Par CAVALLI FRANCESCO. In 1662, Cavalli’s career was at its zenith. The two dozen operas he had written for Venice had helped establish Venice as the world’s first operatic superpower. “Scipione Affricano” (Venice 1664), Cavalli’s first opera after returning from France, was one of his most successful compositions. In a period that valued new works over familiar ones, “Scipione” was one of a handful of operas to live on after its premiere season: it was revived eight times and chosen to inaugurate Rome’s Teatro Tordinona in 1671. Cavalli’s librettist, Nicolò Minato, was inspired by historical accounts of the life of the Roman general Scipio, whose defeat of Carthage in 202 BCE earned him the honorary agnomen “Africanus.” In setting Minato’s libretto, Cavalli drew upon the lyrical gifts that have made operas like “La Calisto” and “Giasone” so popular today. But at the same time “Scipione Affricano” also shows the composer embracing aspects of his two years in France, and responding to musical changes that, in the 1660s, were rapidly altering the face of Italian opera: the growing dominance of arias, a clearer sense of aria organization, and increased interplay between voice and instruments. The first goal of this edition is a practical one: to develop a version of the opera suited to the needs of both professional and student performers. A second goal is to reconstruct the opera’s complete performance history. An amply documented appendix reconstructs earlier versions of 21 arias. Other appendices print the surviving additional music from revivals in Rome and Venice. The edition is framed by a substantial Introduction, covering the drama, the musical style, the composition, premiere, and revivals, and a guide for performance today, plus a detailed “decoding” of the sources. - series Francesco Cavalli – Opere / Date parution : 2022-11-08/ Répertoire / Opéra

Par BARBIERI F.. Solfeggi parlati e cantati ad uso dei Conservatori e Istituti musicali. 35 Solfeggi parlati, 10 per prove d'esame, 12 cantati a 1 voce e 6 a 2 voci/ Solfège/Formation Musicale / Opéra Théorique ou Didactique

Opera Vocal Score-'More than anything else Margaret Garner is an opera that reminds us that we all belong to the same human family and it demonstrates what can happen when we forget this fundamental truth... - RichardDanielpour This Opera by Grammy-winning composer Richard Danielpour tells the story of Margaret Garner an enslaved African-American woman in pre-Civil War America who gained notoriety for killing her owndaughter to prevent her from suffering the degradation of a life of slavery. In this adaptation of the famous tale Edward Gaines acquires his deceased brother’s Kentucky estate and pledges to let all of the slave familieson the Maplewood Plantation stay together. However when he takes a special interest in one of the slaves Margaret Garner it is not long before her husband Robert is sent away alone to another plantation. One night Robertsneaks back to Maplewood and attempts to escape with Margaret and their children to the ‘Free State’ of Ohio. They are caught and Margaret murders her children in a crime of passion sparing them from a life of slavery. Margaretis condemned to death and although she is granted clemency at the last minute she chooses the freedom of the gallows over life as a slave. The tragic work features a libretto by Toni Morrison and gained highcritical praise at its first performance in Philadelphia in 2006. Watch a clip from the performance here:

Standard Version with sung recitatives-Although almost unanimously condemned by contemporary Parisian critics for its overt sexuality and graphic final scene Carmen ultimately reached the public in a way that perhaps no other opera has. Bizet's aim (with Meilhac andHalevy who wrote the libretto) had been to transform the flaccid moralistic bourgeois genre of opéra comique into a more sophisticated type of staged work and he seems to have suceeded in Carmen. Each character has a musicalsignificance and a unique expressive idiom the ultimate example being the dangerous exotic sensual Carmen herself depicted by an exotic and sinewy chromatic motive that also implies the insurmountable power of fate. In aclassic plot device she is contrasted with the 'good girl' of the opera Micaela whose main aria is set in the ternary form of the elevated bel canto French Grand Opera aria to imply her traditionally 'ladylike' retiring nature.Don José's musical styles reflect different levels in his descent from dutiful soldier to the underworld of obsession.This is the Schirmer edition of the Libretto in the original French with an English translation by Ruthand Thomas Martin.

Gustav Holst has earned a place among the most revered of late 19th and early 20th century composers and is best known for his enduring Orchestral suite The Planets.But before that great work in his use of Englsh folksongs Gnostic texts and these Vedic hymns one can discern Holst’s search for a compositional Voice beyond the constraints of the European canon in the early 1900’s. In Savitri he makes use of modal styles bitonality austerity ofOrchestration in some places richness of texture in others and an ability to suggest Indian exoticism. The piece has a performance time of thirty minutes and has minimal staging requirements.

