Music Video Lesson: Why Do You Need Urtext Editions?

Hi, I'm Robert Estrin. This is LivingPianos.com. Today's subject is Why You Need Urtext Editions. I received a question from Chris. Chris asks, I find Urtext Editions online, but then they say edited by. I thought Urtext meant they weren't edited. So how does a fully edited edition differ from an Urtext? This is a great question.

Have you ever seen the original scores, the manuscript scores of the great composers? It's really a nightmare in some cases. Take a look at some of Beethoven's scores, for example, and all the crossing out and the quick way his calligraphy was executed. It's all but impossible to tell what he really meant. Now, so there are scholars who go through early editions, not just the autograph copies, but early editions as well, and they compare early editions to the autograph and try to make sense of these and figure out what is authentic. The other challenge is many times composers rewrote their scores again and again. Chopin, for example, rewrote many of his compositions, and you wonder what is authentic? Is it the first one that he signed? Is it the last one? Is it something in between? So there's a lot of scholarly work that goes into Urtext editions. Urtexts strive to have just what the composer intended.

However, there are also what are called edited Urtext editions. It sounds like an oxymoron, doesn't it? Well, not exactly. Here's how it works. Either with footnotes giving alternatives to what is printed, or very often in a different typeface, like a gray type instead of black, the composer's markings are augmented with suggestions. For example, in a sonata movement, if during the exposition there were certain phrase markings or dynamic markings, and then in the very same part, in the recapitulation later, the composer didn't write those slurs, staccatos, fortes, whatever. It's assumed that they should be there. So the editor in the Urtext edition will put in lighter type or some way to distinguish it from the earlier, from the what is authentic will give you suggestions.

Now, the question is, do you really need all of that? Is it important to have an Urtext? Well, if you're a serious player, you really want to know what the composer wrote and what the editor added, because you might not be faithful to the intentions of the composer.

However, there's many pieces of music. For example, Bach rarely wrote any phrasing or dynamics in any of his keyboard music. Not that it should be played devoid of expression or phrasing.

So having some suggestions from the editor can be a godsend.

Even Mozart has not a lot of different expression marks. And for somebody starting out, not understanding that the ends of phrases should be softer, and that there's the delineation of four -bar phrases that have certain validity, that are musical statements, sometimes having those markings can be very important. Sometimes having those markings can be incredibly helpful if you're more of a beginner or early intermediate student. Having editors, good editor suggestions can be really helpful. So the ideal, to sum it up, is to have a good scholarly edition that's an Urtext with editors markings and fingering. Composers didn't write in fingering. And of course, if you're a student, you want to have fingering suggestions. Even for a professional, having finger suggestions can save you vast amounts of time. You come to a certain passage, you go, what the heck should I do there? You look, oh, that's interesting. You may or may not like it. Now on websites like IMSLP, you can actually get two or three different editions for fingering suggestions, which can be a godsend. Such great help. Such a wonderful thing, because before the internet, it would be very costly to compare several editions. Maybe at the library you could do that, but to buy several editions would be, you know, not in the cards for most students.

Which brings up the cost. Many Urtexts are very expensive, like Henley editions, which are really beautifully bound scholarly editions of many works of Brahms, Schubert, Beethoven, Mozart.

However, they're very expensive. But there are other, like Schenker editions in the Dover, which are very well bound, good scholarly editions that are not as expensive. So search out good fingered, edited Urtext editions for yourself, and I think you'll be rewarded with good suggestions and the knowledge of what the composer actually wrote. Great question, Chris. Keep them coming in here at LivingPianos .com, your online piano resource. If you like these videos and you haven't subscribed yet, go ahead, ring the bell and the thumbs up. Pass us on to your social media, and for those of you who want even more, join my Patreon. Thanks again for joining me, Robert Estrin from here at LivingPianos.com.

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