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The following errata refer to the the orchestra parts for the full orchestration available through MTI (which is not the original, but the first national tour version), and the piano-vocal score that accompanies the rental. The published piano-vocal score is far superior.

Piano-Vocal Score (rental version, dated 2/8/02)

p. 8 "in a three button suit" - "a" should be a G-natural, not an A

p. 13 "young" should be a D-natural, not an E

#5 is full of errata, almost too numerous to list. The most egregious is in the second bar of C, where the A in the top of the right hand should be natural. Similarly everywhere this figure occurs.

#10 Been A Long Day - 4th bar of C, F and K, 3rd beat of each, should be E-natural
#13A Vassar is missing the key signature: it should be in G Major.

#14 Hedy's Walk - the first grace note should be a G-sharp

#15, 8th bar of A, the lower quarter note in the last beat of the left hand should be an F-flat

p. 92, the second system does not exist in the orchestral parts. In the orchestral parts, the entirety of section K is just two bars, repeated ad-lib. (similar discrepancy in the published Piano-vocal score)

In the first bar of L, the melody notes ar incorrect in "ir-re". They should be E-flat and F.

#18 Rosemary - there is a major discrepancy in this number between the rental and published piano-vocal score (which are the same in this respect) vs. the orchestra parts. In the 8th bar of C, the harmony of indicated in the piano-vocal scores is G-major-7 (with F sharps). However, the reed parts and trombone 2 parts have f-naturals, which creates a startling clash.  The original cast recording contains F-naturals. The '95 revival recording has F-sharps. The decision would be left up to the music director, but either the piano-vocal and orchestra parts would need to be rectified to match each other.

On p. 123, Opening-Act 2 should be #22, not #21

In #23 Cinderella, Darling, the section D on p. 132 is actually section H. The section F on p. 133 is actually section I.

#25A - bass cleff is incorrect. Should be F-naturals and C-naturals (correct in orchestra parts)

Orchestra Parts
These are very cursory notes, merely intended to flag some moments that are problematic. The precise solutions are unknown.

General - lots of mute discrepancies between trumpets 1/2 and trumpet 3 books
#2 How To Succeed - mm. 3-10 have incorrect pitches in the Horn part
#3 Dinner Warm - 3rd bar of D has wrong pitches in the brass books on beat two
#4 Coffee Break - Reed books have a wrong pitch, 4th bar before E
#5 Company Way - brass pitches are incorrect 2 before G
#9 Secretary - wrong pitches in xylophone at S (should be A-flats)
#9 Secretary - wrong pitches in bass at S (third quarter should be A-flats)
#10 Been a Long Day - 1 m. before H, beat 3 has wrong pitches in the brass
#10 Been a Long Day - wrong pitches in Reed 2 book, 2nd bar of J - should be written E followed by written F-natural (?)
#11 Been a Long Day - Reed 1 has wrong pitch, 3rd bar of A. Final E-flat should be F.
#13 Grand Old Ivy - Reed 1 and 2 books have a different rhythm the 2nd bar of G than is indicated in the piano-conductor score.
#15 Paris Original - cello part, 2 bars before D, downbeat in upper staff should be B-flat
#18 Rosemary - brass pitches are incorrect in mm. 1-2
#18 Rosemary - brass pitches are incorrect in chord on 3rd beat of the 10th bar of G
#18 Rosemary - trumpet 2 is incorrect 1 before H. last quarter should be written E-natural
#29 Yo-Ho-Ho - wrong pitches in the saxes at I
#29 Yo-Ho-Ho - reeds I, II, III and IV have wrong pitches in the 5th and 6th bars of E
#29 Yo-Ho-Ho - wrong pitches in the trombone 1 book, 2 bars before M
#33 Brotherhood of Man - wrong pitches in the reed books at V
#33 Brotherhood of Man - wrong pitches in bass at B. All B-naturals (every other bar) should be D-naturals

Maria de Buenos Aires (Piazzola) - Errata

In General:

The piano-vocal score is cursory, particularly in its lacking of the text and vocal parts. The Duende lines are sparse but mostly occur in the correct places.

There is a full score provided with the rental that is tremendously helpful, but still contains some errors. The errors below refer to the full score.

There are many discrepancies in articulation between the string and flute parts.

No. 1 Alevare
mm. 26-31 Piano left hand should match bass part

No. 3 Balada para un Organito loco
Measure numbers between full score and orchestra parts are incongruous.
m. 162/170 - piano right hand, 3rd beat should be C,D,F
#3A/#4 - song numbers are incongruous from here after

No. 6 Fuga y misterio
m. 64 - piano part first chord is C,Eb, G, A (1st two beats), then as written

No. 9 Miserere Canyengue
Measure numbers between full score and parts are incongruous after m. 45/33, 50/62, etc.

