In the autumn of 1994, after more than a decade in preparation, Trial By Jury, the first volume in Broude Brothers' critical edition of the operas of Gilbert and Sullivan, came off the press. This was an event of considerable musical importance, since, as one reviewer observed, the Savoy Operas probably command a larger audience than does any other body of music written before 1900 - including the works of Bach, Mozart, or Verdi.
Gilbert & Sullivan: The Operas benefits from the participation of a broad range of authorities: practical musicians (including former members of the D'Oyly Carte organizations), musicologists, and textual critics have contributed to this edition. The result is a pragmatic compromise between the scholarly and the practical, usable both by scholars and by conductors and performers. The editorial mechanism adopted seeks to make users aware of the editorial process without being distractingly intrusive.
Each volume begins with an historical introduction discussing the creation of the opera, its reception, and its stage history. There follows a statement of the editorial policies, with full explanations of the ways in which these policies have been developed to address the problems posed by the work being edited.
At the heart of each volume are the critical editions of libretto and score. Every effort has been made to keep the appearance of the score as clean as possible while signalling "on the page" the various levels of editorial intervention. The edition of the libretto precedes the score; it is accompanied by a report of emendations and variants and by a commentary that elucidates allusions and terminology that are specialized or peculiar to Victorian England.
The critical apparatus consists of a detailed description of the sources, a discussion of their relationships to each other, a report of all emendations and of all variants in substantive sources, and a table of the passages realized by following Sullivan's verbal instructions. Appendices present such relevant documentation as sketches, excerpts from correspondence, and music and text not present in the "settled" version of the opera. The volume concludes with a bibliography.
General Editors : Steven Ledbetter, Percy M Young
Editorial Board : Reginald Allen, Dinah Barsham, James Ellis, Philip Gossett, Roger Harris, Gerald Hendrie, John Bush Jones, David Mackie, Richard Sherr, Frederic Woodbridge Wilson, John Wolfson.
The critical edition of Gilbert and Sullivan's operas will be complete in thirteen volumes, one devoted to each of the operas for which the complete musical score survives. Each volume will measure approximately 25 by 33 cm and will be printed on acid-free paper and bound in durable library cloth.
 |  |