Par HINDEMITH PAUL. The opera is set in a variety of locations between the years 1608 and 1630 and throws a spotlight on individual scenes, sometimes presented simultaneously, from the life of the astronomer Johannes Kepler (1571-1630); the opera takes its name from Kepler’s theoretical work ‘Harmonices mundi’. Hindemith utilises substantial historical studies as the basis for his sketches of individuals within Kepler’s circle who each accompany the astronomer’s scientific endeavours with a variety of personal ambitions. The military commander Wallenstein attempts to utilise Kepler’s astrological abilities to realise his own pretensions to power while Kepler’s assistant Ulrich aspires to scientific fame and recognition. Kepler’s mother urges her son to apply his scientific abilities to the services of her black magic and the Lutheran minister Hizler forbids the astronomer to receive communion because Kepler questions the doctrine of Holy Communion in the Lutheran church and expresses sympathy for Calvinist doctrine. The few figures shed in a positive light include Kepler’s wife Susanna who supports her husband’s pursuit of truth and knowledge and the child Susanna who listens to the voices of nature and the moon in her childish naivety, thereby gaining revelatory knowledge. At the end of his life, Kepler takes stock of his situation, succumbs to a state of resignation and considers death as the greatest harmony of all. In his state of agony, music of the spheres can be heard; the constellations appear as allegorical figures in the opera and contradict Kepler’s negative concepts: lying beyond all that can be researched by mankind is a final majestic realm with the powers to ‘permit us to be amalgamated into a gigantic harmony of the spheres.’ / Date parution : 2022-07-20/ Répertoire / Opéra

This short opera (duration of 50 minutes) aptly designed for children to perform with modest resources is a version of the familiar tale though with certain adaptations. Cinderella is an au pair girl who arrives on the scene bytrain and there are three ugly sisters who get their just deserts in marriage to the appalling leaders of the armed forces. Writing for children in the Orkney Islands Davies has also included some local references: these can bechanged to suit other times and places. Musically the piece is a bright sequence of little songs choruses dialogue scenes and dances probably best suited to children between the ages of eight and twelve though the parts of theugly sisters can usefully be taken by boys with broken voices.Text only.Duration c. 50mins.

Acte de Ballet. Par RAMEAU JEAN-PHILIPPE. Rameau Io RCT 45 (Vocal Score) In Rameau's operatic oeuvre, 'Io' is certainly the work shrouded in the most mystery: the acte de ballet has survived only in the form of a copy of the score and parts which was made by a collector from the generation after Rameau from the autograph that now is lost. Although the copy seems to have been used, presumably for a trial read-through, the work was apparently never regularly performed during Rameau's lifetime. And for good reason: the work breaks off abruptly at the beginning of the divertissement; neither the librettist nor a plan for a theatre location are known. Because of its incompleteness, 'Io' was long regarded as Rameau's last work, but there is much to suggest that the composition must have been written between 1740 and 1745. The introduction to this edition examines the references regarding the dating as well as various hypotheses about performance possibilities and librettists. The plot revolves around one of those typical mythological flirtations that are inevitably to be expected when Jupiter and a nymph, here Io, are involved. With the appearance of madness, La Folia, the work reaches a dramaturgical climax. However after this, the opera breaks off. In order to make the piece performable, the editors of ?Opera Omnia Rameau? propose an addition to the divertissement as well as an ending borrowed from the ballet bouffon 'Platée' in its 1745 version, which shows numerous parallels to 'Io'. Thus, these additions come as close as possible to Rameau's style of the 1740s while bringing the plot to a conclusion. - Fragmentary work completed with original music by Rameau - Based on the score of ?Opera Omnia Rameau?, Volume V/1 - Particularly suitable for academies and conservatories as few soloists are required and the few choral movements can be sung by soloists / Date parution : 2023-06-01/ Répertoire / Opéra

This short opera (duration of 50 minutes) aptly designed for children to perform with modest resources is a version of the familiar tale though with certain adaptations.Musically the piece is a bright sequence of littlesongs choruses dialogue scenes and dances probably best suited to children between the ages of eight and twelve though the parts of the ugly sisters can usefully be taken by boys with broken voices.The music is scored foran orchestra of recorders trumpet percussion strings and keyboard and ranges through a variety of styles. The opera has eleven solo parts and a chorus who act as a train ball guests and the magic kittens. It is alsosuitable for performance by children aged eight and upwards.