About us
Felix Editions is a freshly established music publisher that creates new, critical editions of works that are no longer played for one reason or another. Sometimes those works are by composers who were perhaps slightly less gifted than their illustrious contemporaries. But some works are by composers who were just as talented as their peers but simply had bad luck with their life course, health, changed tastes or other circumstances.
Our mission is to offer these works in an edition of the same quality as can be expected from Chopin, Liszt, R. Schumann or Mendelssohn.
We craft a new critical text based on the best available sources. The repertoire in which we specialise is predominantly from the 19th century. Compared to previous periods, publishers were fairly sophisticated by then, and many scores are of rather fine quality in themselves. Relying on manuscripts is not enough, as composers often make final changes to publishers' proofs and approve publishers' changes. For each work, we therefore select the best source.
One problem that presents itself here is that the source material is often rather scarce. Countless years of scholarly research are devoted to better-known composers. This does not hold true for their lesser-known colleagues. Sometimes, therefore, we have to rely on inferior editions. In that case, we still try to make the best possible representation of the original text, by comparing different editions and peeling off changes made by publishers and editors. Thus, errors in earlier editions are corrected.
Once the music is finally established, we create a score layout that is pleasing to the eye and practical for the performer. The layout of our scores has a pleasant, handmade look. We take great care to avoid a cold, matter-of-fact "computer look" and combine the classic look of the notation of yesteryear with modern notation practices.
Our mission is to offer these works in an edition of the same quality as can be expected from Chopin, Liszt, R. Schumann or Mendelssohn.
We craft a new critical text based on the best available sources. The repertoire in which we specialise is predominantly from the 19th century. Compared to previous periods, publishers were fairly sophisticated by then, and many scores are of rather fine quality in themselves. Relying on manuscripts is not enough, as composers often make final changes to publishers' proofs and approve publishers' changes. For each work, we therefore select the best source.
One problem that presents itself here is that the source material is often rather scarce. Countless years of scholarly research are devoted to better-known composers. This does not hold true for their lesser-known colleagues. Sometimes, therefore, we have to rely on inferior editions. In that case, we still try to make the best possible representation of the original text, by comparing different editions and peeling off changes made by publishers and editors. Thus, errors in earlier editions are corrected.
Once the music is finally established, we create a score layout that is pleasing to the eye and practical for the performer. The layout of our scores has a pleasant, handmade look. We take great care to avoid a cold, matter-of-fact "computer look" and combine the classic look of the notation of yesteryear with modern notation practices.