Composer:MONTEVERDI, C.
Arranger: Schnebele, M.
Arranged/Written for: Quartett Instrumentation: SATB Style: Renaissance/Barock Score and Parts
The opera "L'Orfeo" by Monteverdi therefore stands at the interface between the Renaissance and the early Baroque. Your subject comes from antiquity, for whose shapes and events you had a special soft spot at the time. The story of the singer Orpheus and his beloved wife Eurydice was "in", and Monteverdi was one of the first to turn this material into an opera.
Why now a version of the instrumental movements and choirs from this opera for an ensemble of saxophones, i.e. for instruments of modern times? There are several aspects that speak in favor of such an undertaking: Saxophones are the only modern instruments that are made and used as a family; Despite all the typological similarities, their sizes differ so clearly in sound that they can be used like a "consort". As a result, new sound dimensions can be opened up for "old" music - while retaining its structural peculiarities - whereby its performance possibilities and thus its chances of reaching an audience are increased in the present; - In this way, this beautiful old music is made accessible to players of modern instruments, namely the saxophone, it expands and enriches their instrumental repertoire. It serves the learner as study material in terms of playing technique, style and aesthetics.
From the five acts of the opera, all instrumental movements and choirs suitable for the aforementioned purposes have been composed for a four-part saxophone ensemble. Dynamic designations, tempo indications, breathing caesuras and articulation are to be understood as suggestions by the editor. It is in the nature of this music that it can be easily played on saxophones; interpretationally, it is an attractive task.
