G. Henle Verlag

14/11/2025

“The peak of my highest joy in completed work was when I listened to that concerto played by the fifty thorough musicians I had engaged for it. […] That was the first time that I heard my most serious work with my own ears.” The Concerto in F, whose first private performance Gershwin recalls here, was the American composer's first work of symphonic proportions. Let's take a look at our post to see how many other firsts led him to this enormous triumph in his life!
https://www.henle.de/en/Concerto-in-F/HN-859
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100 years after its premiere, you will soon be able to hear the work performed in Munich, using the Urtext edition from Henle and the accompanying orchestral material from Breitkopf & Härtel: performed on November 25th by the Bayerisches Staatsorchester under the direction of General Music Director Vladimir Jurowski, and with Marc-André Hamelin as soloist. The concert WE GOT RHYTHM is being held in the Isarphilharmonie in cooperation with G. Henle Verlag. https://www.staatsoper.de/en/productions/sonderkonzert-gershwin/2025-11-25-2000-15963
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10/11/2025

Such peaceful and cheerful music – just what we need in these times: The outer movements of the Bach's Harpsichord Concerto no. 2 in E major, probably written around 1738, sparkle with joy, while the expressive melodic lines of the middle movement, the Siciliano in C-sharp minor, transport the listener to the realm of his Passion music. Thanks to our new chamber music series, you can now perform this popular concerto in the concert hall using Henle editions!
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For Bach's magnificent second harpsichord concerto, Henle also supplies performance material for chamber orchestra in addition to the long-established study editions: a piano reduction as harpsichord part, a clearly laid out conducting score in larger format, performance-ready parts, available individually or as a set, and a basso continuo part. The parts all have a hard cover, an enlarged type area and enlarged engraving with excellent page turns! Explore our new series, works for chamber orchestra, which we are now gradually building up!
* * * See all available editions of Bach’s E major Concerto BWV 1053
at G. Henle Publishers: https://www.henle.de/en/Harpsichord-Concerto-no.-2-E-major-BWV-1053/HN-1381
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05/11/2025

"Yet you, a man, have sensed in these songs a depth which hardly the most knowing female heart can feel!" That's what an admirer wrote to Robert Schumann about his song cycle Frauenliebe und Leben (A Woman's Love and Life). Schumann’s empathy with the highly romantic inflections of Adelbert von Chamisso’s poetry may also have arisen from the circumstances that prompted this cycle, for it was written during one of the happiest periods of his life, just before his marriage to Clara Wieck.
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Ever since it was first published, Frauenliebe und Leben has been very popular with both male and female singers. And to enable you all to sing these highly romantic songs, we offer this Schumann cycle in two transpositions – for low and high voice – in addition to the original middle register! https://www.henle.de/en/onsearch?search=Woman%27s+Love
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Our edition for high voice even offers two versions of no. V as an exception to the norm: as well as the version in D flat major which fits better with the key of no. IV, a lower version in C major (see photos 5 and 6). We are most grateful to Jan Philip Schulze for his advice on all matters relating to the transposition.
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04/11/2025

“A kind of apotheosis of the Viennese waltz”, that's what Ravel himself called his ‘waltz’, which he composed in 1919/20. His ‘poème chorégraphique’ La Valse for orchestra, not very well received by audiences at the time, is now one of the top hits of classical music. An interesting fact is that Ravel worked on his two piano versions and the orchestral version at the same time – the version for piano solo and the one for two pianos are therefore completely independent works!
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As the solo version is particularly challenging, we are more than glad to have won pianist Boris Giltburg to work with us on our edition: “It was one of the most difficult pieces that I’ve ever learned and played”, he recounts, “And a large part of the challenge was figuring out the fingerings, the hand divisions and also what to do with the third line.” Check-out what's behind all this in the preface of the edition and give it yourself a try, with the helpful support by Boris Giltburg: https://www.henle.de/en/La-Valse/HN-1665
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31/10/2025

“It is absolutely pure music – a transcription of mood rather than of a definite subject.” This is how Gershwin characterised his Concerto in F, whose working title was initially “New York Concerto”. It was agreed with the New York Symphonic Society, who commissioned the work, that Gershwin should portray “the spirit and atmosphere of the city” with the concerto, but according to the composer this would “not be done in the obvious way”.
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With his quote, Gershwin paraphrased Beethoven's famous remark regarding his Pastoral Symphony, which described the piece as “more the expression of feeling than painting”. And just as it was left to Beethoven's audience to sense the ‘idea of country life’ for themselves, it is up to you to feel the particular mood of New York in Gershwin's Concerto!
https://www.henle.de/en/Concerto-in-F/HN-859
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So immerse yourself in this unique piano concerto – and if you happen to be in Munich on November 25th: celebrate with us the 100th anniversary of the premiere of Gershwin's Concerto in F – performed by the Bayerisches Staatsorchester under the direction of General Music Director Vladimir Jurowski, and with Marc-André Hamelin as soloist. The concert WE GOT RHYTHM is being held in the Isarphilharmonie in cooperation with G. Henle Verlag. https://www.staatsoper.de/en/productions/sonderkonzert-gershwin/2025-11-25-2000-15963
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Breitkopf & Härtel

