Günter Graulich:
the publisher as editor

 

Vivaldi Gloria

On 2 July the publisher, church musician and educator Günter Graulich celebrated his 90th birthday. He is one of the major personalities in German publishing of the post-war period, and built up Carus from a two-person family firm to a medium-sized business. Since 2001 his son Dr. Johannes Graulich is head of Carus.

 

Günter Graulich has devoted himself in particular to vocal music. With a background as a practising musician, as a publisher Graulich has edited many important scholarly-critical editions himself – often with far-reaching consequences, if we take, for example, his edition of Rheinberger's Abendlied or the first critical edition of Vivaldi's Gloria. We would like to introduce some of his own editions to you:

 

 

 

 

Vivaldi Gloria

Antonio Vivaldi: Gloria in D

Vivaldi's Gloria was the first edition by Carus: Günter Graulich was always searching in libraries for unknown works for his Motettenchor Stuttgart, as was the case for the concert marking the choir's 20 th anniversary in 1971. He found what he was looking for in Turin and on the basis of the autograph scores preserved there he assembled a program of Vivaldi's Latin church music both for choir and polychoral ensembles, which was at that time still mostly unknown. Included among these works was the Gloria, which has been only available in arrangements so far. Later this work was also recorded by Günter Graulich together with other works from Vivaldi. Since its publication the Gloria has been performed thousands of times and it has led to the worldwide success of Carus as a music publisher. This first edition by Carus-Verlag stands as an example of the aspirations of its founder, Günter Graulich: to continually expand the choral repertoire with something valuable, and to make unjustly forgotten works accessible again, critically edited in outstanding quality at reasonable prices.

 

 


 

 

Mendelssohn 42. Psalm

Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy: Like as the hart longs

It is no longer in question that Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy is a composer of the first rank and one of the chief representatives of musical Romanticism. Mendelssohn did not always enjoy this high regard, and after his music was banned during the Third Reich it seemed difficult to approach it impartially. Whilst musicologists continued to speak of the “problem of Mendelssohn”, practising musicians succeeded in finding a way through this legacy of prejudice. Oratorio choirs have taken up his long-neglected vocal works with tremendous enthusiasm. In a unique major undertaking, Carus succeeded in presenting Mendelssohn's complete sacred vocal works, including 32 first editions, in time for the anniversary year in 1997 in new editions. Unlike some older editions, the Stuttgart Mendelssohn Editions are based on the first printed editions or other surviving sources which are closest to the composer's intentions, rather than the old Complete Edition published in the 1870s which gives no details of sources, or on posthumous printed editions. As well as undertaking the coordination of this extensive project, which was followed by a complete recording by Frieder Bernius, Günter Graulich himself has edited numerous choral works by Mendelssohn.

 

 


 

 

Dvorak Messe in D

Antonin Dvorak: Messe in D

The stimulus for an edition of the Dvorák Mass came from the singers of the Motettenchor Stuttgart, whereupon Carus published it in the first version, for voices and organ, edited by Günter Graulich. Interestingly, Dvorák could not find a publisher for this original version (with organ only), which is very popular today, and thus the organ version could only be published posthumously. Since Dvorák's publishers, Novello and Simrock, showed no interest in publishing a mass accompanied only by an organ during the late romantic era, at the request of Novello the composer orchestrated it. In 1893 this version was published in London and in 1986 the Urtext edition was published by Carus in Stuttgart. The Motettenchor Stuttgart has often sung the Mass and recorded it on CD.

 

 

 

 

Rheinberger Abendlied

Josef Gabriel Rheinberger: Abendlied

“Bleib bei uns …” The six-voiced Abendlied is Rheinberger's most well known and meanwhile most universally popular treasure. He composed it at the age of 16. The opening measures, with their movement from F major to A minor and the pleading gesture of the melody present an example of the subtile compositional possibilities which the young Rheinberger already had at his command. Through publishing the Abendlied, close contact developed with the Josef Rheinberger Archive in Vaduz, Lichtenstein, leading to a lifelong friendship with its director Harald Wanger. Together with Günter Graulich he initiated the Rheinberger Complete Edition, which began in 1987. With this project the Duchy of Liechtenstein has provided its son, a native of Vaduz, with a fitting memorial, and instigated an international Rheinberger renaissance. In 2008 the Rheinberger Complete Edition, the young publishing house's first major project, was completed with a total of 50 volumes. As well as the cloth-bound volumes of the Complete Edition, separate editions and performance materials are available. In the Carus label too, Rheinberger's music forms an attractive and important emphasis.