No. 10 Funerale
piano part at mm. 61 and 62, right hand is missing 8th-rest on downbeats.
m. 58-59 - Bandoneon should remain G-natural
m. 69 - piano left hand should mat bass part
m. 81 - piano first chord should be G, Bb, D

No. 11 Tangata del'alba
m. 19 - piano right hand, 2nd beat repeats 1st beat with pitches.
m. 34 - grace notes in violin part belong to m. 35
m. 53 - piano right hand should have E-natural on top, not G
m. 81 - piano left hand, D# should be D-natural on 3rd beat

No. 12 A los arboles y las chimeneas
m. 16 - no strings on vamp 1st time (the violin part is in error but the other parts are correct)
m. 129/13 - Maria sings with string melody on Piazola's recording
m. 17 and following - measure numbers are incongruous between parts and score

No. 13 Aria de los Analistas
m. 49 and following - grace notes in the flute part belong to each next downbeat (this is correct in the flute part but wrong in the score - notation software error)

No. 17 Tangus Dei
m. 172 - 4th beat in bass part should be A-natural, not B-natural.
m. 174 - piano left hand 4th beat should be A-natural not B-natural
m. 177 - right hand chord in piano should be A, C#, D, F
m. 184 - piano right hand is missing an 8th-rest between chords. Last 8th-rest in the bar is in error.
m. 192, 194, 196 - last interval in piano right hand should be E,B - to match Bandoeon

This list is by no means exhaustive.

Into the Woods Errata

I was pleased that the Into the Woods piano/conductor score and orchestra parts had minimal errors. Still, there are a few things to be aware of:

IN GENERAL:

The published piano/vocal score is generally reliable, except for discrepancies in song numbers, measure numbers and vamps. It's useful for preparation but not highly efficient for production use.

The Witch's Lament in Act II has been revised in recent performances, and the written key is a minor third lower than what appears in the published piano/vocal score and in previous versions of the piano/conductor score. There is also an additional 12 bars of material, with the Witch repeating "Now you know what's out there in the world..." inserted prior to "No matter what you say..."

The available full orchestration score is useful for reference, but highly impractical for performance, often with only four measures per page.

ERRATA:

#1 Act I Opening, Part I - m. 80, the A-flat in the viola solo should be a G-natural. This is correct in the viola part but incorrect in the piano/vocal score.

#11 Hello, Little Girl - The narrator's first cue line in the piano/conductor score does not appear in the script.

#12 Underscore after Hello, Little Girl - The A-sharp in the left hand of m. 31 should be a G-sharp. This is correct in the cello part but incorrect in the bassoon part and piano/vocal score

#15 and #15a Rapunzel/Our Little World - There is a missing xylophone part in the piano/conductor score in m. 2 on beats 2 and 3. See percussion part for reference.

#28 It Takes Two - The second note in the top of the right hand line in m. 48 should be a B-flat, to match the vocal line. This is correct in the brass parts but wrong in the piano/conductor score.

#58 Moments in the Woods - In the piano/vocal score in m. 15, the left-hand re-struck B-flat is not in the orchestra parts.

#60 Your Fault - In mm. 15-17, the upper notes in the right hand should remain F-sharp and C-sharp throughout, and not alternate to F-natural and C-natural. The orchestra piano part is correct.

#61 Last Midnight - NB: The "chimes for revised version" in m. 155 are in the synth part.

#68 Act II Finale, Part 1 - The piano-conductor score is missing wind cues in m. 30, beginning on the last eighth-note of the second beat.

Barber of Seville - Kalmus vs. Bärenreiter

A score and set of Kalmus orchestral parts to Rossini's Barber of Seville costs about $1000, whereas the score alone to the Bärenreiter urtext edition costs $1,200, with the parts bringing the total to over $2,000.

The first question a music director needs to ask is whether the extra cost is worth it. Usually I always work from critical or urtext editions whenever possible. However, in the case of Barber, I'm not sure the Bärenreiter edition actually pays off.

Of course it's purely a matter of taste, but in this bel canto opera steeped in tradition, critically pared down parts without the traditions and adaptations for generations of performance practice actually end up sounding quite bland. Very few of the dozens of recordings available actually reflect the critical edition, and the same trend goes with performances.

I've outlined the main differences between both editions below along with my reasons for favoring the Kalmus parts, followed by a few (though minimal) "errata" in the Kalmus edition.

Orchestration

The second oboe, trombone and timpani parts in the Kalmus edition are superfluous. They accurately appear only in the overture, while the added parts parts for the remainder of the opera are awkward and best avoided. These parts exist because the overture was borrowed from another opera. They were added for the remainder of Barber in order to accommodate house orchestras when the extra players were present. The preface to the critical edition full score provides an interesting and detailed history. None of these parts are missed if left out of the overture, and they're certainly not needed for the remainder of the opera.

