Description

The present Introduction and Polonaise op. 25 by Heinrich Joseph Baermann (1784-1847) was published by Breitkopf & Härtel in 1822. It appears to have been extraordinarily popular, as is confirmed by three further contemporary prints aside from the Breitkopf edition. Formally interesting is Baermann’s insertion of a short Adagio as a kind of rest after the Introduction (in a rapid tempo) and before the start of the main section, the Polonaise (‘Polacca’). This edition offers a revised musical text which corrects inconsistencies in the sources and also subjects the piano part to a critical examination.