Edition of Reger Works
Max Reger, a composer internationally known especially for his organ works, was similarly prolific as a composer of chamber music, Lieder and other vocal works, orchestral and piano music. According to his times arrangements of works by other composers was equally part of his compositional life. The Reger Thematic Catalogue for the very first time has dealt with both the original compositions and his arrangements and his editions of compositions by others, altogether printed in no less than fifty-two original publishers.
In the 1950s the publishing house of Breitkopf & Härtel began, supported by the then recently founded Max Reger Institute, a Complete Edition intended to collect the widely dispersed works (as well as a number of unpublished compositions). Sadly, the edition has not stood the test of time; the arrangements of compositions by others are entirely missing, other genres were presented in a score that can only be called disfiguring. Editorial guidelines were not available, nor Critical reports or the description of sources.
Most urgently to be dealt with, the Edition of Reger works deals with three groups of works:
- Organ Works (7 vols.)
- Lieder and choral works (10 vols.)
- Arrangements (11 vols.)
Each volume will contain both the printed score and an accompanying DVD-ROM, the latter one to supply textual variants in a largely extended way as well as a huge amount of additional information.
The edition of Reger works has commenced in January 2008 at the MRI in connection with the so-called Akademienprogramm; it is funded by the Mainzer Akademie der Wissenschaften und Literatur. The co-operation partner of the MRI is the Institute for Musicology and Music computer sciences at the University of Music Karlsruhe.
Project management: Prof. Dr. Susanne Popp (MRI) and Prof. Dr. Thomas Seedorf (University of Music, Institute of Musicology) in co-operation with Prof. Dr. Thomas A. Troge (University of Music, Institute of Music computer sciences)
Research Associates: Dr. des. Alexander Becker, Dr. Christopher Grafschmidt, Dr. Stefan König and Dr. Stefanie Steiner
Research Assistants: Katharina Rehn and Frank Zalkow
Email contact: rwa@max-reger-institut.de
Publisher: Carus-Verlag, Stuttgart
Prof. Dr. Susanne Popp, Project management
Prof. Dr. Thomas Seedorf, Project management
