Gluck’s beginnings as a composer of opera seria are now overshadowed by his ‘reform’ operas. Demofoonte, now being published in the Gluck Complete Works, offers an excellent opportunity for theatres to become more familiar with Gluck’s early works.

Solomon, Handel’s late oratorio in English, sparkles not only because of its stirring plot, but also through musical tableaus of great variety. Now this major work has been published as part of the Handel Complete Edition.

(26.11.2013) The operas of Franz Schubert are still rarely performed on the stage or in the concert hall. So two forthcoming performance projects devoted to these works are all the more notable. Well-known vocal soloists and the Munich Radio Orchestra conducted by Christopher Hogwood present two early seldom-performed Singspiels in concert performances on 8 December in the Prinzregententheater, Munich: Der vierjährige Posten (using performance material from the New Schubert Edition for the first time) and Die Zwillingsbrüder. By contrast, the Theater an der Wien presents a staged production of the religious drama Lazarus, which survives in fragmentary form. The first performance takes place in Vienna on 11 December. Michael Boder conducts the Vienna Symphony Orchestra and the Arnold Schoenberg Choir, and the director is Claus Guth.

Artemisia, written in 1657, is a stage work overflowing with external and internal action. The new edition, part of the Cavalli Edition, offers a wealth of material for performances, based on discoveries made in studying the sources.

(19.9.2013) The 300th anniversary of Gluck’s birth, born on 2 July 1714 in Erasbach near Nuremberg, is being marked in many places this season. This starts on 3 November 2013 in the Bayer Kulturhaus Leverkusen with a concert performance of Gluck’s La clemenza di Tito with L’Arte del mondo conducted by Werner Ehrhardt, followed on 10 November by Frankfurt Opera with its first performance of the Prague version of Ezio (Vincent Boussard / Christian Curnyn). On 8 February 2014 the first performance of Atto d'Orfeo, the Parma version of Orfeo ed Euridice, will be given at Göteborg Opera. Laurence Cummings conducts using pre-publication material from the Gluck Complete Works, specially prepared for this performance by Gabriele Buschmeier. The director is David Radok. 

(1.6.2013) The Vienna Musikwissenschaftlicher Verlag is proud to announce the start of the New Anton Bruckner Complete Edition. In cooperation with the International Bruckner Society and the Austrian National Library, all the compositions by Anton Bruckner (1824 – 1896) will be newly edited. The first volume is due to be published at the end of 2013. Each volume will be prepared by internationally renowned Bruckner scholars according to consistent editorial guidelines in keeping with today's standards. Furthermore the most recent findings concerning sources will be taken into account and an increased importance will be placed on questions of performance practice. The aim is always to present an authentic musical text. In addition to a comprehensive preface which includes information on the source material, the genesis and history of the work as well as on the aspects of performance practice, each volume contains a detailed critical report. All texts will be in German and English. Each volume will be published in a large format full conducting score and in a study score format.

(10.6.2013) This year’s new opera production at the Handel Festival is devoted to his first stage work, Almira, which the 20-year-old composer wrote for the Oper am Gänsemarkt in Hamburg – with clear references to Venetian opera, such as the characteristic mix of serious and comic scenes. His wonderful sense of melodic invention, to which he frequently returned,  is already found here. Due to the recent floods, the premiere of Axel Köhler’s new production has had to be postponed and will now take place on 21 June. Andreas Spering will conduct this first performance using the Halle Handel Edition.