Editions

Except for Op 5, all Medtner's works up to Op 15 were originally published by P Jurgenson. Copyright on these works is handled by Rob. Forberg, who have reprinted some of them. Op 5 was published by Belaieff, represented by Edition Peters. Works between Op 16 and Op 32 were published by Édition Russe de Musique (Russischer Musikverlag), whose European operation was purchased by Boosey & Hawkes in 1947. Op 33-37 were first published by the Soviet State Publishing House, following the nationalisation of the Russian musical press in 1918. Op 34-35 were republished in the west by Édition Russe de Musique, and Op 36-37 by Zimmermann. Op 33 is currently published by Boosey & Hawkes as a reprint of the Soviet edition, so Édition Russe de Musique may have acquired publishing rights for that work too. Thereafter most of Medtner's works were published by Zimmermann, who have kept all except Op 36, Op 41 no 2 and Op 46 in print. The exceptions are Opp 56-57, published by Novello (now part of Music Sales Group), Op 58 by Augener (now Stainer & Bell), and Op 61 by Belaieff (Peters). Tyutchev's Midday, later incorporated into Op 61, was first published in a song anthology by Schirmer, New York in 1946.

Later engravings of Jurgenson and Édition Russe de Musique scores in Germany often contain revisions to the original, generally in the form of additional markings, whereas those republished by Soviet State Music Publishers prior to 1959 usually do not.

The most authoritative complete edition is the Medtner Collected Edition published in 12 volumes by Moscow State Music Publishers in 1959-1963, hereafter referred to as the 1959 Collected Edition. Edited by Sofronitsky and Goldenweiser with the aid of original manuscripts provided by Anna Medtner, it corrects errors in earlier editions and incorporates many changes made by the composer during his lifetime. Copies are scarce in the west, but the Bodleian Library (UK) and Yale University (US) each have a complete set. Westminster Music Library has volumes 1, 4, 5, 7 and 11 available on loan. I have them all except volume 6; if you know where I might obtain the missing volume please let me know! The only widely available music in print based on the Collected Edition appears to be the Dover edition of the Piano Sonatas and Fairy Tales; however the two sonata volumes are now permanently out of print.

Moscow "Muzyka" republished all Medtner works from the Collected Edition in later years, often more than once, and re-engraved some of them. Only Op 38 and Op 39 are currently available.

Christoph Flamm has recently produced critical editions of Op 39, Op 49 and Op 51 for Zimmermann, and Zen-On has published a critical edition of Op 38. A few other editions have appeared in countries where copyright has lapsed; those seen by the author have reproduced previous editions.

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