Urtext

In the international music world “Bärenreiter Urtext” is synonymous with performing editions in which the musical text has been prepared using clearly formulated scholarly critical criteria. Editors which include prominent musicologists as well as musicians take all available sources into account, thus guaranteeing an authentic musical text which represents the latest in musicological research. The clearly formulated editorial guidelines and findings are presented in critical commentaries.

A large part of the Bärenreiter Urtext editions are based on the musical text of the new Complete Editions. Most works by Bach, Berlioz, Handel, Haydn, Mozart and Schubert are available in Urtext performing editions, making this wealth of musicological knowledge accessible to musicians today.

Furthermore, Bärenreiter publishes Urtext editions of important works of music which do not derive from a complete edition. The Symphonies of Ludwig van Beethoven in the new critical edition by Jonathan Del Mar have received acclaim worldwide, as have the new editions of Mendelssohn’s Overtures by Christopher Hogwood. New projects consist of the publication of major Romantic violin concertos including those by Mendelssohn (edited by Larry Todd), Brahms (edited by Clive Brown) as well as the publication of the series L’Opéra français which comprises French operas composed between the revolution and the First World War. A wide range of piano/keyboard editions as well as chamber music focusing mostly on French repertoire are also being published. These include Urtext editions of Debussy’s „Children’s Corner”, „Deux Arabesques”, „Pour le piano” and „Suite bergamasque”, Frescobaldi’s „Organ and Keyboard Works” and chamber music for strings by Gabriel Fauré and César Franck.