Richard Strauss Werkverzeichnis by Franz TrennerReview by: Scott WarfieldNotes, Second Series, Vol. 42, No. 2 (Dec., 1985), pp. 292-293Published by: Music Library AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/897430 .

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292 MLA Notes, December 1985

1677" (p. 33); that the Royal Academy of Music was "financially untenable from the start" (p. 77); that Handel had "overall ar? tistic control" of the project (p. 80); that Dr. John Arbuthnot wrote The Devil to Pay at St. James (p. 87); that "Handel took a trip abroad in the sumer of 1740;" and a few more questionable statements which might be challenged. But most of these are minor points and do not detract from the essen- tial worthiness of the book. Altogether the author is remarkably accurate about the basic elements in Handel's life, and he de- serves full praise for what he has accom- plished.

J. Merrill Knapp Princeton University

Richard Strauss Werkverzeichnis. By Franz Trenner. Vienna: Doblinger, 1985. [xiii, 153 p.; 6S 175.00]

For twenty-five years, the basic reference guide to the music of Richard Strauss has been Erich Mueller von Asow's three-vol- ume Richard Strauss Thematisches Verzeichnis (Munich, 1959-74). While it is an admi- rably thorough work, many entries are now out of date, particularly in regard to manu? script locations. Franz Trenner, who helped to complete the third volume of the cata? logue following Mueller von Asow's death, has updated the monumental Thematisches Verzeichnis with his own Werkverzeichnis. While Mueller von Asow covered each of Strauss's works with long, mutli-page en? tries, including such detailed information as recordings and even quotations from the literature, Trenner has reduced each entry to a minimum in order to produce a single 153-page book.

The body of the work is preceded by brief "Remarks on the arrangement of the in? dex" which explain exactly how each entry is arranged and provide a key to the nu? merous abbreviations used throughout the work. The Werkverzeichnis itself is arranged in chronological order, with all works in- terfiled. There is no distinction between compositions with opus numbers and those without, as in Mueller von Asow's index. After the main portion of the catalogue, there are musical incipits for newly discov- ered pieces only and a section giving the

casts for the premieres of Strauss's stage works. The rest of the book is a series of indexes by genre, text incipit, librettist, composer of other works arranged by Strauss, publisher, and title.

Trenner does not include every item found in Mueller von Asow's index. He lists all works with opus numbers, all completed works without opus numbers (AV 1-150), lost works (AV 151-182), and arrangements of works by others (AV 183-192). But he in? cludes only those pieces from the last of Mueller von Asow's classifications?incom? plete compositions, sketches, scenes, and plans (AV 193-306)?which actually exist as written music. As Trenner notes in the preface, the sketchbooks are indexed else? where and thus are omitted.

The chronological order of the index is based on the date of completion of each work, insofar as it is known. Research since Mueller von Asow has naturally yielded more precise dates for many compositions, and so Trenner's chronological list does differ slightly from the earlier one. No ma? jor work receives a new dating, but many early pieces which now have precise dates may be moved by as much as two or three years. Trenner's reliance on the date of completion to arrange the index can be misleading, particularly with compositions made up of individual pieces, for example, song cycles and operas, or works with ex? tensive histories of revision. For instance, for op. 49, Trenner uses a completion date of 23 September 1901, based on the last Lied of the set, but the sixth Lied had been finished 16 months earlier, on 11 May 1900. Based on dates of completion, works with higher opus numbers often come before some of their predecessors. These are mi? nor problems, but users of this index should be aware of them.

The individual entries are numbered consecutively, and each begins with the ti? tle ofthe work and its opus or AV number. The date of composition, location of the manuscript, dedication, publisher, facsim? ile, setting, duration, premiere, and gen? eral remarks are given as needed in concise entries for each composition. Few works have all nine entries. Users of this index who compare it with Mueller von Asow's will find most changes under dates of com? pletion and locations of manuscripts, but scholars should not neglect the earlier vol-

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Book Reviews 293

umes, as Trenner sometimes sacrifices Mueller von Asow's detailed descriptions of manuscript histories for space-saving brevity.

The primary value of Trenner's index is its up-to-date information and its com- pactness. For example, he includes the new location for the short score of "September" and the only copy of "Malven," both of which were auctioned at Sotheby's in De? cember 1984. The index even includes ref? erence to the premiere of "Malven" on 10 January 1985, only five days before Tren? ner signed the preface. Despite the appar? ent speed with which the text was pro? duced, I noted only one typographical error. The compact format could be achieved by the extensive use of abbreviations and by the omission of incipits and such transient information as recordings and citations from the literature. This current information might be better obtained from other sources.

Despite its currency, Trenner's index cannot completely replace Mueller von Asow's work. There is too much valuable information, particularly about manu? scripts, in the longer entries of the older work. But Trenner's new index belongs on the desk of any serious Straussian and next to Mueller von Asow's Thematisches Ver? zeichnis on the shelves of all music libraries.

Scott Warfield University of North Carolina,

Chapel Hill

Gustav Mahler/Richard Strauss. Cor? respondence 1888-1911. Edited with notes and an essay by Herta Blaukopf. Translated by Edmund Jephcott. Chi? cago: University of Chicago Press, 1984. [172 p.; $22.50]

Gustav Mahler/Richard Strauss. Briefwechsel 1888-1911. Hrsg. Herta Blaukopf. (Bibliothek der Interna- tionalen Gustav Mahler Gesellschaft.) Munchen: R. Piper & Co. Verlag, 1980. [232 p.; no price given] Also available as Gustav Mahler/Ri? chard Strauss. Briefweschsel 1888-

1911. Hrsg. Herta Blaukopf. Von der Autorin neu durchgesehene Auflage Muchen: Wilhelm Goldmann Verlag/ Mainz: Musikverlag B. Schott's Sohne, 1984. [232 pp., 16 pp.; DM 14.80]

Neither Gustav Mahler nor Richard Strauss has suffered from a lack of pub? lished letters, but in this collection a sig? nificant number of letters exchanged be? tween them is made available for the first time and provided with annotations. There are sixty-three letters from Mahler, twenty- eight from Strauss. Herta Blaukopf, editor of this correspondence and author of the excellent accompanying essay "Rivalry and Friendship: An Essay on the Mahler-Strauss Relationship," has served as editor of the series Bibliothek der Internationalen Gus? tav Mahler Gesellschaft since 1976. She is also the editor ofthe new (1982) edition of Gustav Mahlers Briefe.

Blaukopf's expertise as a Mahler scholar is everywhere evident in the volume under review, and her knowledge of Straussiana is on a high level as well. The translator, Edmund Jephcott, has done a superb job of rendering the letters of the two com? posers and the editor's prose into idiomatic English. When appropriate he communi- cates the informality of their exchanges, while at other times capturing the com? posers' moods of seriousness, frustration, defeat, pleading, or urgency. If Blaukopf's annotations to the individual letters seem slightly more abundant for Mahler than Strauss, this merely echoes the content of the collection, which is also weighted in fa? vor of Mahler. Most of the letters to Strauss from Mahler are preserved in the Richard Strauss Archive at the family home in Gar- misch; Strauss was a meticulous record keeper and a great saver. Mahler, on the other hand, was known to discard many of the letters he received, even from persons as distinguished and important to him as Strauss.

Since both the German and English ver? sions of the correspondence can be highly recommended, a few variations between them should be pointed out. The original German hardback edition has a preface dated February 1980; although the Ger? man paperback ("von der Autorin neu durchgesehene Auflage") bears an addi? tional date of August 1984, the preface is

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