Happy birthday, Sergei! A fresh look at Rachmaninoff’s Préludes for his 150th birthday

Posted on March 13, 2023 by Dominik Rahmer

In the Henle blog we have already published several posts on the Sergei Rachmaninoff topic (see here), but posting on him should certainly not be lacking this year. The composer is, after all, celebrating his 150th birthday in 2023, which calls for our special attention. For the anniversary year we shall publish not only several brand-new Rachmaninoff Urtext editions (for example, you can look forward to his Paganini Rhapsody and Third Piano Concerto), but we have also planned an extra surprise…
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Posted in Monday Postings, piano solo, Rachmaninoff, Sergei, variant reading | Tagged , , | 7 Comments

Gaps in the notation: Liszt’s “Mazeppa” Etude

Posted on February 13, 2023 by Peter Jost

Our attention was recently drawn to a passage in our edition of Franz Liszt’s Études d’exécution transcendante (HN 717), which has not yet been annotated in any known critical edition. Ben Yin, a piano student of Prof. Claudius Tanski’s at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg, noticed while studying the notorious “Mazeppa” Etude (No. 4 of the Études d’exécution transcendante), that the outer voices at the first appearance of the theme (mm. 7 ff.) – unlike the middle voice played alternately by both hands – only incompletely fill in the 4/4-time measures: Continue reading →

Posted in Monday Postings | 4 Comments

Labyrinthine paths: in search of Janáček’s Urtext

Posted on January 9, 2023 by Norbert Müllemann

No, the title is not a typo. The recently published Janáček edition is, of course, called On an Overgrown Path (HN 1505).  But an editor setting out in search of this work’s valid Urtext must truly go down labyrinthine paths. But let’s start at the beginning. Continue reading →

Posted in autograph, Janácek, Leos, Monday Postings, piano solo, proof copy, revision | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Christmas blog

Posted on December 23, 2022 by publisher

War, energy shortages, inflation – alas, no end to the bad news as the year is drawing to a close. At least, though, the Covid pandemic has subsided in large parts of the world, allowing normal musical life with concerts and stage-work performances to resume. Let’s hope that the last restrictions will be lifted next year, downgrading the pandemic everywhere to an endemic that, willy-nilly, we shall have to live with. Continue reading →

Posted in Bach, Johann Sebastian, Gounod, Charles, Monday Postings, piano + voice, versions | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

“charming and kind”: George Gershwin’s Lullaby

Posted on December 12, 2022 by Norbert Gertsch

George Gershwin was tragically snatched from life in 1937, far too early at age 38, leaving us merely to guess what masterpieces for the classical music world, not to mention his many musicals, he would have left behind had he lived on into old age. On Broadway he had already achieved everything to be wished for. But with Rhapsody in Blue in 1924 the 26-year-old had only begun his journey into the spheres of Carnegie Hall. He had just 12 years left to write some of the most important orchestral and operatic works in American music history. A few piano works were still to be written and a single chamber work, the string quartet movement Lullaby (HN 1224). Continue reading →

Posted in Monday Postings | 3 Comments

Bartók’s String Quartets: from the score to the individual parts

Posted on November 28, 2022 by Annette Oppermann

A quintessential feature of the Henle Urtext editions is the parts material optimally arranged for performance. This is particularly important with string quartets, since in concert they are usually played from the music (unlike the situation in solo or duo recitals, where performers often play from memory). For this reason, even in the age of digital music notation, our individual parts are by no means created “by pushing a button”, but quite the opposite: After the original editorial work has been completed and the full score has been typeset, this is where the work really begins in the interaction between music typesetter, editor and musicians Continue reading →

Posted in Bartók, Béla, first edition, Monday Postings, string quartet | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

“An expression of his deeply shaken soul” – Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy’s String Quartet in F minor on the 175th anniversary of his death

Posted on November 14, 2022 by Dominik Rahmer

Mendelssohn on his deathbed, drawing by Wilhelm Hensel
Bodleian Library MS. M. Deneke Mendelssohn b. 1 (CC-BY-NC 4.0)

Our Henle blog this year has largely dealt with two themes: we’ve focused, first of all, on the string-quartet genre under the motto “Henle4Strings”; then alongside this, we’ve commemorated several anniversaries of great composers or of great works (composers such as Scriabin, Brahms, Franck, Kuhnau, and Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier). As the end of the year approaches, these two strands come together in the best contrapuntal manner: today’s blog post is dedicated to the 175th anniversary of the death of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, who died on 4 November 1847 but was able shortly beforehand to finalise his last significant work – the F-minor string quartet op. post. 80. Continue reading →

Posted in autograph, first edition, Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Felix, Monday Postings, proof copy, revision, string quartet, variant reading | Tagged , | Leave a comment

If that’s not reason enough to celebrate: 300 years of WTC I!

Posted on October 31, 2022 by Annette Oppermann

Title page of the WTC I autograph (D-B Mus.ms. Bach P 415)

2022 seems to be particularly rich in musical anniversaries: Even if for obvious reasons we let the notable birthdays of a John Williams or Elton John pass uncelebrated in this forum, the palette of our tributes this year already ranges from Kuhnau through Brahms and Franck to Alexander Scriabin. No doubt about it, all these composers have left a legacy of weighty works and occupy central positions in the Henle catalogue. But the jubilarian of today’s blog post puts them all in the shade: Johann Sebastian Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier Part I! This collection of 24 preludes and fugues, recorded by Bach in 1722 in an accurate fair copy with an elaborate title page, stating “…for the use and benefit of inquisitive young musicians…and of those already well-versed in this study…”, accompanies practically everyone who has ever approached the piano for 300 years now. And, its history is just as eventful – also in the Henle publishing house, where it has now engaged us for over 70 years. Continue reading →

Posted in András Schiff, autograph, Bach, Johann Sebastian, Monday Postings, piano solo, Well-Tempered Clavier (J.S. Bach) | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

An annoying mini-error in Mozart’s Violin Concerto K. 219

Posted on October 17, 2022 by Wolf-Dieter Seiffert

Recently, David Perry, a Canadian violinist, criticised what he considered to be a wrong appoggiatura note in my Urtext edition of the Mozart A-major Violin Concerto K. 219, concerning measure 69 in the first movement. In Mozart’s autograph there seems to be no doubt about the appoggiatura note a2 to the main note d3:

Mozart, Autograph, Violin Concerto in A major, K. 219, mm. 68/69 Washington, Library of Congress, online-scan: Image 15/101

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Posted in autograph, Monday Postings, Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus, notation, revision, violin + orchestra | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

The Unexpected, showing up often! Discoveries in Liszt’s revisions

Posted on October 3, 2022 by Peter Jost

Franz Liszt

The chances of sources being rediscovered or becoming newly accessible seem rather slim for composers served by modern thematic-bibliographical works’ catalogues – rather confirming the rule are such exceptions as the autograph sections of Mozart’s Piano Sonata in A major K. 331 discovered a few years ago (see Henle blog: The music world will sit up and take notice! On the new Urtext edition of Mozart’s Piano Sonata in A Major KV 331 | Henle Blog). The situation in the case of a composer like Liszt is, however, quite different. Here, where existing is neither such a catalogue of the works nor even a comprehensive and reliable complete edition of the letters, an editor must personally go to great lengths in searching out information on the genesis and publication of a specific work. Continue reading →

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