Some (*not I*) might, with considerable justice, insist that only a
photocopy of something somehow original (is that qualified
enough?:-)) should be called an urtext. The reality is that urtext
is one of those concepts, like beauty and progress, that has to
mean different things to different people, and that's the way it
is.
Well, the German word `Urtext' has *absolutely nothing* to do with the
autograph! It may be translated best as `that what the composer
intended to tell the reader', and you all know that the autograph
isn't necessarily the best source to fulfill this request. `Urtext'
is an abstract concept.
The prefix `ur' is very difficult to translate, especially to get the
right shading of the word, cf. Goethe's small collection of poems
`Urworte, orphisch'. Here he means words which have some eternal
properties: daimon (daemon), eros (love), elpis (hope), and others.
A reproduction of an original is called `Faksimile' in German, and
*nobody* expects here that an Urtext edition exactly represents the
autograph (nevertheless it is quite common that one or two pages are
reproduced from the autograph). People expect more: An `Urtext'
should be based on all sources available, followed by a critical
comment listing all oddities and peculiarities.
To cite the introducing words of the Bach edition of his complete
works:
Die Neue Bach-Ausgabe (NBA) ist eine Urtextausgabe; sie soll der
Wissenschaft einen einwandfreien Originaltext der Werke J.S.Bachs
bieten und gleichzeitig als zuverl�ssige Grundlage f�r praktische
Auff�hrungen dienen.
[The New Bach Edition is an Urtext edition; it should offer a
perfect original text of Bach's works and simultaneosly serve as a
reliable basis for practical performances.]
It is much more important that editions be good than be urtext, and
when the autograph doesn't exist and the first publication was
pirated, an edition isn't worth a bucket of cac unless revised by a
trained, experienced, and sympathetic *composer*--*not* trained,
talented, experienced, accomplished professional musician, *not*
concert performer and star, *not* scholar, expert and reseacher,
*not* engraver maven--*composer*. :-)
This is debatable, but I fully agree that composers usually make the
best editions.
Werner
