[Op. 50]. Arlecchino: Ein theatralisches Capriccio in einem Aufzuge. Worte und Musik von Ferruccio Busoni; Klavierauszug mit Text von Philipp Jarnach. Piano-vocal score

Wiesbaden: Breitkopf & Härtel [PN 28147; Edition Breitkopf Nr. 5312], 1980. Quarto. Original publisher's light green printed wrappers. [4], 117 pp.

Ex libris the pianist Mario Feninger (1923-2016), with his signature to blank upper margin of title.

Sightly worn and browned; titling in manuscript to spine. Reissue of the first edition. Kindermann K. 270, p. 315.

Arlecchino, in one act to Busoni's own libretto, premiered in Zürich at the Stadttheater on 11 May 1917.

"Stylistically the score bridges the gap between Busoni's experimental pre-war compositions and the later works written in the spirit of 'Junge Klassizität'. ... The element of operatic parody in the score gives rise to all manner of quotations and allusions, from Gluck to Wagner, and bel canto to ragtime. These are unified through harmonic cunning and brilliant use of a modestly sized orchestra. Arlecchino's rhythmic speech (precisely notated but unpitched) etches his role against the musical background and stylizes him to an 'über-marionette' (to use Edward Gordon Craig's term), a comic mask whose counterpart is Faust, the tragic mask and Übermensch." Antony Beaumont in Grove Dictionary of Opera.