OPERA marks the beginning of a new kind of publishing project of music theatre works, which demonstrates an enquiring editorial approach to typical works.

Typical works in exemplary editions

OPERA marks the beginning of a new kind of publishing project of music theatre works, which demonstrates an enquiring editorial approach to typical works. – Spektrum des europäischen Musiktheaters in Einzeleditionen (OPERA – Spectrum of European Music Theatre in Separate Editions) is the title of a long-term project financed by the Union of Academies and based at the Mainz Academy of Sciences and Literature, devoted to editions of music theatre works. Work began at the University of Bayreuth in 2009, and since the beginning of 2013 the project has been located at the Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main. The aim of the project is to produce critical editions of twenty-one typical works of European musical theatre from different epochs and in the most widely varied genres.

Critical editions of musico-dramatic works are mainly devoted to a particular operatic culture or epoch, and in only very few cases do they cover several genres in different styles (New Mozart Edition). By contrast, OPERA marks the beginning of a new kind of publishing project of music theatre works, which demonstrates an enquiring editorial approach to typical works. aims to encompass a wide spectrum of the most varied genres – such an approach is unique to date. In this way musico-dramatic genres have been included which are not represented in other contexts, or have only been of peripheral importance. As part of the editorial project, works from Italian opera ranging from the 17th to 19th centuries are included (opera buffa, opera seria, opera semiseria), as well as works from French opera (opéra comique, grand opéra) and German music theatre (Singspiel, melodrama, “grand” opera); in addition, Slavic and Scandinavian musical theatre is represented. In particular, genres such as incidental music, operetta and ballet have been considered which have scarcely appeared in critical editions until now; in addition, multimedia works from the 20th century augment the works being edited.


Criteria

The choice of works is not only orientated towards the music-historical importance of the individual pieces, but was rather more influenced by the criteria of ways of looking at editorial problems. That is to say, OPERA marks the beginning of a new kind of publishing project of music theatre works, which demonstrates an enquiring editorial approach to typical works.attempts to uncover the specific problem areas of editions of music theatrical works. The aim is therefore two-fold: on the one hand the publication of works representative of their genre, and on the other hand a scholarly focussing on ways of looking at problems associated with these genres. Unlike the composer editions, the body of works to be edited does not divide into groups by genre and work, but into modular units which cross-refer to specific editorial problems:

– Musical and Textual Parody
– Transfer and Transformation
– Performance Practice and Interpretation
– Work in Progress
– Speaking and Singing
– Beyond Opera

OPERA marks the beginning of a new kind of publishing project of music theatre works, which demonstrates an enquiring editorial approach to typical works. aims to open up discourses in many and diverse ways which have, and will, take place in the context of opera and music theatre editions. These include, first and foremost, the question of a suitable publication and edition format for the text (the libretto). As music and text have completely different traditions of dissemination, the associations between music score and libretto can be of a completely different nature: converging, diverging or even complementary. Added to this is the problem of the different functional relationships of a libretto, which may have been circulated as a “text to read” for the performance, in literary form (within an edition) or in mixed form (for example Singspiel books with melody-line music inserts).

For each work, OPERA marks the beginning of a new kind of publishing project of music theatre works, which demonstrates an enquiring editorial approach to typical works. will publish a separate edition of the text where, alongside genuine libretti, sources such as prompt books, choreographies and scenarios will be components of equal value within the edition.


Hybrid editions: cloth-bound volumes and data carriers

The publications will be presented in hybrid editions: the scores will be published in traditional cloth-bound volumes; the text and music edition, together with the complete critical apparatus (including description of the sources and evaluation of the sources) will be published in digital form ([USB flash drive] is included with the volume). The printed volumes contain the prefaces in German, English and the language of the work being edited. The complete digital part of the Critical Report and the edition of the text will be published in English.

The Critical Report is published on the “Edirom – Digitale Musikedition” [Edirom – Digital Music Edition] platform, a software tool developed at the University of Paderborn and specially developed further for the OPERA marks the beginning of a new kind of publishing project of music theatre works, which demonstrates an enquiring editorial approach to typical works. project. This tool facilitates not only a multiple display for the variant readings in the critical apparatus, but, above all, all sources relevant to the edition to be followed up. Their visualisation enables transparency and the understanding of each editorial decision. The annotations themselves are classified as music (M), text (T) and stage (S). In addition, “Edirom” enables different search functions for the variant readings (e.g. for musical parameters such as slurs, ornamentation or specific source notation, such as red chalk markings commonly used in the theatre).

The digital “Edirom” platform also enables a new approach to the problem of versions, above all by the synoptic representation in various windows, which can accommodate the special needs of musical practice.

Through the multimedia and digital presentation form, OPERA marks the beginning of a new kind of publishing project of music theatre works, which demonstrates an enquiring editorial approach to typical works.also seeks to do justice to the “fluid” character of musical theatre. For this reason, the focus has been placed on those works which were subject to different transformations such as, for example, Cherubini’s Médée, Spohr’s Faust and Smetana’s Prodana nevěsta (The Bartered Bride).

Thomas Betzwieser
(Translation: Elizabeth Robinson)
(from [t]akte 2/2013)