Probably the most famous march in history, Stars and Stripes Forever was composed on Christmas Day 1896 while Sousa was traveling aboard the SS Teutonic bound for New York. In his autobiography, Sousa wites that he imagined the music while at sea and set it down on paper shortly after his return home. The manuscript full score is dated April 26, 1897. The march was first performed by the composer conducting the Sousa Band on May 14, 1897 in Willow Grove Park, near Philadelphia, though this date is dusputed by the city of Augusta, Maine - who claim the premiere took place at a Sousa Band concert given there on May 1. With the Spanish-American War in view, the new march became immensely popular from the very start and has remained a favorite ever since. The piece was first published on the very day of the premiere in the composer's piano reduction. With many reissues and reprintings and the expansion of band instrumentation - some added after the composer's death in 1932 - the scoring became bloated over the years. This new edition by Richard Sargeant goes back to the composer's original source material and to the actual performing practice of the Sousa Band itself to present a masterpiece of band writing as the composer himself used it. As with all of the Serenissima band offerings, it is presented in an easy-to-read format for use as either a study score or a performance score.

The Stars and Stripes Forever: Study Score

Arts & Photography

Sousa IV, John Philip

Music

Serenissima Music

Percy Grainger, much like his contemporary Bela Bartok, was intensely interested in folk music and became a member of the English Folk-Song Society soon after his arrival in London in the first decade of the 20th century. He produced numerous works based upon folk music from the British isles, with more than 45 items in his "British Folk-Music Settings" alone. As with many titles in the series, Shepherd's Hey exists in multiple arrangements - "dished-up" by the composer himself. This is the first version (BFMS 3), composed between 1908-11, scpred for an ensemble of 12 players. Grainger's original score was a "compressed full score" which did not precisely notate each part in detail. The score offered here is a newly edited and engraved edition prepared by Richard W. Sargeant Jr. based upon both the original score and the actual orchestral parts issued at the same time. Those interested in Grainger's unique orchestrational palette can now see in it full detail.

Shepherd's Hey, BFMS 3: Study score (British Folk Music Settings)

Grainger, Percy Aldridge

Inspired by Canto V of the "Inferno" of Dante's "Divine Comedy", Tchaikovsky initially planned to create an opera on the subject but abandoned the idea in favor the present 25-minute fantasia for orchestra in 1876, fininshing the score on November 17th of that year. Bearing all the hallmarks of the composer's late romantic style, Francesca da Rimini takes full advantage of the powerful orchestral forces employed. The first performance was given on March 9, 1877 in Moscow, with the RMS Orchestra conducted by Nikolay Rubinstein. This is a newly engraved and reserached edition prepared by Howard K. Wolf which was originally issued by E.F. Kalmus in 2012 and is now made available in a convenient size.

Francesca da Rimini, Op.32: Study score

Tchaikovsky, Peter Ilyich

First composed in 1869, Tchaikovsky's popular overture-fantasia was premiered in Moscow on March 16, 1870 with the Russian Musical Society under the baton of Nikolay Rubinstein. The composer expanded the work later that year, which was the first version published (1871, Berlin) and this second version was given in St. Petersburg at that city's branch of the RMS under Eduard Napravnik. Still not quite satisfied, Tchaikovsky revised the work again in 1880, the German publisher issuing the final version the following year. This is the standard version known and heard in concerts worldwide today. Despite this, the final version's first performance wasn't even given in Russia proper, but in Tbilisi, Georgia on March 1, 1886, conducted by Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov. The newly engraved study score offered here is a reduced-format reissue of the edition by Howard K. Wolf of the large score first issued by E.F. Kalmus in 2012.

Romeo and Juliet (1880 version), TH 42: Study score

Camille Saint-Saëns wrote the Introduction et Rondo Capriccioso for the virtuoso violinist Pablo de Sarasate in 1863. Although originally intended as the finale for his first violin concerto, this concert favorite was not published until 1870 in a violin and piano arrangement by Georges Bizet. The slow introduction is a brooding lament, which is followed by a sardonic rondo with accents on all the wrong beats. The solo violin part is very virtuosic featuring fast scale and arpeggio passages, double stopped melody, rapid harmonics and a short cadenza with triple stops. This favorite for violinists and audiences is presented in a new, and beautifully engraved edition by Richard W. Sargeant, Jr. and is a must for all enthusiasts.

Introduction et Rondo Capriccioso, Op.28: Study score

Camille, Saint-Saëns

Mass in D major, Op.86 / B.175: Study score (Latin Edition)

Dvořák, Antonín

As with its famous companion, this overture is often not credited to the person who actually composed it, the conductor Edmund Haensch (d.1929). It was likely produced for a Berlin production of the 1864 Offenbach operetta and incorporates a many of the better-known melodies. The score offered here is a reduced-format version of the expertly edited and engraved score prepared by Clark McAlister first issued in large score and parts in 2006.

La belle Hélène Overture: Study score

Offenbach, Jacques

Brahms composed his first volume of choral-watzes in August of 1869 to poetry taken from Polydora, an 1855 collection of German folk-poems and love-songs assembled by George Friedrich Daumer (1800-1875). Rather than the usual accompaniment for piano solo, Brahms elected to provide one for piano duet. The first performance was given in Heidelberg on November 4, 1869 and issued later that year as his Op.52. The conductor Ernst Rudorff persuaded Brahms to orchestrate the accompaniment for 8 of the 18 selections (plus another subsequently included in his Op.65 set) for a concert given at Berlin's Hochschule on March 19, 1870. Offered here is a new edition and orchestration by Richard W. Sargeant, Jr. Brahms' own orchestration is retained for the eight selections orchestrated for the 1870 concert, while the remaining ten have been orchestrated for the same forces employed by the composer.

Liebeslieder-Walzer, Op.52: Study score

BRahms, Johannes

Brahms composed his first volume of choral-watzes in August of 1869 to poetry taken from "Polydora," an 1855 collection of German folk-poems and love-songs assembled by George Friedrich Daumer (1800-1875). Rather than the usual accompaniment for piano solo, Brahms elected to provide one for piano duet. The first performance was given in Heidelberg on November 4, 1869. The conductor Ernst Rudorff persuaded Brahms to orchestrate the accompaniment for 8 of the 18 selections (plus another subsequently included in his Op.65 set) for a concert given at Berlin's Hochschule on March 19, 1870. Offered here is a new edition by Richard W. Sargeant, Jr.

Liebeslieder-Walzer, Op.52: Vocal score (German Edition)

Newly edited and engraved study score for Tchaikovsky's second ballet masterpiece. Includes Preface, Synopsis, and Cast of Characters. This is the complete orchestral score, not a piano reduction, based upon the composer's autograph, the very rare first edition issued by P. Jurgenson, and the score from Tchaikovsky's complete works. This score includes variants not present in the Soviet score. Sleeping Beauty was propelled into the permanent ballet repertoire immediately after the brilliant 1889 premiere by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov in St. Petersburg's Maryinsky Theatre. This new, reasonably priced study score that will be invaluable to students, conductors, music lovers and ballet aficionados everywhere.

Sleeping Beauty, Op.66: Study score

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