For many years orchestras and conservatories have wanted a practical and easily accessible edition of the orchestral passages required at auditions. An orchestral musician is expected to know and to have mastered not only the solo literature of his instrument but especially the opera and concert repertoire as well. The present edition contains those passages which a musician is expected to have at his or her command before being accepted into an orchestra. Unlike the many existing "orchestral studies", this collection focuses on the material commonly used in auditions. It thus forms a foundation for the practical training of young orchestral musicians, and serves professional musicians as a means of practicing difficult passages.
This project was initiated at the behest of the German Music Council and the German conservatories. It is based on statistical studies carried out by the German Union of Orchestras and from many years of professional experience gained by the editors themselves, all of whom are members of orchestras and conservatory staffs.