29/10/2025

The very beginning of Mozart's Clarinet Concerto A major K. 622: "One of the most magical, refreshing and enthusiastic openings in the entire music literature" says clarinetist Pablo Barragán. Do you agree? Let us know your thoughts on this iconic piece of music in the comments.
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27/10/2025

🎵WE GOT RHYTHM – Konzert zum 100. Jubiläum der Uraufführung von George Gershwins Concerto in F. 🎵

1925 präsentierte George Gershwin in der New Yorker Carnegie Hall mit dem Concerto in F sein einziges Klavierkonzert – zugleich sein erstes vollständig selbst instrumentiertes Orchesterwerk. Mit diesem Werk begann eine neue Ära der Musik des 20. Jahrhunderts, die sich durch die Verbindung und Verschmelzung verschiedener Stile und Formen von der traditionellen Musik abhob.

Am 25. November feiern wir die Errungenschaften des US-amerikanischen Komponisten George Gershwin mit einem Konzert in der Isarphilharmonie. Das Bayerische Staatsorchester spielt unter der Leitung von Generalmusikdirektor Vladimir Jurowski, Solist ist Marc-André Hamelin. Das Konzert WE GOT RHYTHM findet in Kooperation mit dem G. Henle Verlag statt, der das Concerto in F neu herausgegeben hat.😍

📆 25.11.2025
📍 Isarphilharmonie




🎵WE GOT RHYTHM – Concert marking the 100th anniversary of the premiere of George Gershwin’s Concerto in F.🎵

In 1925, George Gershwin presented the Concerto in F, his only piano concerto at the New York Carnegie Hall – also his first orchestral work that he had fully orchestrated himself. This work marked the beginning of a new era in 20th-century music, which stood out from traditional music through its combination and fusion of different styles and forms.

On November 25th, we will celebrate the achievements of American composer George Gershwin with a concert at the Isarphilharmonie. The Bayerisches Staatsorchester will perform under the direction of General Music Director Vladimir Jurowski, and with Marc-André Hamelin as soloist. The concert WE GOT RHYTHM is being held in cooperation with G. Henle Verlag , who recently published the Concerto in F as a new edition.😍

📆 25.11.2025
📍 Isarphilharmonie
📸 W. Hösl
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Breitkopf & Härtel

24/10/2025

22/10/2025

“Like a mechanical rabbit”: this is how Ravel envisioned the use of the spring bow in the first rondo theme of his Sonata for Violin and Cello – he had very precise ideas about the performance of this work. At its premiere in April 1922, critics and listeners found the Duo Sonata difficult to appreciate, mainly because of the work's sober instrumentation, its resulting “unadorned style” and its bold handling of harmony.
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Ravel, however, described the sonata as a “turning point” in his development and as “a truly symphonic work for two instruments”. This idea was also reflected in a paradoxical bon mot that circulated among his friends: that one day he should write a “reduction of his Duo for large orchestra”.
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Have you got a taste for this popular but demanding work? To help the players, we are presenting two performance scores in which the other instrument’s part is also given, both in a marked and an unmarked version. Frank Peter Zimmermann and Christian Poltéra provided the fingerings in the printed and digital versions, while the app also offers fingerings by Isabelle Faust and Jean-Guihen Queyras – and by Maurice Ravel himself: https://www.henle.de/en/Sonata-for-Violin-and-Violoncello/HN-1070
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20/10/2025

The result of a burst of creativity: In 1896, during a winter escape to Luxor and Cairo, Egypt, Camille Saint-Saëns composed what would become his fifth and final piano concerto which was finished after just three weeks of intensive work. Its later nickname “The Egyptian” holds a double meaning: It refers not only to the place where it was written, but also to the incorporation of Egyptian and oriental music of which the composer was inspired. He wrote that “The second movement is a kind of journey to the Orient, which in the episode in F-sharp even reaches the Far East. The passage in G is a Nubian love song that I heard sung by boatmen on the Nile”.
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Take a musical journey to Egypt in 1896 — through the eyes and ears of Camille Saint-Saëns. With fingerings by Pascal Rogé.
https://www.henle.de/en/Piano-Concerto-no.-5-F-major-op.-103-Egyptian/HN-1144
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