Baerenreiter Verlag Variations for Piano - Mendelssohn/Stuwe - Piano - Book

Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Felix
Editor: Holger M. Stuwe
Format: Book, Urtext Edition
Instrumentation: Piano

• Mendelssohn's most important piano variations in a critical edition
• A comprehensive edition, taking all variants into consideration
• Fingerings by the noted Mendelssohn interpreter Matthias Kirschnereit

They were intended to be "serious", the Variations op. 54 which Felix Mendelssohn contributed to a benefit album in 1841 in aid of the Beethoven memorial in Bonn. The attribute refers less to the musical character of the work than the composer's desire to write something quite different from the usual applause-seeking "Variations brillantes" of the period, through his particular compositional approach. And it is exactly this compositional skill which pianists, composers and music historians have ringing in their ears, when they describe Mendelssohn's Variations serieuses op. 54 as one of the key works of the Romantic piano repertoire.

The Variations op. 54 gave the composer the impetus to study this music form in great depth. Following on directly from this work, Mendelssohn wrote the Variations in E-flat op. 82 and B-flat major op. 83, published posthumously. These are "lighter" works, both in tonal approach and also in their technical demands.

The edition brings together Mendelssohn's three most important sets of variations for piano -- opp. 54, 82 and 83. It offers the versions of the first editions and in addition, for the first time, the numerous variants which survive in different autograph manuscripts. This offers an insight into the genesis of creating the pieces and also opens a wide field of artistic discussion for the interpreter.

Contents:

• Preface
• 17 Variations serieuses op. 54
• Andante und Variationen op. 82:
  • Fassung des Erstdrucks / Version from the First Edition (1850)
  • Fassung des Autographs / Version from the Autograph (1841) [Erstausgabe / First Edition]
• Andante und Variationen op. 83
• Appendix: Earlier Versions and Drafts [First Edition]:
  • I. Fruhere Fassungen einzelner Variationen aus op. 54 / Earlier Versions of Variations from op. 54:
    • Variation 1
    • Variation 16
    • Variation 17: a. Spatere Version / Later Version
    • Variation 17: b. Fruhere Version / Earlier Version
    • Verworfene Variationen 10-14 / Rejected Variations 10-14
    • Verworfene "Var. 16" / Rejected "Var. 16"
  • II. Autographer Entwurf zu op. 82 / Autograph Draft for op. 82
  • III. Studie zum Andante (Thema) aus op. 82 (Faksimile) / Study for Andante (Theme) from op. 82 (Facsimile)
  • IV. Zwischenfassungen der Variationen 1 und 2 aus op. 82 / Intermediate Versions of Variations 1 and 2 from op. 82
  • V. Ursprungliche Schlusse der Variation 5 aus op. 82 / Original Endings of Variation 5 from op. 82
  • VI. Ursprungliche Variationen 2 und 4 (Fragment) aus op. 83 / Original Variations 2 and 4 (Fragment) from op. 83
• Critical Commentary