Klarinet Archive - Posting 000007.txt from 2006/05

From: "dnleeson" <dnleeson@-----.net>
Subj: [kl] Urtext editions
Date: Tue, 02 May 2006 20:30:38 -0400

It is very easy to print the words "Urtext Edition" on the cover
of a publication. The purpose of that action is to give you
confidence that the source from which the edition was taken is
authoritative. But don't give too much credibility to the
announcement until you read in the introduction what was meant by
the term Urtext.

Henle in Munich has an Urtext edition of the Mozart concerto, but
they could not possibly have used an authoritative source since
there are none. The autograph has been missing since ca. 1800.
So what did they use and why do they think it to be
authoritative.

In the case of the Weber, so many players have produced their own
editions of his works, that it would very difficult to claim that
any publication is Urtext.

The word comes from the biblical city of "Ur," which is said to
be the place were civilization began. So when you went to Ur,
you went to the "beginning." It is supposed to mean that you
went to the composer's autograph, but often that is not the most
authoritative version either. The Brahms sonatas had editorial
changes made in the plates after an initial printing from the
autograph, and since Brahms himself made those changes in the
plates, they are more authoritative than the manuscript.

Much of this is a lot of marketing hype.

Dan Leeson
DNLeeson@-----.net

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