This four-act comic opera celebrating Shakespeares Sir John Falstaff was given its first professional performance in 1946. The libretto, written by the composer, is based on The Merry Wives of Windsor, and interpolates texts by contemporaries of Shakespeare such as Christopher Marlowe, Ben Jonson, and Thomas Campion. The work contains English folksong material and fine examples of the composer's orchestral lyricism and dramatic flair. Music from the opera was later adapted to form the cantata In Windsor Forest and the Fantasia on Greensleeves. For this comprehensive new edition, the editor (and conductor) David Lloyd-Jones has drawn on all available sources, providing an authoritative Study Score with critical commentary. The performance materials are newly-engraved. The orchestral score, vocal score, choral scores, and the optional Episode & Interlude are also available on hire. Please note that this score comes as two separate volumes.

Vaughan Williams wrote Symphony No. 8 between 1953 and 1955 while in his eighties. It is his shortest symphony and considered by many to be his least serious. Aside from a few sombre moments, the symphony is optimistic in mood and displays Vaughan Williams's love for exotic and colourful combinations of instruments with a percussion sections that, he said, employs "all the 'phones and 'spiels known to the composer". For this newly engraved edition, editor David Lloyd-Jones has consulted all extant sources and materials to create a score matching the composer's intentions. The full score is completed with Textual Notes and Preface, and accompanying orchestral parts are available on hire.

Vaughan Williams wrote his Symphony No. 8 between 1953 and 1955, when he was in his eighties. It is his shortest symphony, and is considered by many to be his least serious. Aside from a few sombre moments, the symphony is optimistic in mood and displays Vaughan Williams's love for exotic and colourful combinations of instruments, with a percussion sections that, he said, employs 'all the 'phones and 'spiels known to the composer'. For this newly engraved edition, editor David Lloyd-Jones has consulted all extant sources and materials to create a score matching the composer's intentions. The full score is completed with Textual Notes and Preface, and accompanying orchestral parts are available on hire.

Vaughan Williams's 6th Symphony was composed immediately after the Second World War and its dramatic and at times violent musical language was long felt to be a comment on that conflict (though the composer denied it had any programmatic intent). Its power and invention were immediately recognized and it has remained part of the concert repertoire ever since. For this newly engraved edition, editor David Lloyd-Jones has consulted all extant sources and materials to create a score matching the composer's intentions. Fully compatible orchestral parts are available on hire.

Comprising a brief biography and chapters written by those who worked with him, such as Janet Baker and Alfred Brendel, this is a celebration of an exceptional, creative life. By the time of his death in 2010 at the age of 84, Sir Charles Mackerras had achieved widespread recognition, recorded extensively and developed into a conductor of major international significance. In addition to areas in which he already had forged a distinctive profile (Janácek, Mozart, Handel, Sullivan) he revisited - and rethought - much of the standard repertoire. The last thirty years were particularly momentous in the coming to fruition of so manycherished projects: not only the Janácek operas but the Gilbert and Sullivan series, the Mozart operas, the two Beethoven cycles, other projects with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra (Schumann and Brahms at Edinburgh; the outstanding late Mozart) and at the Royal Opera House and the Met. Unspoilt by fame, and undeterred by personal tragedies and increasing physical frailty, he remained productive and inventive: for him music-making, whether with world-classsingers and orchestras or with students, was a kind of joyous oxygen that kept him going right to the end. A detailed account of his life is complemented by contributions from performers and scholars who worked closely with Mackerras, as well as interviews with his family. The book is richly illustrated with photographs and documents, and includes a comprehensive discography along with listings of many of his concert and opera performances. While SirCharles's whole life is considered, emphasis is given to his final quarter century, a period in which so many important projects were realized. This book celebrates and epitomizes an exceptional life. NIGEL SIMEONE is awriter and teacher. He has published extensively on Messiaen and Janácek and recently edited The Leonard Bernstein Letters. JOHN TYRRELL is Honorary Professor of Music at Cardiff University. He has published bookson Janácek and Czech opera and, with Sir Charles Mackerras, edited two Janácek operas. CONTRIBUTORS: Janet Baker, Alfred Brendel, Ales Brezina, Alex Briger, Rosenna East, Anne Evans, Nicholas Hytner, Simon Keenlyside, David Lloyd-Jones, David Mackie, Chi-chi Nwanoku, Antonio Pappano, Nigel Simeone, John Stein, Heinz Stolba, Patrick Summers, John Tyrrell, Malcolm Walker, David Whelton, Jirí Zahrádka.

