JAVS Fall 2000

41

ORCHESTRAL TRAINING FORUM: WAGNER'S OVERTURE TO TANNHAUSER

1

ALTOS

ACTE I t·:• TABLEAU

N1coLAS LuPoT £a I£~,.

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(Durand edition extraction)

e) The 1845 Overture (Carl Fischer) with a numbering system instead of letters. (The print is different from (a).)

I have seen all of the above. As a footnote to the Durand edition "ACTE I 1ER TABLEAU SCENE 1-BACCHANALE"displayed above, observe that the material begins on page 7, logi cally implying an overture to be combined with this French edition. Unfortunately, I was unable to locate pages 1 to 6, and therefore cannot confirm what might appear on these pages and if they include material printed by Durand or leased from one of the other publishers. Furthermore, I cannot even verify if these pages were ever printed and released by Durand. My first experience with Tannhauser was performing the entire opera (Paris version) in the Minnesota Orchestra's second violin section in January 1973 under the direction of Stanislaw Skrowaczewski. I also played this 1861 material on the Chicago Symphony's principal viola audition in 1986 for Sir Georg Solti. However, one might want to obtain (a), (c), and/or (e) for most standard viola auditions and (b) and (d) should be on hand if specifically requested. May I assure the reader that (b) is by far the most musically satisfying when performed in concert or in the opera house. An edited copy of the viola excerpt version (a) can be found at the end of this article. I wish to take this opportunity to discuss several misprints. In version (a), examine the sev enth bar of H. The printed slur connecting the two c#'s is a misprint. The tied quarter note c#'s should be rearticulated after the sixteenth note c#. I have inserted bowings corresponding to the obvious articulations intended by the composer.