Die Mai-Königin. Pastorale. Text von Henry F. Chorley. Uebersetzung von Sophie Klingemann ... Op. 39. Partitur. Pr. 8 Thlr. 10 Ngr. Clavier-Auszug. Pr. 4 Thlr. Chorstimmen (a 10 Ngr.) Pr. 1Thlr. 10 Ngr. Solostimmen Pr. 22/12 Ngr. Orchesterstimmen Pr. 8 thlr. 5 Ngr. Ouverture zu 2 Händen Pr. 15 Ngr. Ouverture zu 4 Händen Pr. 25 Ngr. [Full score]

Leipzig; London: Fr. Kistner; Leader & Cock [PN 2500], 1861. Folio. Sepia cloth-backed original publisher's printed wrappers. 1f. (recto title, verso blank), 1f. (libretto), 197, [i] (blank) pp. Text in German and English.

With Novello, Ewer & Co. handstamp to foot of upper wrapper.

Wrappers worn and soiled; small edges chips and tears with minor loss; cloth frayed at head and tail. Slightly worn; corners creased; occasional foxing, a bit heavier to several leaves. First Edition. Lithographic printing of an unidentified copyist manuscript. Rare. Williamson E.8, p. 220. No copies located on Worldcat. JISC (3 copies in the U.K. only.

First performed at the Leeds Festival on 8 September 1858.

"In March 1858, [Sterndale Bennett] was invited to conduct the first Leeds Festival, to be held in September 1858 to commemorate the opening of the new Town Hall. Having accepted the invitation, he was commissioned ... by the Festival Committee to compose something for the occasion. ... The May-Queen is an attempt to write a work in the tradition of the English pastoral and has many points of musical style in common with Handel's work [Acis and Galatea], for example the extensive use of compound and triple rhythms, accompagnato recitative, simple illustrative instrumental effects, and comic elements. It was an important influence on the secular cantatas and operettas of Arthur Sullivan and his contemporaries." Rosemary Williamson: William Sterndale Bennett: A Descriptive Thematic Catalogue, pp. 211-212.

Friend of both Mendelssohn and Schumann, Sterndale Bennett is considered the most distinguished English composer of the Romantic school.