Publisher's Synopsis
Operas forms the second part of the publication of the Sing-Akademie's whole valuable, historical music holdings. This part covers some 55,000 pages of music with operas and musical comedies in hand-written scores, piano excerpts and voices.Highlights of the opera collection are unique examples of unparalleled value; operas thought to have been lost for ever, published here for the first time:Antonio Vivaldi's opera "Motezuma", performed in November 1733, in the Venetian Teatro San Angelo; in addition, the operas "Penelope la casta" and "La Didone delirante" by Alessandro Scarlatti, preserved in magnificent volumes, owned by Queen Sophie Charlotte of Prussia; and compositions of the Saxon Hofkapellmeister (Chief Court Musician) Johann David Heinichen - including his first opera "Paris and Helena" - presumed missing until now. By what means the extensive and valuable music came into the possession of the Sing-Akademie, has not yet been investigated at any length. Large parts probably came from the Library of the Königliche Hofoper zu Berlin (Berlin Royal Court Opera), rendering nearly the entire repertoire of that house during the times of Frederick the Great. Besides the operas of Italian composers and Johann David Heinichen already mentioned, the collection includes, among others, almost all the Berlin operas of Carl Heinrich Graun, Frederick II's favourite composer. It was also Graun, who brought to Berlin the operas of Johann Adolf Hasse, popular in his day. A number of his works are preserved there. The French tradition in the Prussian court is represented by examples such as a precious first edition of the operas of Jean-Baptiste Lully. For the microfiche edition, the music - several hundred thousand pages of autographs, transcriptions and some rare printed music - has been examined and collated completely for the first time. Compositions have been identified using published lists of works and arranged according to the corresponding numbers. The indexes of theprovidedCatalogue to the Microfiche Edition cover the holdings and make it possible to find individual works. This edition provides a broad public with access to the archive's treasure, a part of which was previously completely unknown.
