Ever since antiquity, music transcription has been the intrinsic way of visual representation of sound, sometimes in detail and sometimes in the form of a guide. Throughout time, the visual capture of music has been the only way to store and preserve it over time, but also the exclusive means of reproducing it. In any case, visual transfer should be considered as an auxiliary tool, since oral dissemination and storage in the memory of artists have been the most timeless techniques for the diffusion of music through time and space. During Europe's so-called "classical" musical period, with its most powerful centers of production, such as today's Austria, Germany, France and Italy, and especially in its path towards Romanticism, music transcription, that is, the musical score, was considered by some composers as the very embodiment of their work.

Understandably, in the modern capitalist world, music transcription, as the primary tool for the substantialization of music, brought under its purview repertoires that were not connected, were not disseminated, and did not function on the basis of their transcription. This offered to the music product sales centers an additional tool to expand their action network: non-scholar musics acquired a convenient way of circulating them, enhancing their popularity, even in places very far from those of their original creation. At the end of the 19th century, however, the phenomenon of sound recording and reproduction rearranged relationships and disrupted the status quo of publishing houses, claiming a share of the market, offering a product that was extremely complete and immediate. The publishing houses tried to react with legal measures, but it became impossible to stop the dynamics of the new phenomenon: the prevalence of commercial discography was now a fact, for most of the 20th century.

As far as non-scholar music is concerned, commercial printed musical scores were publications of the musical texts of songs or instrumental pieces (for the publishing activity in Greece see Lerch-Kalavrytinos, 2003: 4-5). For the needs of musical scores, the songs were arranged mainly (but not only) for piano or for piano and voice, generally without complex performance requirements. Multi-instrumental or technically demanding orchestrations were systematically avoided. The lyrics were printed below the notes of the melodic development of the singing parts and, sometimes, their translations into other languages. For the most part, the musical scores were two or four pages long, and came with a themed front and back cover.

This 12-page musical score is entitled "I prigkipissa tou Tsarntas" (The Csárdás Princess) and contains excerpts from the exotic operetta "Die Csárdásfürstin", set to music by Emmerich Kálmán and libretto by Leo Stein and Bela Jenbach. It is a collection of arrangements-collations from parts of the play, such as songs, duets and orchestral pieces. More specifically, the following is included (in order of appearance in the musical score):

– Excerpt (page 2) from the song "Heia, heia, in den Bergen ist mein Heimatland" (Nr. 1 Lied, Sylva and choir) of the first act (incipit: Chai cha, chai cha!)
– Excerpt (page 3-4) from the song "O jag' dem Glück nicht nach-Ja so ein Teufelsweib" (Nr. 5 Lied, Sylva, Edwin, Boni, Feri and choir) of the first act (incipit: Na ti thelo sti zoi [This is what I want in life])
– The song (page 4-5) "Aus ist's mit der Liebe-Doch ganz ohne Weiber geht die Chose nicht" (Nr. 4 Lied, Boni and eight women) of the first act (incipit: Mia fora ki eme mou irthe [I once wanted to])
– The duet (page 5-6) "Tanzen möcht ich" (Nr. 12 Duett, Sylva, Edwin) of the second act (incipit: Tha fonaxo kai tha trexo [I’ll scream and I’ll run])
– The chorus (page 6-8) "Weißt du es noch?" from Nr. 9 Duett( Sylva, Edwin) of the second act (incipit: Den lismono [I'm not forgetting])
– The duet (page 8-9) “Mädel guck-Das ist die Liebe” (Nr. 11 Duett Stasi, Boni) and the dance (Tanz) of the second act (incipit: Ma kai sy akou do [But listen here too])
– The duet (page 9-10) "Sich verlieben kann man öfters - Mädchen gibt es wunderfeine" (Nr. 3 Duett, Sylva, Edwin) of the first act (incipit: Ekei panta agapiesai [You’re always loved there])
– The terzetto (page 11-12) "Nimm Zeigeuner deine Geige - Jaj Mamám" (Nr. 14 Terzett, Sylva, Boni, Feri) and the dance (Tanz) from the third act (incipit: Fere to violi sou atsingane [Bring your violin, Gypsy])
– The chorus (page 12) "Die Mädis vom Chantant" from Nr. 2 March-Ensemble (Boni, Feri & eight men) of the first act (incipit: Koritsia, koritsia, koritsia tou santan [Girls, girls, girls of the chantant])

The creators and the publisher are mentioned on the monochrome cover. The following is written at the bottom of the first page of the music text: “Publie par arr^t avec Jos. Weinberger, Leipzig”, “Pour la Greece: exclusivite des Editions Et. Gaetanos. Athens” as well as the code “Γ.Κ.Σ. 24”.

It is a musical score for piano with a system of two staffs. The lyrics are written on the right-hand staff. The usual tactic of adding an additional staff for the voice melody is not followed here in the interests of saving space, as the musical score is already quite lengthy.

Another version of the musical score was published (see here).

For more about the operetta “I Prigkipissa tou Tsarntas”, see here.

Research and text: George Evangelou, Leonardos Kounadis and Nikos Ordoulidis