Meaning & use
urtext
Last updated
The original or earliest authenticated version of a text, especially a musical score, before later editorial changes.
See it in a sentence
The pianist studied the urtext edition to understand the composer's original intentions.
Scholars compared the urtext with later revisions to trace how the play had been altered over time.
A note on using this word
Borrowed from German, literally 'primal text'; widely used in musicology to describe scores edited to match a composer's original manuscript rather than later performance traditions.
Words with a similar meaning
original textsource text
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