K099 Canzonetta

deutsch K099 Canzonetta

K99 Canzonetta

Remarks: In 1963, Strawinsky received the Vihuri-Sibelius prize* and gave his thanks for it with a small musical token, by orchestrating the String Canzonetta Op. 62a by Jean Sibelius distinctively in a chamber-music version in September, for clarinet in A, Bass clarinet in A, 4 horns in F, harp and double bass. The Canzonetta was premièred by Robert Craft on 30th September 1963 under the aegis of the Monday Evening Concerts in Los Angeles. The German première was conducted by Felix Prohaska on 23rd February 1964 for the 4th German Sibelius festival in Hannover. The Finnish radio station featured the Finnish première of the work on 22nd March 1964, which was published in the same year by the publishers Breitkopf and Härtel in Wiesbaden (edition: 200 copies) as an eight-sided conductor’s score for 8 instruments. Breitkopf & Härtel, the world’s oldest music publishing house, held the rights to Sibelius, as Boosey & Hawkes held the rights to all Strawinsky’s compositions after 1950. This triggered an active diplomatic correspondence, at the end of which the German publishers had the upper hand. Boosey & Hawkes, represented at the time by Ernst Roth, wanted an arrangement with Breitkopf but their representative, Hellmuth von Hase, who wrote the history of post-war German Publishing, was against it. Meetings with Strawinsky had stretched back to the ‘20s. Breitkopf, still located in Leipzig, had asked Strawinsky, who had been sought for a publisher-specific series of postcards, on 28th October 1925 for a new photograph. Strawinsky then came to Leipzig. At this time, Breitkopf and Härtel wanted to poach Strawinsky. This failed due to the resistance from Gabriel Païchadze of the Russian publishers. The second attempt to have Strawinsky work for Breitkopf fell through. The reason was the newly orchestrated choral finale from Mussorgsky’s opera Khovantschina for Diaghilev in 1913. Strawinsky however waved it aside for good reasons (reality of performance on the operatic stage). In any case, it was learnt at this instance that Strawinsky had not only arranged the Finale but also an aria, which Breitkopf did not know about, as can be seen from a letter of 9th April 1958. Hase wrote again to Strawinsky on the matter of Sibelius, reminding him of his visit to Leipzig and Strawinsky wrote back extremely amiably; he thanked him, reminded himself of the matter and raised no objection to have his edition represented by Breitkopf & Härtel. The singular contract, which not only sheds light on the skill of Hellmuth von Hase but also elucidates the accusations about Strawinsky’s alleged avarice with a specific example, was settled under the date 1st October 1963. Hase filled out all the points of the contract, leaving the line for the fee empty and he invited Strawinsky to insert a sum at his own discretion. Strawinsky demanded only 1.500 Deutsche Mark** for his work, but not as a set fee, rather a prepayment of future royalties, which would be made up of fees from rented material and the ten-percent share of the sales price of the score. The proofs were already finished by 24th December 1963 and the score was completed on 12th Feburary 1964 (print run 4th February 1964), good timing before his meeting with Sibelius in Hannover. Strawinsky received 6 free copies. The autograph went into the ownership of the Finnish Vihuri Foundation.Strawinsky owned two copies of the Breitkopf edition, which are today located in the Paul Sacher Foundation in Basel. In the first copy, he made bar subdivisions boxed in pencil as well as a few performance-related instructions. This copy is neither signed nor dated. The second, also undated copy is signed >IStr< in red flush right on the outer title page above the ornamented frame. It contains bar subdivisions boxed in red, but no performance instructions.

* The Vihuri Foundation was established in 1947 by an industrialist Antti Vihuri and his wife Jenny. The purchase was (is) to promote and support cultural and economic development in Finland. The Vihuri-Sibelius Prize was founded in 1953 in honor of Jean Sibelius. Before Strawinsky received it the prize got to Hindemith(1955) and Schostakowitsch (1968).

** At the time, this was about 300 - 400 dollars.

Editions

a) Overwiev

99-1 1964 FS; Breitkopf & Härtel Wiesbaden; 8 p. 4°; Wb. 610; 3888.

b) Characteristic features

99-1 JEAN SIBELIUS / [°] / Canzonetta / op. 62a / Für 8 Instrumente gesetzt von / IGOR STRAWINSKY / [signet] / BREITKOPPF & HÄRTEL · WIESBADEN / Partitur-Bibliothek Nr. 3888 // (Full score stapled 24.2 x 30.4 (4° [4°]); 8 [8] pages + 4 cover pages paper black on green [front cover title with vignette* 0.9 x 2.2, 3 empty pages] without front matter and without title page, without back matter; title head >Canzonetta<; author specified 1st page of the score unpaginated [p. 1] below title head flush left >Für 8 Instrumente / von Igor Strawinsky< flush right >Jean Sibelius, op. 62a<; legal reservation 1. page of the score below type area flush right >© 1964 by Breitkopf & Härtel, Wiesbaden<; note 1st page of the score below type area flush left >Breitkopf & Härtels Partitur-Bibliothek Nr. 3888<; plate number >Wb. 610<°°; production indication 1. page of the score below type area below legal reservation flush right >Printed in Germany< p. 8 as end number and end mark flush right >– 64 / Druck: „Pirol“ Minden (Westf.)<) // (1964)

° Dividing horizontal line page width.

°° >Wb.< = Abbreviation of Wiesbaden.

* The heraldic animal (bear) with the date 1719 (foundation year of Breitkopf & Härtel) takes it from a sign-board of the ‚Goldener Bär’ (’golden bear’) as the earlest house of the publishers in Leipzig.

K Cat­a­log: Anno­tated Cat­a­log of Works and Work Edi­tions of Igor Straw­in­sky till 1971, revised version 2014 and ongoing, by Hel­mut Kirch­meyer.
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