On the Editorial Principles of the Kurt Weill Edition

Abstract

usual transmission of a work is a process of decay, one that begins with the act of publication.2 Georg Feder's pointed judgment, the product of vast experience, expresses the view that the transmission of works leads away from the author's intention and therefore must be critically assessed in the name of historical-aesthetic authenticity, i.e., faithfulness to the original. A similar motivation probably drives all recent complete editions, but inevitably leads to paradox and even aporia. The works of Schumann, Wagner, Brahms, Schoenberg, Berg, and Hindemith are already available in more or less serviceable editions. New complete editions of these composers' works need only alter details of musical texts as previously published. As one justification for their existence as replacements of previous complete editions, these new publications may expand each work's material inventory by adding sketches, fragments, early versions, alternative versions, study works, literary and theoretical works, arrangements, performance materials, and so forth. The discovery of historicity, the variability of works over time, is often enough the result of historical-critical editions that, aiming at absolute faithfulness to the original, attempt to trace the full tradition of a work. The result of this emphasis on the historical, however, is the dissolution of the concept of the artwork that justified the editorial expenditure in the first place. If a composition is seen to have multiple incarnations, the regulat ive authority of the author's intention loses its source-critical significance. The effort toward expansion of the material inventory of the work is neither practically nor economically necessary and in fact may not be feasible even for a composer with a relatively small catalog. The fact that the Schoenberg Samtliche Werke presents a work such as the Funf Orchesterstucke in three versions (original version, version for chamber orchestra, and version for reduced orchestra) appears appropriate, particularly for performance-related reasons. [2] (A similar principle of completeness applied to a Stravinsky complete edition would result in the publication of at least two versions of all of the important works from L'oiseau de feu to Persephone.) The Gurrelieder and the symphonic poem Pelleas und Melisande, however, are to appear in one version only (presumably the Fassung letzter Hand if it can be identified), despite the fact that Schoenberg significantly altered the instrumentation of both. The decision to publish these in only one version seems to be based on pragmatic economical concerns. It remains to be seen how the Schoenberg edition, which takes particular pains to present and document the genesis of each work, will treat the composer's alterations. The scholarly foundation of a complete edition implicitly embodies a judgment of the oeuvre involved. The considerable investment of money and effort represented by an edition project can be justified only for a composer of classical importance and an oeuvre of high rank (both of which are, in turn, enhanced by that very expenditure). One can hardly justify on philological grounds alone the presentation of a work not only in all its versions, but with editions of sketches, consideration of fragments out of the work's context, and description of reception and performance practice. By publishing such a plethora of sources and documents, the editor may very well end up appearing to shift certain editorial decisions onto the shoulders of an already overburdened user. [3] What is more, the publication of previously unpublished versions may require a degree of editorial intervention that oversteps the original editorial principles in order to render these versions suitable for performance. According to Walter Benjamin, the emphatic concept of the work is the ultimate reality (das hochste Wirkliche) in the realm of art. [4] The close connection between this concept and aesthetic rank (and, again, editorial expenditure) is immediately apparent in the arguments commonly voiced on behalf of new editions meant to replace old ones. …