Historical Editions (music) - Complete Works

Complete Works

The German music publisher Breitkopf & Härtel initiated many of the earliest complete works series of major composers. A few of these include:

• Johann Sebastian Bach: Werke (1851-1900; supplemental volume 1926)
• George Frideric Handel: Werke (1858-1902)
• Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina: Werke (1862-1907)
• Ludwig van Beethoven: Werke (1862-65, supplemental volume 1888)
• Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy: Werke (1874-1877)
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Werke (1877-1883, supplements until 1910)

Many of these early complete works series were edited by music scholars or composers famous in their own right, such as Johannes Brahms, Guido Adler, Julius Rietz, Friedrich Chrysander, and others.

After the upheavals of World War I and World War II, which slowed the output of musical scholarship and publishing, renewed activity led to many new series as well as to a reassessment of the older complete works series. New techniques in photographic and other types of reproduction allowed scholars to consult many more early sources, either in microfilm or facsimile copies. Entirely new series were published for several major composers for whom complete works sets already existed. These updated editions incorporated new scholarship in their editing and allowed for a broader definition of complete works, often including early versions of pieces, sketches, and so on. Many of these new series have been published by the German music publisher Bärenreiter, and include:

• Bach: Neue Bach-Ausgabe (1954-)
• Handel: Hallische Händel-Ausgabe (1955-)
• Mozart: Neue Mozart-Ausgabe (1955-)

In addition to the reworking of older Complete Works series, many new series have been initiated for composers not previously featured in this way. Some examples include:

• Leoš Janáček: Complete Critical Edition (1978-)
• Edward Elgar: Elgar Complete Edition (1981-)
• Alban Berg: Sämtliche Werke (1984-)
• Claude Debussy: Oeuvres complètes (1985-)
• Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach: The Complete Works (2005-)
• Johann Christian Bach: Collected Works (1984-99)

It would be impossible to list here all of the new Complete Works series that have been initiated in the last century. Some of the major publishers of these series include Breitkopf & Härtel, Bärenreiter, Stainer & Bell, G. Henle Verlag, and others.