Intégrales was first published by J. Curwen & Sons of London in 1926. The Curwen edition differs from the manuscript in a number of places with regard to tempo marks, dynamics, accents, ties, rhythm and percussion. While some of these, particularly tempo marks, are clearly revisions by Varèse, others seem to be questionable since there is a large amount of obvious errors and omissions. Since 1926, there have been at least two minor revisions of this work made by Varèse; one in 1956, for the Ricordi reissue of the Curwen edition, and another for a subsequent printing. Aside from the addition of E and B Clarinets and a D Trumpet, from seven measures before 6 or two measures after, and revisions in two measures before 15 and one measure after 21, Varèse was mainly concerned with correcting misprints and revising dynamics, accents and phrasing marks. Two reference copies of the Curwen edition and two of the first Ricordi printing exist; they contain all the markings (but not all in Varèse’s handwriting) for the Ricordi printings; there is also a photocopy of the manuscript bearing some revisions. These revisions, however, do not always agree with each other.

For the present edition, corrections are made according to the manuscript and all the copies mentioned above. Whenever corrections do not agree with each other in these versions, a comparative study is made for the proper choice. In addition, many misprints and omissions not taken note of by Varèse are now corrected or restored according to the manuscript. Missing dynamics, accents, ties, etc. not found in the manuscript are now added wherever their use is considered necessary.

By Chou Wen-chung