Elgar Complete Edition

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I wonder if there are others who are collecting this (or or another composer's) complete edition. Novello began publishing the Complete Elgar Edition in 1981, with a beautifully bound full score of the 1st Symphony, followed soon afterwards by The Dream of Gerontius. Volumed were promised at 6-month intervals, which would have resulted in all 43 volumes being available by 2003. However, once Music Sales took over Novello, the venture was dropped (1993) with only 14 volumes completed. The Elgar Society stepped in in 2000, and although things were very slow in getting going again, volumes have appear roughly every 8 months in recent years, so that we now have 27/43 volumes to appreciate. The quality of the newer ones outshines even the very smart Novello volumes, as the music has been reoriginated and there is more detailed editorial content.

My enthusiasm for this edition has been undimmed over the last 31 years (half of my life ) but there are still 19 volumes to go.

Does anyone else collect the complete scores of any composer?

[Pabmusic]

I wonder if there are others who are collecting this (or or another composer's) complete edition. Novello began publishing the Complete Elgar Edition in 1981, with a beautifully bound full score of the 1st Symphony, followed soon afterwards by The Dream of Gerontius. Volumed were promised at 6-month intervals, which would have resulted in all 43 volumes being available by 2003. However, once Music Sales took over Novello, the venture was dropped (1993) with only 14 volumes completed. The Elgar Society stepped in in 2000, and although things were very slow in getting going again, volumes have appear roughly every 8 months in recent years, so that we now have 24/43 volumes to appreciate. The quality of the newer ones outshines even the very smart Novello volumes, as the music has been reoriginated and there is more detailed editorial content.

My enthusiasm for this edition has been undimmed over the last 31 years (half of my life ) but there are still 19 volumes to go.

Does anyone else collect the complete scores of any composer?

I, too, have collected all the volumes of the Elgar so far. When Music Sales stopped the project, they pulped any unsold volumes - which was only to be expected, I suppose.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I, too, have collected all the volumes of the Elgar so far. When Music Sales stopped the project, they pulped any unsold volumes - which was only to be expected, I suppose.

I don't think it was quite as bad as that. They certainly pulped a large number, including all "The Spanish Lady" volumes, and a significant proportion of "The Kingdom", and more, but the vandalism was stopped before too much damage could be done. Since then, I've avoided buying Music Sales publications whenever there's an alternative.

[Pabmusic]

I don't think it was quite as bad as that. They certainly pulped a large number, including all "The Spanish Lady" volumes, and a significant proportion of "The Kingdom", and more, but the vandalism was stopped before too much damage could be done. Since then, I've avoided buying Music Sales publications whenever there's an alternative.

Oh - that's better than it might have been.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Are there any other Complete Editions of British composers?

[Pabmusic]

Are there any other Complete Editions of British composers?

OUP started a Walton edition, and Faber began a Holst one, reprinting the autographs, though I don't think either was ever completed. You can also get three study scores from MPH of Munich (http://www.musikmph.de/) that contain all of George Butterworth's surviving music.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

This suggests that the Walton Edition may still be continuing:

http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/category/music/series/waltonseries/walton.do

[teamsaint]

I wonder if there are others who are collecting this (or or another composer's) complete edition. Novello began publishing the Complete Elgar Edition in 1981, with a beautifully bound full score of the 1st Symphony, followed soon afterwards by The Dream of Gerontius. Volumed were promised at 6-month intervals, which would have resulted in all 43 volumes being available by 2003. However, once Music Sales took over Novello, the venture was dropped (1993) with only 14 volumes completed. The Elgar Society stepped in in 2000, and although things were very slow in getting going again, volumes have appear roughly every 8 months in recent years, so that we now have 24/43 volumes to appreciate. The quality of the newer ones outshines even the very smart Novello volumes, as the music has been reoriginated and there is more detailed editorial content.

My enthusiasm for this edition has been undimmed over the last 31 years (half of my life ) but there are still 19 volumes to go.

Does anyone else collect the complete scores of any composer?

I have enough trouble finding room for CD's, EA, but those scores must give you a lot of pleasure. I really hope you get to own the lot one day.
It is scary when you can measure things in half lives etc !!(and I don't mean radiation !)

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I have enough trouble finding room for CD's, EA, but those scores must give you a lot of pleasure. I really hope you get to own the lot one day.
It is scary when you can measure things in half lives etc !!(and I don't mean radiation !)

I estimate that I'll be 75 by the time the Elgar Society Edition is complete. So I'm hopeful.

And yes, the scores do take up a lot of shelf space.

http://www.elgarmuseum.org/index.php/the-elgar-shop/scores-a-sheet-music/category/41/96/Scores-&-Sheet-Music/The-Elgar-Complete-Edition

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

It's Happy Time again, with another volume being due any time now - the Overtures (Froissart, Cockaigne and In the South) and the volume contains sketches of works that never came to fruition:
The Lakes Overture, The Scottish Overture and City of Dreadful Night (sequel to Cockaigne).

This is one of the 12 large format volumes in the edition, containing as it does works for very large orchestra. The majority of the Edition has a slightly smaller page size.

If I make this sound like an advertisement, I can assure everyone I have no financial interest in the enterprise.

[secondfiddle]

Are there any other Complete Editions of British composers?

There is an excellent collected edition of the music of Delius.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Is the Delius Edition complete?

[secondfiddle]

Is the Delius Edition complete?

Yes, it is.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Still only 27/43 volumes in the Elgar Edition, but it's moving forward positively, with new volumes arriving every 6 months.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I read in the latest Elgar Society News that Novello has sold out of full scores of The Dream of Gerontius, and as the Elgar Society is committed to publishing the remaining unpublished 16 volumes, it may be a long wait before republication, unless some enterprising publisher gets in earlier. In the meantime, my copy must have shot up in value.