Prelude to a complete Gesualdo edition
Bärenreiter-Verlag begins publishing a complete edition of Carlo Gesualdo's works. The edition is planned for twelve volumes. It is intended to provide both performers and scholars with in-depth access to the work of the Renaissance composer.
The new critical edition is based on the examination of all existing sources, be they prints or manuscripts, and for the first time really evaluates them in terms of their origin and relevance. Beginning with the volume "Madrigali a cinque voci. Libro quinto", which will be published in 2018, two volumes will generally be published each year.
Preferred sources are the first editions, all of which were published under Gesualdo's direct supervision. A partitura created in 1613 by the Genoese chapel master Simone Molinaro is also included due to its undeniable historical significance and as an exemplary testimony to Gesualdo's reception in more recent times.
Particular attention is paid to the "alterations". The original Gesualdan system has been reinstated for them. In the six madrigal volumes, in view of the importance of Molinaro's partitura and its particular subdivision into "caselle", these subdivisions are indicated in the new edition by dotted lines above the uppermost pentagram in exact correspondence with the partitura of 1613.
