Every musician knows them: the blue volumes from the House of G. Henle with the 'Urtext' seal of quality. When Dr. G¸nter Henle founded his publishing house in 1948 to produce flawlessly high-quality sheet music, nobody realized just how great the response from music lovers and professionals would be.

Being an excellent pianist, G¸nter Henle recognized in the aftermath of World War 2 that there was a shortage of good editions of music, particularly those that reproduced what the composer actually intended. 'I considered it paramount', Henle explained, 'that Mozart be played as pure Mozart and not in a version from some or another performer, no matter how famous.' Thus, the guiding principle behind the term 'Urtext' is to discover and publish the final intentions of the composer. One might think that definitive musical texts can only be found in composers' autographs, i.e. in manuscripts written in the composer's own hand. Indeed, this is often the case, as with most of the works of Haydn and Mozart. But in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries composers increasingly began to see their own works into print, and they often changed and improved them along the way. There are also important copyist's manuscripts where changes authorized by the composer were entered. The entire panoply of source materials has to be examined to produce a fully-fledged Urtext edition. After all, many autographs have disappeared, especially those from earlier periods. Thus, the sources leading to an Urtext edition are highly complex and multi-faceted. They must be examined with utmost care to discover what the author ultimately wanted for his music.

What turns printed sheet music into an Urtext edition? In a nutshell, an Urtext edition is a performing edition drawn from original sources. More precisely, it differs from scholarly-critical 'complete' editions by keeping its sights firmly fixed on performers who want to play from an established and unimpeachable musical text. In other words, it is primarily a practical edition, but one based on scholarly principles. Not only is the text laid out with the performing musician in mind - with fingering, bowing marks, the best possible page turns and a readily comprehensible appearance on the page - but users can also learn about the essential sources and editorial decisions from footnotes, a critical apparatus and a preface in three languages.

Complete Editions of the Music of Beethoven, Brahms and Haydn
Besides Urtext editions for practical use, musical scholarship also forms a major focus of Henle's activities. Scholars and musicians alike have long regarded Henle's complete editions ('Gesamtausgaben') as indispensable cornerstones of their daily work. In cooperation with institutes and musicologists throughout the world, G. Henle Verlag publishes complete editions of the music of Beethoven, Brahms and Haydn. The Beethoven Complete Edition lately received a handsome supplement with the publication of the composer's entire correspondence.

The recently launched Johannes Brahms Complete Edition is a long-term project to publish the composer's entire musical output, including all alternative versions, unpublished works and original arrangements. Unlike its nineteenth-century predecessor, it represents the first comprehensive scholarly-critical edition of Brahms's musical oeuvre.

The largest of Henle's complete editions, with thirty-four series, is devoted to the music of Joseph Haydn. Here, in cooperation with the Haydn Institute in Cologne, Haydn's works are published after a critical examination of all available source materials of any significance.

A Symbol of Quality - Worldwide
Henle's Urtext editions of classical music are regarded as the standard for quality by leading musicians in every country of the world. As Claudio Arrau once wrote to G¸nter Henle, 'No musician worth his salt can afford to do without them.' The painstaking care that the House of Henle lavishes in every conceivable way on its publications has found a response in the entire world of music. Celebrated pianists have left their names in the annals of Henle, as have the great conductors and string players.

Meticulous Editorial Preparation
Every volume from Henle meticulously prepared from the historical sources: autographs, copyists' manuscripts, first editions and early prints. Up to nine sets of proof corrections guarantee a reliable music text. Further, the text is constantly subjected to further scrutiny. Urtext editions from the House of Henle therefore always reflect the latest findings of musical scholarship.

Fingering and bowing marks from teachers with many years of experience make the original text accessible to performers.

Razor-sharp engraving
Musicians and critics alike have always congratulated Henle for the physical appearance of its volumes. The layout on the page is clear, spacious and very easy to read. Henle's Urtext editions continue to be produced through the time-honoured craft of hand engraving, by master engravers with decades of experience in their field. Special attention is also devoted to finding convenient page turns.

Henle's volumes are further distinguished for their non-reflecting, acid-free paper promising many years of use. Careful stitching ensures that the pages will lie flat on the music stand and can be turned effortlessly while playing.

Our Programme Highlights
The main focus of the Henle catalogue lies in Urtext editions of piano and chamber music and in musicological publications such as complete editions and historical anthologies.

Fifty Years in the Service of Music
In 1998 G. Henle Verlag can look back upon fifty active and exciting years of publishing activities. A twenty-three-member team with offices in Munich, the leading city and cultural capital of Bavaria, ensures that its volumes find more and more satisfied customers throughout the world (75 percent of Henle's publications are exported). Since 1985 Henle has also maintained a subsidiary in the United States