Pianophilia

I've just looked on my bookshelf. These are my seven 2H Meyerbeers:-
Huguenots, l'Etoile du Nord, Afrikana, Ploermel, Herodiade,
Robert the Devil, and Le Prophete. Unfortunately Crociato isn't here!
I thought I'd got it. Damn.
The four 2H Massenets next to them are Ariane, Le Cid, Manon,
and Werther.

Timtin wrote:I've just looked on my bookshelf. These are my seven 2H Meyerbeers:-
Huguenots, l'Etoile du Nord, Afrikana, Ploermel, Herodiade,
Robert the Devil, and Le Prophete.

Is there a Herodiade by Meyerbeer? Never heard of that. I only know the one by Massenet.

It was late at night. All the scores were together on the shelf under 'M'. I made a silly mistake.
That's the bad news. The good news is that I know I've got a total of seven Meyerbeer
operas in 2H, therefore the one somewhere else (misfiled) is Crociato, which is why
I was surprised that it wasn't with everything else. Apologies for the cock-up. As I said,
it was two in the morning.....

The mystery of the missing 2H Il Crociato score is now solved.
I do indeed have it - it is one of several 2H operas (including ones by
Mercadante and Pessard) bound together in a single Edition Bijou book,
filed in another room (not misfiled), due to its small size compared
with normal music. Isn't life complicated!
Really, I should compile a complete list of my 2H opera scores, of
which there are about 200, not including internet downloads.
Of these, for the sheer quality of the music, Halevy and Meyerbeer
seem mightily impressive, when compared with some of the more
famous composers who contributed to the medium of opera. But
nobody beats Mozart imco!

Timtin wrote:The mystery of the missing 2H Il Crociato score is now solved.
I do indeed have it - it is one of several 2H operas (including ones by
Mercadante and Pessard) bound together in a single Edition Bijou book,
filed in another room (not misfiled), due to its small size compared
with normal music. Isn't life complicated!

This sounds like it might be the same Crociato I have (had?). It too was really a tiny volume, a pocket-size book along the lines of one I have for Marcailhou waltzes. Can't remember what language the Crociato edition was in - somehow I think the title was not in Italian, but obvious which opera it was. But I might be thinking of something else.

At some point, I'll scan this Meyerbeer for you, if you like,
although Bijous in hard bindings can be an absolute b******
to do, because of the tight curvature of each pair of
pages towards the centre spine.

GJF323 wrote:This sounds like it might be the same Crociato I have (had?). It too was really a tiny volume, a pocket-size book along the lines of one I have for Marcailhou waltzes. Can't remember what language the Crociato edition was in - somehow I think the title was not in Italian, but obvious which opera it was. But I might be thinking of something else.

According to this link
http://www.sudoc.abes.fr/DB=2.1/SRCH?IK ... =125802730
there is in the collection Edition Bijou one published with the French title Le Croisé en Egypte, and with French words.
However it is the vocal score and it has 319 pages.

The score in front of me right now is:-

Il Crociato de G. Meyerbeer. Partition Piano Seul. Réduite par V. Hammerel.
Edition Bijou No.25, Paris, Chez Alphonse Leduc, n.d.(ca.1875), 107pp. Plate A.L.3514.

Hope this helps.

Regards, Tim.

Mendelssohnians might be licking their lips this morning, poring (pawing?) over
the newly uploaded score to Sibley of Elijah Op70, arranged for piano solo by
Robert Wittman, and comparing it with the alternative transcription by Louis Köhler.

Shock news:- Wittman was born 5 years before Mendelssohn, and is, apparently,
still alive! (This must be due to Elijah's influence, since he never died either.)

Please note that IMSLP now has available a rather nice arrangement by Hermann
for piano solo of William Sterndale Bennett's The Wood Nymphs Overture Op20,
as well as a new-to-the-public-domain piano score of Bizet's greatly over-rated
opera Carmen arranged for piano solo by Ruthardt, and Donzetti's great opera
Don Pasquale arranged for piano solo by Nordmann.
I could give the hyper-links, but I'm sure that's not necessary, since anyone
interested in any of the works will know how to find them anyway.
If you're surprised by my comment about the Bizet, just check out the
rather indifferent quality of the music in between the famous bits.
Another greatly over-rated opera imo is Smetana's The Bartered Bride,
but more about that, plus (you guessed it) the complete 2H score,
another time.