Bärenreiter

typical Hortus Musicus cover (1950-)

Nagel's Musik-Archiv (1952-)

History

Bärenreiter-Verlag was founded in 1923 by Dr Karl Vötterle (1903–1975), initially in Augsburg, and relocated to its headquarters in Kassel in 1927. Its Basel office was founded in 1944 under threats of closure to the Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe premises, which were destroyed the following year in an air raid. After the end of second world war Bärenreiter re-established at Kassel, and new offices opened in London (1963), New York (1958), and Prague (1991). Since Vötterle’s death the company has been directed by his descendents Barbara Scheuch-Vötterle and Leonhard Scheuch. The company employs approximately 140 people in Europe, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

In 1949 Bärenreiter began publishing the encyclopædia Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart (Music in History and the Present), known as [MGG]; in scope and content it is comparable only to the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. The first edition, completed in 1986, comprised 17 volumes, including two supplement volumes and one index volume. The second edition, issued from 1994 to 2007, consists of a subject encyclopedia in 10 volumes (including an index volume) and a biographical encyclopedia in 17 volumes. A supplement volume was issued in May 2008.

The main series of Bärenreiter editions are the Bärenreiter-Ausgaben [BA], with piano reduction or vocal scores usually associated with the main work as the suffix “a”, and a series of numeric codes for instrumental parts. Study scores are available under the BA series, or in a separate series, Bärenreiter-Taschenpartituren [TP]. The Bärenreiter-Verlag series of books, facsimiles, and other reprints (Bücher – Faksimiledrucke – Reprints) are issued under the series [BVK]. Other series issued include Hortus Musicus [HM], Ausgaben ohne Editionsnummern [AoE], etc.

In 1950 Bärenreiter absorbed the short-lived Johann-Philipp Hinnenthal Verlag, founded in Bielefeld in 1946. This brought the Hortus Musicus series of Baroque works, and Hinnenthal continued to work as an editor.

Since 1951 Bärenreiter has specialised in New Complete Editions series of major composers, extending and superseding the many Gesamtausgabe editions published in the 19th and 20th centuries by Breitkopf und Härtel. These scholarly-critical editions intend to represent the composer's intentions, or »urtext«, as closely as possible, and serve both “scholars and performing musicians alike while reflecting the latest findings of musicological research”.

Composers covered in these series include J.S. Bach, W.A. Mozart, F. Schubert, G.F. Handel, G.P. Telemann, C.W. von Gluck, H. Berlioz, F. Berwald, H. Schütz, O. di Lasso, A. Corelli, and others. Bärenreiter has also issued some complete editions jointly with other publishers, including the composers N.W. Gade, L. Janáček, F. Liszt, and J.-P. Rameau, as well as smaller projects such as Beethoven’s complete symphonies edited by Jonathan Del Mar.

Imprints, Addresses, Agencies

Imprints

• Bärenreiter Verlag
• Baerenreiter
• Hortus Musicus
• Nagel's Musik-Archiv

Editions

• Complete or collected editions of eg
  • Johann Sebastian Bach Neue Bach-Ausgabe (Bach, Johann Sebastian) 112 vol.
  • Hector Berlioz New Edition of the Complete Works (Berlioz, Hector) 26 vol.
  • Franz Berwald Complete Works 26 vol.
  • Francesco Cavalli Opere 14 vol.
  • Das deutsche Kirchenlied 17 vol.
  • Das Erbe deutscher Musik 125 vol.
  • Gabriel Fauré Complete Works of Gabriel Fauré 28 vol.
  • Niels Gade Works 37 vol.
  • Christoph Willibald Gluck Complete Edition 60 vol.
  • George Frideric Handel Hallische Händel-Ausgabe (Handel, George Frideric) 128 vol.
  • Leoš Janáček Complete Critical Edition of the Works of Leoš Janáček 50 vol.
  • Orlande de Lassus Orlando di Lasso: Sämtliche Werke, neue Reihe 26 vol.
  • Leonhard Lechner Works 14 vol.
  • Bohuslav Martinů Die Bohuslav Martinu Complete Edition 104 vol.
  • Monumenta Monodica Medii Aevi 26 vol.
  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Neue Mozart-Ausgabe 126 vol.
  • OPERA Historical-critical Hybrid Editions 16 vol.
  • L'Opéra français Musiktheater zwischen Revolution und Moderne 10 vol.
  • Johann Pachelbel Complete Vocal Works 11 vol.
  • Jean-Philippe Rameau Opera omnia 38 vol.
  • Rhau Georg Music prints from 1538 to 1545 in a new performing edition 13 vol.
  • Gioachino Rossini Works 11 vol.
  • Camille Saint-Saëns Œuvres instrumentales complètes 36 vol.
  • Johann Hermann Schein New Edition of the Complete Works 13 vol.
  • Franz Schubert New Edition of the Complete Works 83 vol.
  • Heinrich Schütz Neue Schütz-Ausgabe (Schütz, Heinrich) 45 vol.
  • Georg Philipp Telemann Musical Works 67 vol.

Plate Numbers

Instrumental codes

e.g. the first violin part associated with BA 4018 would be BA 4018-74.

External Links

• Company Website
• Wikipedia Article

Authority control

VIAF Bärenreiter