The most visually beautiful sheet music at IMSLP

[sbeckmesser]

A recent comment in another thread prompts me to ask this question:

What are the most visually attractive files of music you have found at IMSLP?

I'm not looking here for beautiful music, though that never hurts, but for outstanding examples of what music can look like on the page, either in printed or manuscript form. Please include links to the IMSLP files if possible.

Unfortunately, many recent pieces that are a joy to visually contemplate (such as the Boulez 3rd Piano Sonata, Stockhausen's Studie II and many works by George Crumb) are not in public domain. But IMSLP is now so large that there's bound to be quite a few files that are visually gorgeous.

As a violinist, I have a very soft spot for Bach's own manuscript of his solo sonatas and partitas. Unlike the manuscripts of most other composers, the penmanship is inherently expressive and the results actually clear enough to play from directly.

http://imslp.info/files/imglnks/usimg/2 ... 4eT8Ab.pdf

And while I think the newly added Liber Usualis and Graduale Romanum are beautiful examples of modern Gregorian chant notation, It would be great if IMSLP could get its hands on some illuminated medieval chant books.

http://imslp.org/wiki/Graduale_Romanum_%28Anonymous%29
http://imslp.org/wiki/Liber_Usualis_%28Anonymous%29


--Sixtus

[dwil9798]

Interesting question. The first thing that popped into my head was "Von der Hinterweltlern" from Richard Strauss's Also Sprach Zarathustra. At it's climax, Strauss spreads the beautiful theme over strings divided into 14 sections! It makes my jaw drop every time read the score. The Imslp file is crystal clear, too.

http://imslp.info/files/imglnks/usimg/c ... score_.pdf


But if you want to talk staves, look no further than Das Rheingold, when Froh creates the rainbow bridge to Valhalla. 8 violin parts plus 6 harps playing distinct parts! A feast for the eyes. Starts on page 292.

http://imslp.info/files/imglnks/usimg/3 ... ene_4_.pdf

[sbeckmesser]

Great suggestions. The Rheingold passage is notorious for not fitting on a page with all those harp arpeggios. Even the new Wagner edition, and its low-cost and highly recommendable reprint by Eulenburg, relegate the harps to an appendix. While the visual effect is lost, its no great loss to a score-follower since the harps are mostly doing a kinda Steve Reich sightly-out-of-phase thing with each other. But when heard in person all you get is a glittering sensation and no real feel for the rise and fall of each harp "line."

--Sixtus

[daphnis]

In my opinion, some of the engraving done by Durand in the 30's-50's is especially beautiful. Much of this artful work can be seen in the engraving of Florent Schmitt's scores, unfortunately most are blocked currently as many aren't public domain in the U.S. When evaluating typesetting programs for functionality, I consider it to be a mature product if it can exactly reproduce the visual effects of these great engravings.

[HonkyTonk]

I don't know about the actual music but Sydney Smith's Arlequin & Columbine has the most attractive coloured title page. The old Peters edition covers of Grieg, Sinding, Moszkowski etc., with their elaborately ornamented letterings, are also very pleasing visually. Many of Chaminade's pieces were issued with charming, decorative covers too, but few have found their way on to the ISMLP site.
As for music notation, Raymond Lewenthal, in his edition of some of Alkan's piano music made the pertinent remark that some composers' music has an instantly-recognisable "look" on the page and he cited Alkan (of course) and Reger as examples.

[sbeckmesser]

Raymond Lewenthal, in his edition of some of Alkan's piano music made the pertinent remark that some composers' music has an instantly-recognisable "look" on the page and he cited Alkan (of course) and Reger as examples.

I know what you mean. I was able to correctly identify a piece sitting open on a piano in the background of a blurry small photo on the Internet just from the look of the page. Without being able to directly read any notes I could tell that the flow of the beams between 8th and 16 notes indicated a keyboard piece by Bach, and the occasional transferral of the figuration and arpeggios from hand to hand indicated the Italian Concerto! The identification was later confirmed by the subject of the photo. It would be an interesting experiment to try here.

--Sixtus