This edition of Walton's Violin Concerto has been off-printed from the William Walton Edition full score, and combines the scholarship of the Edition (including an introduction by the editor) with the practical benefits of a study score format. Commissioned by Jascha Heifetz, the work was completed in 1939 and premiered by Heifetz later that year. Walton revised the concerto in 1943 and it is this version which is presented in the current edition. Orchestral material is available on hire/rental.

This edition of Walton's Cello Concerto has been off-printed from the Wiliam Walton Edition full score, and combines the scholarship of the Edition (including an introduction by the editor) with the practical benefits of a study score format. Dating from 1956, the work was commissioned by Gregor Piatigorsky and premiered by him the following year. Walton regarded this work as the best of his three solo concertos. Orchestral material is available on hire/rental.

Walton's two coronation marches - Crown Imperial, written for the coronation of George VI in 1937, and Orb and Sceptre, written for the coronation of Elizabeth II in 1953 - are both stirring marches with sweeping tunes, and famous examples of the genre. They are published here in new editions taken from the Walton Edition volume of shorter orchestral pieces, with a short preface from the editor, David Lloyd-Jones.

This volume contains newly edited versions of a number of Walton's shorter pieces for orchestra, including the ever-popular Facade Suites.

These performing materials incorporate all the research from the full score (Walton Edition vol. 7), and present new editions of Facade Entertainment, and Facade 2, and four hitherto unpublished numbers all in new, clear engraving. A detailed preface in the full score explains the fascinating history of the work, with full textual notes and an appendix of the poems. The set of parts comprises Flute and piccolo, Clarinet, Alto Saxophone in E flat, Trumpet in C, Percussion, Cello, and Cello A and B for Facade 1. Score and parts are also available from the OUP Hire Library.

Violin and piano reduction of Walton's Violin Concerto, based on the edition published in the Walton Edition Violin and Cello Concertos volume. Commissioned by Jascha Heifetz, the work was completed in 1939 and premiered by Heifetz later that year. Walton revised the concerto in 1943 and it is this version which is presented in the current edition. Orchestral material is available on hire.

Based on research from all 24 volumes of the William Walton Edition, this detailed and updated account covers the genesis, performance, and publication of the works of one of Britain's leading composers. Highly readable yet authoritative, it provides a fascinating background to the stage works, film-scores, and orchestral, vocal, and instrumental pieces, providing both overview and chronology.

This volume contains edited full scores and notes for the overtures.

for speaker, SATB choir, boys' choir, and orchestra Olivier's Henry V was one of Walton's most celebrated film scores. Christopher Palmer's imaginative reconstruction turned it into a dramatic scenario which has been scrupulously edited, and is presented here with a full set of textual notes, including introduction, synopsis, notes on the sources and text, and facsimiles. Orchestral material is available on hire.

These performing materials incorporate all the research from the full score (Walton Edition vol. 7), and present new editions of Facade Entertainment, and Facade 2, and four hitherto unpublished numbers all in new, clear engraving. A detailed preface in the full score explains the fascinating history of the work, with full textual notes and an appendix of the poems. The set of parts comprises flute and piccolo, clarinet, alto saxophone in E flat, trumpet in C, percussion, cello, and cello A and B for Facade 1. The reciter's part is available separately. Score and parts are also available from the OUP Hire Library.

Vaughan Williams's 6th Symphony was composed immediately after the Second World War and its dramatic and at times violent musical language was long felt to be a comment on that conflict (though the composer denied it had any programmatic intent). Its power and invention were immediately recognized and it has remained part of the concert repertoire ever since. For this newly engraved edition, editor David Lloyd-Jones has consulted all extant sources and materials to create a score matching the composer's intentions. The full score is completed with Textual Notes and Preface, and accompanying orchestral parts are available on hire.

The William Walton edition is a collected edition of the works of one of England's finest and best-loved composers. Each work is newly edited and engraved, and checked against the composer's manuscript, previously published editions, and all other relevant material. The result is a definitive and fully practical edition, based on the form in which the composer ultimately wished it to be performed.