Going down, coming up or on the up and up? – stumbling block in Erik Satie’s ‘2ème Gymnopédie’

Posted on June 11, 2012 by Peter Jost

At first sight Urtext editions of Satie’s piano music do not seem to pose any great challenge. Continue reading →

Posted in autograph, first edition, Gymnopédie (Satie), Monday Postings, piano solo, Satie, Erik, Urtext | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Getting the accents right. On the Rondo theme in Schubert’s “Arpeggione” Sonata (3rd movement)

Posted on May 28, 2012 by Wolf-Dieter Seiffert

Tabea Zimmermann, the fabulous violist, writes: Continue reading →

Posted in accent, Arpeggione Sonata (Schubert), Monday Postings, notation, piano + viola, Schubert, Franz | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Debussy: to finger or not to finger…? Why we are adding fingering in the “Études”

Posted on May 14, 2012 by Dominik Rahmer

In summer 1915 in the solitude of Pourville, the small seaside resort in Normandy, Claude Debussy finished his last major piano work, Douze Études pour le piano. To the 12 etudes in the printed edition that appeared the following year, he prefixed a somewhat curious comment in his inimitable style. Continue reading →

Posted in Debussy, Claude, Douze Études (Debussy), Monday Postings, piano solo, Urtext | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

How to drive the devil out of a waltz or: Liszt’s Mephisto Waltz for everybody?

Posted on April 30, 2012 by Norbert Gertsch

It’s still ringing in your ears, this warhorse for orchestra or for a pianist. Doesn’t it – when convincingly interpreted – almost drive you crazy with its wild, diabolical tempo, its sensual surge in the slow middle part? And now honestly, for once: Can you even whistle a tune from Liszt’s Faust symphony? Continue reading →

Posted in arrangement, Liszt, Franz, Mephisto Waltz (Liszt), Monday Postings, piano solo, versions | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

On the lookout for the lost measure: Bach’s C-major Prelude from the Well-Tempered Clavier I

Posted on April 16, 2012 by Norbert Müllemann

Those in the know among our readers will be aware that wandering through the music world like a ghost is an extra measure at the famous opening of Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier I. It goes by the name of ‘Schwencke measure’. Continue reading →

Posted in autograph, Bach, Johann Sebastian, copy, Monday Postings, piano solo, Urtext, Well-Tempered Clavier (J.S. Bach) | Tagged , , , | 22 Comments

The “Creation” starting from scratch: Joseph Haydn’s sketches in the Complete Edition

Posted on April 2, 2012 by Annette Oppermann

It is probably well enough known that in the G. Henle publishing house there are not only the blue Urtext editions, but also major complete-edition volumes of works by Haydn, Beethoven and Brahms. Ultimately, in fact, these volumes also reliably ground our practical editions of these composers. But you may not have already realized that in these volumes, alongside the scores of all a composer’s works, you can also find earlier versions and even sketches – and perhaps many of you will even wonder what music sketches really are and for what reason they are published in a complete edition? Continue reading →

Posted in chorus + orchestra, Creation (Haydn), genesis, Haydn, Joseph, Monday Postings, sketches | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Curiosity pays off. The genesis of Maurice Ravel’s piano ‘Sonatine’

Posted on March 19, 2012 by Peter Jost

In 2011 when I began preparing a new edition of Maurice Ravel’s piano Sonatine, I could not have imagined that I would discover anything new. Continue reading →

Posted in genesis, Monday Postings, piano solo, Piano Sonatina (Ravel), Ravel, Maurice | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

How an original Mozart A flat escaped from the dust. On the slow movement of the C- minor Piano Sonata K. 457

Posted on March 5, 2012 by Wolf-Dieter Seiffert

Very vividly I recall the Mozart sensation of the year 1990: In Philadelphia a librarian discovered a Mozart autograph while dusting. Continue reading →

Posted in autograph, first edition, Monday Postings, Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus, piano solo, revision, Urtext, variant reading | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

How the (cradle) song ends: what is the final tone of Fauré’s Berceuse?

Posted on February 20, 2012 by Dominik Rahmer

Gabriel Fauré’s Berceuse op. 16, a captivating miniature for violin and piano, is hardly a problematic piece from an editorial standpoint. There is, however, one detail here that at second glance can cause a bit of a headache. Continue reading →

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So, how much bass do you want? Beethoven’s Sextet Op. 81b

Posted on February 6, 2012 by Annette Oppermann

Wouldn’t you wonder, too, if you saw a sextet on a concert programme, and then seven musicians came out on the stage? That’s exactly what happens to many people when they open our Urtext edition of Beethoven’s Sextet op. 81b for 2 Horns and Strings (HN 955). For here besides the horn parts they find not four but five string parts – and with good reason: Continue reading →

Posted in Beethoven, Ludwig van, first edition, Instrumentation, Monday Postings, Sextet op. 81b (Beethoven) | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment