Scores for Orchestra

Likely written by Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) in 1763, Symphony No. 16 in B-flat (Hob. I:16) was among the first symphonies written when Haydn was employed by the Esterházy family. In three movements, th...

Peter Ilyitch Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) wrote the 3-act opera MAZEPPA between 1881-1883. With a libretto by Victor Burenin, based on Pushkin's poem Poltava, the opera takes the late 17th century histori...

Edward Elgar (1857-1934) wrote the short orchestral piece titled Sevillaña (Scène Espagnole), Op. 7 in 1884 when the composer was twenty-six. 1884 was a time of personal difficulty for Elgar as his en...

AIDA, with music by Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901) and a libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni, is a staple of the operatic repertoire. The story, set in the Old Kingdom of Egypt, tells of tragic love challenge...

Edvard Grieg (1843-1907) wrote Lyric Pieces as a collection of 66 short works for piano. Published in ten volumes, Book VIII, Op. 65, contains six pieces, which includes "Bryllupsdag på Troldhaugen" (...

Italian composer Pietro Mascagni (1863-1945) wrote L'amico Fritz in 1891 only one year after his masterpiece Cavalleria rusticana began the Versimo movement. A charming light opera in three acts, L'am...

NABUCCO, a retelling of the biblical story of Jewish exile under the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar, was Giuseppe Verdi's (1813-1901) first major operatic success, and was written reluctantly, followi...

While Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847) modestly refers to Hear My Prayer (Hör' mein Bitten) in G Major, WoO 15, as "a trifle," it is among his most popular works for chorus. On the autograph score, he in...

While Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847) modestly refers to Hear My Prayer (Hör' mein Bitten) in G Major, WoO 15, as "a trifle," it is among his most popular works for chorus. On the autograph score, he in...

Premiering on May 22, 1813, at the Teatro San Benedetto in Venice, L'italiana in Algeri (The Italian Girl in Algiers) by Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868) was a success, with subsequent performances in Vi...

Edward Elgar's (1857-1934) Symphony No. 1 in A-flat, Op. 55 was completed in 1908, although it was a work about a decade in the making. Originally proposed as early as 1898 as a programmatic work base...

Originally written for piano four hands in 1879, Hungarian Dances (WoO 1), a set of 21 lively dance tunes mostly based on Hungarian themes, are among Johannes Brahms' (1833-1897) most popular works to...

The first performance of I Vespri Siciliani (The Sicilian Vespers), a five-act opera by Guiseppe Verdi (1813-1901), took place at the Paris Opera on June 13, 1855, under the direction of Narcisse Gira...

Manon Lescaut, the third opera and first notable success of Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924), took shape between 1889 and 1892. Five different writers worked on its libretto. The Teatro Regio in Turin saw...

Cellist and composer David Popper published the CELLO CONCERTO No. 5 in C major, Hob. VIIb:5, in 1899 as a completion of stetches supposedly made by Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809). Due to more recent...

Based on Norse heroic legends, the sprawling operatic drama DER RING DES NIBELUNGEN took Richard Wagner (1813-1883) over twenty-five years to complete. Through a vast web of leitmotifs, melodic fragme...

The ballet THE SEASONS (LES SAISONS), Op. 67 was composed by Alexander Glazunov (1865-1936) for famous choreographer Marius Petipa in 1899. Originally intended to be written by Glazunov's friend Ricca...

Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) composed SONGS TO POEMS BY RUECKERT (SONGS AFTER RÜCKERT; RÜCKERT-LIEDER) between 1901 and 1902. They were not conceived of as a cycle, with each song only connected by the p...

Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) began composing the songs of DES KNABEN WUNDERHORN (THE BOY'S MAGIC HORN) in 1892, finishing in 1901. Comprised of 15 songs total by the end, each sets folktale texts, as pub...

Spring Song, Op. 16 (Vårsång) was written in 1894 by Jean Sibelius (1865-1957) and was initially titled Improvisation for Orchestra. Sibelius revised the single-movement tone poem a year later and ret...

While librettist W.S. Gilbert (1836-1911) and composer Arthur Sullivan (1842-1900) had worked previously in 1871-72 to write Thespis, a work for the Christmas season, the 1875 one-act comic opera Tria...

HOLOUBEK (THE WILD DOVE), Op. 110/B. 198, is an orchestra poem composed by Antonín Dvorák (1841-1904) in 1896. Revised in January of the next year, it tells the story of a woman who poisons her husban...

In 1896, soon after his return from America to his Bohemian homeland, Antonín Dvorák wrote a set of four orchestral pieces based on Karel Jaromír Erben's collection of poetry A BOUQUET OF FOLK LEGENDS...

This most beautiful orchestration by Alfred Reed is now available with a full score and parts. The haunting, sonorous, transcendent charm of this beloved melody makes it an appropriate addition to any...

Gianni Schicchi is a one-act comic opera by Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924). The final and most popular opera in a trio known as Il trittico (The Triptych), each one dealing with the concealment of a deat...