"Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage" is familiar today only in the version from 1834 and the new edition offers a critical edition of this version. But unknown to modern ears is an early version including an additional fifty bars from 1828 which survive in a manuscript copy from the composer’s estate. Christopher's edition offers for the first time both the 1828 and 1834 versions in score and parts.

The complete overture series contains first publications of many of the unknown versions of these popular works and presents a hitherto unnoticed area of exploration into Mendelssohn's compositional methods:

The Fair Melusine, Op. 32
1834 and 1835 versions
BA9051

Overture in C major (“Trumpet Overture”), Op. 101
1833 version plus passages exised from 1826 version
BA9052

The Hebrides, Op. 26
1830 (Rome) and 1832 (London) versions plus variants
BA9053

Ruy Blas
1839 version and 1844 revised version
BA9054

Overture in C major for Winds, Op. 24
(also chamber version as Nocturno, 1826)
BA9055 (BA9064)

A Midsummer Night's Dream, Op. 21
1835 version plus earlier MS variants
BA9056

Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage, Op. 27
1828 and 1834 versions
BA9057