Abstract
We are grateful for the kind comments made by James Parsons in his review in your November 2010 issue of our recent edition of the Reichardt/Goethe Claudine von Villa Bella, but at the risk of appearing either petulant or paranoid, feel that we should point out a couple of misunderstandings. In his bold suggestion that an edition of this kind might subordinate the critical apparatus to a website and replace it in the printed version with a synopsis, he refers us as a model to the synopsis in Nicholas Boyle's magisterial biography of Goethe. However, this reference is misleading since Professor Parsons has not noticed that at this point Boyle nods and gives a synopsis of an earlier version of the piece (the Schauspiel mit Gesang, not the Singspiel), which is completely different from the one set by Reichardt. Secondly, we of course agree that Reichardt cannot be evaluated by comparison with a Mozart: the reference to Die Zauberflöte (which is not ‘repeated’) is used merely as a well-known signpost that will help the reader's orientation and add perspective, but Professor Parsons's comment is itself odd in view of his own observation on the previous page that some of Reichardt's keyboard sonatas stand comparison with the young Beethoven’s.
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