After almost a year, I would like to give some further details about this wonderful chamber music work by Ysaÿe.
At this time I am focusing on some interesting but somewhat disturbing circumstances of the publication. You can read about the work in my earlier blog from 26. of March 2020.
Actually, this is a story that I would like to tell since many years, however, postponing always because of missing evidences and hope for a solution. After the publishing of my new revised edition and my desire to clarify facts, I think it’s time to let know the truth to interested musicians and friends.
The main reason for this is that a composition of this caliber should be performed as a correct version, however, the legal side of it is also a bit troublesome.
The first publication of the Trio was made by Music Schott Mainz, 2007. It is still available, in music stores and online, printed or download. And this is the “legal-side” of the matter.
I was working on this edition for a long time. I still remember, I’ve got a computer just before the great Hanshin Earthquake (1995 in Kobe, Japan (this computer was wandering on my table while all my dishes were broken). Doing all the research and writing music with a Mac Classic as a hobby next to my concertmaster job, was something relaxing.
Finally, after finishing the trio in 1996, I was contacting the those days still existing Belgian Schott Frères. I’ve sent them a letter asking for publishing it and an A4 printout, made with my Orchestra’s those days best laser printer. Their answer was negative, with the reason that there is not enough interest to publish such unknown music.
At this point, quite unsatisfied, I gave up about the whole project; I had other things to do like moving back from Japan to Canada starting a new professor job.
Continuing my Ysaÿe research, I was extremely delighted to find another unknown composition, the Trio “La Londres”. This work was also taking about a year to finish and at this time Schott, already only in Germany, indeed, was interested to publishing it. It was a kind of satisfaction after all, that finally my work was acknowledged.
After further investigating the Ysaÿe inheritance, again, I was lucky to find another unknown work, at this time the 2nd string Trio Op. 34.
Working on this some times illegible manuscript and searching for more resources, I found another manuscript of another string trio. The title was “Premiere Trio de Concert Op. 33” but looking inside, I was a bit disappointed to discover that this was the Trio I was working on before, known as “Le Chimay”.
For a long time, I didn’t look at this manuscript closer, until actually I finished putting the notes into Finale of the second trio but since I was never fully satisfied with the “Le Chimay” first edition, by playing it, listening to it by others, I tried already earlier to see if there were some obvious mistakes in there. So finally, I opened this file and read trough. My discovery that this was a revised manuscript of Ysaÿe himself lead me to do a complete overhaul and making a new revised edition to publish.
It turned out that this trio is indeed absolutely marvellous after all the corrections and I was trying to approach Schott again.
Coincidently, by browsing at the Schott site, perhaps I just wanted to check if the “La Londres” Trio was on their site, I have noticed a greatly surprising fact: a publication of the Trio “Le Chimay”. And when I was looking closer I was even more surprised to see my name as editor for this edition!
I even bought one exemplar, to see if it’s really the same as what I sent to Schott Frères many years ago!
Yes, it was the one! I still have the old Finale file I’ve made of, with my name at the top of the first page.
At this point, as I was quite disturbed of the matter, tried to forget about it instead of making some legal move, I didn’t even contact Schott. Since I don’t have any evidence that Schott did not buy the printout back in 1996 and that we had never made any agreement about publishing it, I thought I just keep it quiet and don’t make a big deal out of; nevertheless, a fee of 250 Euros for a publishing like this is not worth of a legal act.
After editing the new revised edition I approached Schott again with all these facts, without any answer!
Right now I am a bit clueless how to handle this situation. Maybe I will try to contact Schott again because I feel I must address this matter and I need a solution.
Firstly and most importantly, this work is absolutely worth to have a correct edition to play from but if Schott isn’t ready to stop selling the first wrong edition, colleagues will still buy it believing that it is the only and original version, just because it’s from a well known publisher.
Keep in mind: yes, it is a well known and usually reliable publisher, however, this work was published without letting me, the editor, know and after making the corrected version Schott doesn’t even react to the matter!
By the way, the revised edition is available right here as download or printed!
Please, welcome any opinion and/or advice!