Urtext

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Urtext is a word of German origin; ur- means "original," and text is as in English.

In the humanities, the word is often used in a metaphorical fashion to refer to a primitive, seminal, or prototypical example of an artistic genre or the basis of an ideological movement.

In classical music, the term has a more literal meaning, namely the version of the music as it was created by the composer; see Urtext edition.