanische Tänze | Leave a comment

“A Little Spring Melody”– finally in Urtext!

Posted on October 2, 2017 by Norbert Müllemann

Many a reader will be thinking, I must be mistaken in the season: Starting the fall with a spring blog?

But my unseasonable posting has a reason. That is to say, an edition was just published in the G. Henle publishing house that contains a small piece most likely known to most of us as “Spring Melody” by the Comedian Harmonists (an arrangement of an original song version, with lyrics by Hans Lengsfelder). But what’s behind this catchy tune, and what does it have to do with the G. Henle publishers? Continue reading →

Posted in arrangement, Dvořák, Antonín, G. Henle Publishers, Humoresques op. 101 (Dvořák), Monday Postings, piano solo, Urtext | Leave a comment

Tempest – Les Adieux – Hammerklavier. Sense and nonsense regarding the names given to Beethoven’s piano sonatas, Part 2

Posted on September 18, 2017 by Norbert Gertsch

In the first part of my blog on the famous popular names for Beethoven’s piano sonatas I took a closer look at ones that were given by the composer himself. In today’s entry, I’d like to examine the popular titles that probably have nothing to do with Beethoven but that are still on everyone’s lips.