Project 5 instructions (due 2 May 2008)
Finding "Historical Editions"[1] of music using thematic catalogs, New Grove works lists, OSCAR, and “the Heyer catalog”[2]
The problem: Many performing editions, especially older ones, contain rather arbitrary added markings (articulations, dynamics, fingerings, etc.) not originally supplied by the composer. Serious musicians therefore try to learn to recognize and identify substandard editions, and to seek out editions which are carefully prepared from: (a) the composer's manuscript (holograph); (b) a reliable first edition; or (c) a modern critical edition, or "Urtext" edition. The latter can usually be found in good music libraries, if one learns how to locate them. This exercise will help you learn to do this.
DIRECTIONS
1) Choose any solo keyboard piece, solo instrumental composition, or solo vocal work (with keyboard accompaniment), by one of the following composers: Bach, Händel, Mozart, Schubert, Haydn, or Beethoven. (Other composers' works, especially earlier ones, may be acceptable in certain cases; you may also choose large ensemble works, but for both please seek my approval first.) Then find and photocopy the first three pages of an ordinary, inexpensive, circulating edition of your score from our stacks. The older and more editorially “meddled with,” the better! Try to locate an edition published during the earlier part of the 20th century, or even the late 19th century. These usually make terrific (some would say horrendous) examples for purposes of this exercise. [Note: your ordinary edition should be from our stacks, or from your personal collection, but do not use a score from the Graduate Reading Area (GRA)]
2) Find the entry for your work within the relevant thematic catalog and photocopy the entry. Each of the thematic catalogs provides access in some or many ways, so choose the appropriate index (e.g., title index) or find the appropriate section through the table of contents.
3) Try to locate within the entry the reference(s) to where this work can be found in the composer’s most recent complete works (Gesamtausgabe) set in the GRA (arranged alphabetically by composer in M3…). To do this, you will probably first need to locate the list of abbreviations (Verzeichnis der Abkürzungen) usually found in the front of the book. For example, in the Mozart catalog by Köchel (Chronologisch-thematisches Verzeichnis sämtlicher Tonwerke Wolfgang Amadé Mozarts (1983), the abbreviation "NMA" stands for the “Neue Mozart-Ausgabe,” the newer Mozart complete-works edition, entitled the Neue Ausgabe sämtlicher Werke (Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1955- ). Mark this volume reference on your photocopy of the thematic catalog or Heyer entry in red pen or colored highlighter, and include it as an appendix to your project. If the specific volume is not referenced in the composer’s thematic catalog, then check the works list in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd ed., and photocopy (or print out) and mark this page as an appendix to your assignment.
4) Use that volume reference to find the historical edition in the Music/Dance Library. (Note: don’t be confused by the word “historical”: such editions are generally “modern” editions published after 1950, using editing techniques respectful of the best historical sources available for the work). Composers’ complete works sets (Gesamtausgaben) are usually catalogued under the unqualified uniform title “Works,” plain and simple, so perform an AUTHOR search under your composer’s name in OSU's catalogue, and use the “locate in results” function to advance to that uniform title. Our historical editions will be in the Graduate Reading Area (GRA); call numbers for composers' collected works usually begin with M3 and continue with alphanumeric "Cutter numbers" by composer. Find this edition and its appropriate volume, and photocopy (carefully, without damaging the book's "spine" or tearing pages!!) the pages that correspond to your popular or overedited edition. (Reduced photocopies, at around 70-80%, usually work well for these large volumes.)
5) Study the two editions, and write a summary (1-2 pages, double space type) of the differences between them, especially commenting upon the following points:
a) Dynamic markings, articulations, and fingerings (circle on your photocopy and refer to specific examples in the music)
b) Differences in actual notes (melody, harmony, ornamentation, etc., citing examples), if there are any.
c) Presence or absence of information about the editions and editorial policies, and the type and content of that information (e.g., information about the manuscript(s) and/or first editions on which your scholarly edition is based; it is unlikely that your ordinary edition will have this information.) These may take the form of "Critical Reports" ("Kritiche Berichte") in an adjacent volume of the composer's complete works, which frequently give detailed comments on individual notes and markings within the edition. If the sources on which your edition is based are identified in the critical report (look for terms such as Autograph, Abschrift, Originalausgabe, etc.), please identify these sources in your paragraph discussing the sources (give the location and name of the library or private collection, and the shelfmark of the source in that library).
d) At the beginning of your summary, provide a proper bibliographic citation for both editions, and include their call numbers.
6) Hand in your entry from the thematic catalog, Heyer, and/or the New Grove works list, photocopies of the first three pages from both editions, and your 1-2 page summary in class on the due date.
[1]"Works of the past presented in publications carefully prepared from studies of the sources [manuscripts and early printed editions supervised by the composer]. These publications, usually issued in series, are of three types: (1) the complete works of a composer...; (2) Denkmäler...; and (3) series of performing editions." Harold E. Samuel, "Editions, historical," The Harvard Dictionary of Music, ed. Don Randel (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1986), p. 264.
[2]Anna Harriet Heyer, Historical Sets, Collected Editions, and Monuments of Music: A Guide to Their Contents (on reserve, ML113.H62 H5 1980; described in Duckles and Reed 5.511) and its update, on reference shelves, ML113 .H55 1997).