 

 


 

 

Schütz: Musikalische Exequien

Heinrich Schütz: Die Stuttgarter Schütz-Ausgabe

A critical edition of Schütz's works reflecting the current state of research was, and is, something which is highly desirable both for scholars and historically-informed performance practice. The Stuttgart Schütz Edition seeks to address this need with some new editorial approaches. The beginnings of the Schütz Complete Edition lay with Hänssler-Verlag; Günter Graulich was the Editorial Director of this project there, and himself edited the volumes Musikalische Exequien, the Auferstehungshistorie and the Zwölf geistliche Gesänge, as well as numerous individual editions. Carus continued the edition from 1992. The Stuttgart Schütz Edition is based on a critical evaluation of the primary sources, but at the same time it presents a modern music text which is suitable for use by present-day performers. Since 2012 the Stuttgart Schütz Edition has been published in collaboration with the renowned Heinrich-Schütz-Archiv at the Hochschule für Musik Dresden; the edition will also be complemented by a complete recording by the Dresdner Kammerchor conducted by Hans-Christoph Rademann.

 

 

 


 

 

Bach: Sämtliche Motetten

Johann Sebastian Bach: Sämtliche Motetten

Since Carus-Verlag was founded in 1972, the publication of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach has been a particular interest of Günter Graulich. With the Bach vocal project, the company is publishing the complete edition of Bach's sacred vocal music in time for the Reformation anniversary in 2017. As well as the major vocal works, around 180 Bach cantatas have been published by Carus with the complete performance material in collaboration with renowned Bach scholars and the Bach Archive Leipzig. In his motets, Bach took the tradition of the German motet to its pinnacle; none of his vocal compositions is performed as often as his motets. Between 1969 and 1977, whilst still at Hänssler, Günter Graulich edited the motets BVW 225–230, and in 2000 edited an anthology containing all of Bach's motets (with basso continuo) with Klaus Hofmann and Daniel R. Melamed, including a realized figured bass.

 

 

 


 

 

 

Lore-Ley

Lore-Ley: Chorbuch Deutsche Volkslieder

The two choral collections LoreLey, edited jointly with Volker Hempfling, have been acclaimed as pioneering publications for the German choral scene. They contain folk songs in new settings – an important stimulus in re-establishing German folk song in choral culture. In 2006 a first collection for mixed choir was published, followed by one for equal voices. “This anthology gives an important stimulus to reactivating our association with German folk song. Choirs from other countries have long shown us the way with their music.” (Chor und Konzert).

 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

Musica Sacra Hungarica

Musica Sacra Hungarica. Geistliche Chormusik des 20. Jahrhunderts

Finding good editors is certainly one of the most important challenges for a publisher. Carus had a stroke of luck in finding the Salzburg church musician Armin Kircher, who sadly died at a young age last year. Working in close collaboration with him, we published carefully-selected collections for use in church music. The themes covered were extremely varied: this volume is devoted to sacred Hungarian music, and a further volume to Scandinavian choral music. Similarly conceived with practical use in mind is the Choral collection ‘Kirchenjahr', edited by Armin Kircher.

 

 

 


 

 

 

Festschrift

On the occasion of Günter Graulich's 90th birthday, Carus is publishing a Festschrift Günter Graulich. Chorleiter und Musikverleger . This contains contributions by performers Hans-Christoph Rademann and Frieder Bernius, the music teacher Friedhilde Trüün, musicologists Susanne Popp and Christoph Wolff, composers Peter Schindler and Clytus Gottwald and many others, who describe shared projects and encounters. >> Have a look inside