Percussion
I find the Bärenreiter orchestra parts to be under-orchestrated with percussion, and the Kalmus parts a bit over-orchestrated. Coming up with a percussion part that matches the tone of the production will be the music director's and percussionist's most creative task. Note that tambourine can be substituted for sistrum, and the Kalmus timpani part is best avoided, unless desired in the overture over bass drum and cymbals.

I prefer bass drum with cymbal attachment in the overture, introduction (vivace), Basilio's aria, the storm and the act two finale; triangle in the act one finale; and tambourine with bass drum in the quintet. Again, there's room for lots of variation and creativity in the percussion parts in general. Upon investigating the history of the work, there's little sense in even attempting to replicate Rossini's original intentions, as it was performed so many different ways even within his lifetime.

Dynamics

The dynamics in the Kalmus score and parts are generally more interesting than the dynamics (or lack thereof) in the Barenreiter edition. The Kalmus parts pretty accurately reflect the full score. Moreover, there are dynamics (or missing or editorial dynamics) in the Bärenreiter score that are highly inconsistent.

Articulations

The greatest discrepancies between the Kalmus and Bärenreiter editions are the articulations in winds and strings. The articulations in the Kalmus parts are more economical and conducive to faster tempi. Though the Bärenreiter articulations are more "authentic" and often more interesting, they are also more awkward in terms of bowing and limiting in terms of tempi. The Kalmus articulations are often easier for the string and wind players - probably because they are the result of decades of edits by the players of bygone productions.

Recitative
There are numerous discrepancies of pitches and text between the Kalmus, Ricordi and Bärenreiter scores. The Ricordi piano-vocal score is the most trust-worthy and practical source for recitatives.

Errata
Even though I have an obvious preference for the Kalmus parts for Barber, and even though the parts pretty accurately match the published score, there is a short list of items I could dub "errata," based primarily on score study, my own experience conducting the piece, and a bit of conjecture:

Introduction ("Piano, pianissimo")

The clarinet countermelody in the 2nd and 3rd measure should not exist. Likewise with the 2nd and 3rd measures after rehearsal 20. However, the clarinet line (doubled in violas) after rehearsal 22 is correct, and the later bassoon line doubling the violas is also correct.

No. 2 Cavatina Figaro ("Largo")

My preference is to leave out the trills and the tie to the second half of the measure. It is also cleaner if the first violins slur all of the 4th measure.

No. 4 Cavatina Rosina ("Una voce poco fa")

The articulation at the moderato before rehearsal 49 requires some decision-making. I prefer the slurred eighth-notes and sixteenth-notes in the Kalmus, but they are often separated and played staccato, as indicated in the Barenreiter. Likewise following rehearsal 49.

No. 5 Aria Basilio ("La callunia")

The bass drum and cymbal parts in the percussion parts are missing in the full score.

No. 8 Act One Finale

The horn parts in mm. 6 and 10 are inaccurate. They should parallel the rest of the winds. Likewise wherever this figure occurs.

5 measures before rehearsal 78, I do prefer the strings' sixteenth-notes without slurs, as in the Bärenreiter.

5 measures after rehearsal 84, Bartolo's "Chi è?" should be sung on B-flat and D-natural (the pitches of the chorus basses). The basses don't sing "Chi è?" See the Ricordi piano-vocal score for the correct rendition.

In the 4th measure of the Moderato before rehearsal 86, the strings and bassoons are incorrect. There should be a quarter-rest on beat two, and the half-rest should be a quarter-rest.

In "Fredda ed immobile," there are some orchestral chords in the Kalmus edition that do not exist in the Bärenreiter. I prefer the chords in the Kalmus.

The 19th and 20th measures of the Vivace do not exist in the Ricordi piano-vocal score or the Bärenreiter edition. They should be cut from the Kalmus score and parts.

The measure before the Allegro/Stretta, the violins are missing a re-articulation and trill on the 2nd beat.

At the Allegro, the Bärenreiter has the bassoons doubling the basses, which makes sense. If this is desired, an insert is required in the Kalmus parts.

The 9th measure of 98 , the Barenreiter has the violas doubling the cellos, which makes sense. If this is desired, an insert is requires in the Kalmus parts. Likewise after rehearsal 99.

The Storm

At the keychange to C Major at the end of the storm, the flute should play on the 1st and 3rd beats, not the 2nd and 4th. This is somewhat conjecture.

In sum, my preference is for an imaginative Barber infused with tradition, and the Kalmus edition is built on generations of both. While a critical interpretation of Barber is admirable, it might come at the expense of many of the traditions for which this opera has become so well-known.