Ruddigore

This edition is complete, clear, and practical as well as being scholarly and authoritative. It returns to the primary sources to present the music and libretto as performed during the original Savoy Theatre run. Vocal scores and full scores include the complete libretto. Clearly printed orchestral parts, matching exactly the text given in the full and vocal scores, are available on hire. Vocal scores and full scores include all the important completed but discarded material, and a series of appendices includes hitherto unpublished material from the Ghost Scene and elsewhere. This is conveniently cued from the music pages for easy inclusion. The full score, handsomely engraved and bound, contains extensive introductory notes.

About the Author :
Born in London in 1842, Arthur Sullivan trained at the Chapel Royal, the Royal Academy of Music, and the Leipzig Conservatoire. His incidental music to Shakespeare's The Tempest made him an overnight celebrity when it was performed at the Crystal Palace in 1862. He went on to compose in practically every musical genre: oratorio, cantata, symphony, concerto, ceremonial works, incidental music for the stage, piano and chamber works, songs, hymns and anthems. His celebrated collaboration with W. S. Gilbert produced fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896. There are also ten operas with other librettists. Immeasurably the greatest British musician of the Victorian era, he held honorary doctorates from both Oxford and Cambridge, was knighted in 1883 and died in London in 1900. © Sir Arthur Sullivan Society David Russell Hulme (b.1951) is a Welsh conductor and musicologist known particularly for his research and publications on the music of Sir Arthur Sullivan. Hulme became University College of Wales's first Director of Music in 1992 and conducts the Philomusica, Choral Union and University Sinfonia there. He also took charge of the Aberystwyth Choral Society in 2002.

Review :
'Also from Oxford comes a scholarly and authoritative edition of Gilbert and Sullivan's Ruddigore. The beauty of this edition (and the vocal score is beautifully engraved) is that it returns to the music and libretto of the original Savoy Theatre run and, for good measure, includes a certain amount of previously unpublished material as appendices, conveniently cued for inclusion, as well as the complete libretto. Perhaps this will be another OUP trail blazer? It deserves to be.' Music Teacher May 2001 In Sullivan's centenary year one of the best ways of honouring the composer, besides performing his music, is to publish a new and scholarly edition of one of his works. This is what Oxford University Press have done with the new Ruddigore edited by David Russell Hulme ... For the first time in 113 years we can now get closer to the work as Gilbert and Sullivan intended it ... All that is needed to create an original Ruddigore is contained in the vocal score, full score and orchestral parts of the new OUP edition, with its appendices of the 'lost sections ... The vocal score incorporates the libretto, which is a tremendous advantage during the rehearsal period when hopping between score and separate libretto is an annoying and time consuming operation ... This is also evident in the painstaking and thorough editing of the musical score ... Sir Arthur Sullivan Society Magazine Autumn 2000 ... which has clear background notes in the Critical Commentary. For the musician this is one of the most valuable and interesting sections of the full score. I found it much easier to use than the one which accompanies the Broude Brothers Trial by Jury ... The priting of the full score, on white paper as opposed to cream for the Broude edition, is crystal clear - very important for a conductor ... The piano reduction for the vocal score, though based on the Tracy original has been edited to remove inconsistencies, improve distribution between the hands or to mirror more clearly the orchestral setting ... Sir Arthur Sullivan Society Magazine Autumn 2000 ... I cannot recommend these scores highly enough, because at one stroke they supercede all others both past and present. OUP deserves support and praise for being the first British publisher to honour Sullivan in this way. Chappells, who have made a mint from selling libretti and vocal scores, should have been doing this sort of thing years ago. Their support of Sullivan in his Centenary Year is boomingly silent Sir Arthur Sullivan Society Magazine Autumn 2000 'I warmly welcome this addition to the OUP catalogue ... David Russell Hulme has done every Savoyard worth his salt, a considerable favour ... As if all the foregoing is not recommendation enough, this score has been edited in such a way that it will be an excellent choice for stage managers and directors as well as for the music staff. Any Savoyard worth his/her salt, will want a copy of this one.' Henry Howell, Australian Music Teacher March 2001