STRAUSS, Richard 1864-1949

[Op. 60 (iii)]. Der Bürger als Edelmann Komödie mit Tänzen von Molière Freie Bühnenbearbeitung in drei Aufzügen... Arrangement von Otto Singer. Vollständiger Klavier-Auszug mit deutschem Text Preis M. 12._netto. [Piano-vocal score]

Berlin W. - Paris: Adolph Fürstner [PN A.7352.F. et al.], [1918].

Large folio. Original decorative wrappers printed in dark green and red. [1] (title), [2] (performing rights notice), [3] (printed dedication by Strauss and Hofmannsthal to Max Reinhardt), [4] (blank), [5] (cast), [i] (blank), 7-125, [i] (blank) pp. Prefatory matter in facsimile of the copyist's manuscript. Note to lower right corner of final page of music: "Stich und Druck von C.G. Röder, Leipzig."

The basic plate number is 7352. Much of the first two acts has the double plate number 6303.7352 or triple number 6303.6332.7352.; p. 93 (act 3) has the odd plate number 7385 (only).

Wrappers frayed at edges and spine, with some loss to spine. Slightly browned; final signature detached; smudge to p. 42.

First Edition of the second version. Trenner 228b. Müller von Asow II, p. 599.

Incidental music. First performance of this version at Deutsches Theater, Berlin, on April 9, 1918.

The plates with the numbers 6303 and 6332 are carried over from the original 1912 edition (see Müller von Asow II, p. 532), which included both the incidental music to Der Bürger als Edelmann and the opera Ariadne auf Naxos (first version), two works conceived as a double bill and premiered as such at the Kleines Haus in Stuttgart on October 25, 1912.

"[After Der Rosenkavalier, Hugo von Hofmannsthal] remained preoccupied with the stylized world of the 17th and 18th centuries, especially the work of Molière, which had partly inspired the Rosenkavalier libretto. The immediate result was Ariadne auf Naxos (1911–12), a theatrical hybrid combining spoken theatre - a German adaptation of Molière's Le bourgeois gentilhomme (Der Bürger als Edelmann) with incidental music - and opera. The work, first performed in Stuttgart in 1912, fell short of critical acclaim and was revised to greater success, four years later, when Strauss and Hofmannsthal replaced the play with a lively operatic prologue." Bryan Gilliam in Grove Music Online.

The revised Ariadne of Naxos became a repertory piece; the incidental music to Der Bürger als Edelmann is, however, rarely performed.

Item #27094

Price: $120.00  other currencies