Festliches Praeludium, Op. 61/ TrV 229: Full Orchestra Conductor Score & Parts

Richard Strauss (1864-1949) composed his Festliches Präludium (Festival Prelude), Op. 61, TrV 229 in 1913, completing the work at Garmisch on May 11, for the ceremonial opening of the newly constructed Wiener Konzerthaus in Vienna. Conceived specifically to exploit the imposing dimensions and new organ of the Great Hall, the work belongs to Strauss's most extravagant orchestral period, between Der Rosenkavalier and Eine Alpensinfonie, and calls for an enormous ensemble including quadruple woodwinds, heckelphone, eight horns, four onstage trumpets, six (optionally twelve) additional offstage trumpets, four trombones, tuba, two sets of timpani, percussion, organ, and exceptionally large divided string sections. Marked Festlich bewegt and cast in a single movement in C major, the prelude was conceived as monumental ceremonial music, using massive brass and organ sonorities, antiphonal effects, broad lyrical episodes, and contrapuntal writing to fill the new hall with a deliberately spectacular display of orchestral power. Its scale also anticipates aspects of the still more elaborate orchestration Strauss would employ in Eine Alpensinfonie. Festliches Präludium received its world premiere on October 19, 1913, at the inaugural concert of the Wiener Konzerthaus, with Ferdinand Löwe conducting the Orchester des Wiener Konzertvereines and Rudolf Dittrich at the organ, in the presence of Emperor Franz Joseph I. The historic program continued with Bach's G-minor Organ Fantasy and Fugue, BWV 542, and Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, deliberately juxtaposing a new ceremonial work with monuments of the established repertoire. Today, Festliches Präludium, Op. 61 occupies a distinctive but relatively infrequent place in Strauss's orchestral repertoire: although overshadowed by the tone poems and operas, and impractical for many concert programs because of its exceptionally large instrumental forces and prominent organ part, it continues to be performed and recorded for suitably grand occasions and remains one of Strauss's most spectacular examples of ceremonial orchestration, valued particularly for the overwhelming sonority with which he combines symphony orchestra, organ, and spatially separated brass. Instrumentation: 4+1(Picc).4+1(Hklphn).4+1(EbCl).4+1(CBsn): 8.4.4.1: Timp(2).Perc(1): Org: Str (9.8.4-4.3-3.5 in set): 12 (or 6) Off-stage Tpts. Additional string parts may be ordered from the publisher if needed. Reprint edition.