Morning Journals, Op.279

Strauss' Morgenblätter is an interesting example of a a work composed as a kind of 'response' to that of another composer. Jacques Offenbach, a French composer whose work served as competition for Strauss' own in Vienna, was commissioned to provide a new waltz by the Vienna Authors' and Journalists' Association to be performed at the January 12, 1864 'Concordia Ball'. This work was promptly nicknamed Abendblätter by the journalists and Stauss, whose orchestra was performing the concert was likewise asked for a new work for the event. Strauss cleverly left the title of the new work to the Association, who naturally selected Morgenblätter. The Strauss work was one of his best, and remains popular to this day. This new study score is a reduced-sized reissue of the newly engraved performing edition prepared by Clark McAlister previously issued by the defunct American publisher E.F. Kalmus. The large conductor score and orchestra parts are also now exclusively available from Serenissima Music.