Catalogues_of_classical_compositions

Catalogues of classical compositions

Catalogues of classical compositions

Indexing methodologies for classical music

This article gives an overview of various catalogues of classical compositions that have come into general use.

Opus numbers

While the opus numbering system has long been the standard manner in which individual compositions are identified and referenced, it is far from universal, and there have been many different applications of the system. Very few composers gave opus numbers to all of their published works without exception:

  • Some composers used it for certain genres of music but not for others (for example, in Handel's time, it was normal to apply opus numbers to instrumental compositions but not to vocal compositions such as operas, oratorios, etc.).
  • Some composers gave opus numbers to some of their early compositions but abandoned the practice after some time (examples include Liszt and Hindemith).
  • Some used it in a very erratic manner or were subject to the wishes of their publishers, who for commercial reasons often presented works with opus numbers that bore little relationship to their place in the chronological sequence of the composer's works. In cases such as Schubert and Dvořák, one opus number could refer to a number of different works; or a single work could appear under different opus numbers.
  • Some composers abandoned their early compositions and restarted the opus numbering sequence. Some did this more than once. For example, Bartók three times started numbering his works with opus numbers. He stopped the system in 1921 because of the difficulty of distinguishing between original works and ethnographic arrangements, and between major and minor works.

There are cases where works that a composer chose not to publish were published after their death and assigned very late opus numbers that often give a misleading idea of their order of composition (cases include Mendelssohn, Chopin and Tchaikovsky).

Other composers simply never used opus numbers at all (examples include Copland, Vaughan Williams and many other 20th-century composers).

In some cases, the opus numbers that were established during the composer's lifetime are still used, but symbols from alternative comprehensive catalogues are used for unpublished works or works that have come to light since the composer's death.

Comprehensive catalogues

For the above and other reasons, musicologists have often found it necessary to produce comprehensive catalogues that incorporate the most up-to-date information available about the composers' works. These catalogues sometimes also include unpublished sketches, incomplete drafts, even doubtful works and those known to have been spuriously attributed, as well as writings and other non-musical output.

When such a catalogue finds general acceptance, the sequence numbers allocated by the author then become the standard way of referencing the composer's works, and these numbers usually supersede the opus numbers (if any) that were previously used.

Some such catalogues are organised in a single chronological sequence; others are divided into different genres and listed chronologically within each genre; others are alphabetically arranged. Thematic catalogue indicates a catalogue with a music example (incipit/theme) for each entry, usually represented on one or two staves.[1] A symbol is chosen to represent the catalogue as a whole, and this is usually the initial of the author's or the composer's surname, or an abbreviation of the title of the catalogue itself. In a small number of cases, different symbols apply to different parts of the catalogue.

Among the most famous examples of this are:

In some cases, both the opus number and the newer catalogue designation are sometimes appended to a work. For example, Schubert's first set of Impromptus was published as Op. 90 and is now catalogued as D 899, but concert programmes, CDs and reference works commonly refer to Schubert's "Impromptus, Op. 90, D. 899".

Some catalogues have appendices (German: Anhang, abbreviated as Anh.) for doubtful and/or spurious works, arrangements, etc.

Thematic catalogue

A thematic catalogue is an index used to identify musical compositions through the citation of the opening notes (incipit) and/or main theme(s) of the work and/or of its movements or main sections.[2] Such catalogues can be used for many purposes, including as guides to a specific composer's works, as an inventory of a library's holding or as an advertisement of a publisher's output. In addition to the musical identification, a thematic catalogue may contain information such as dates of composition and first performance. Works within a thematic catalogue can be grouped chronologically or by genre.

Thematic catalogues produced as scholarly guides to the works of a particular composer provide a shorthand means of identification for their music. The Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis (BWV) numbering system used for the works of Johann Sebastian Bach is one example.

Multiple catalogues

In a number of cases, more than one catalogue exists, or has existed, for the same composer's works. In most such cases, only one will be considered the current standard catalogue for the purposes of musicological indexing. For example, Liszt's works are now known only by S numbers, from the catalogue by Humphrey Searle, which superseded that created by Peter Raabe, which used R numbers. Older catalogues are included for historiographic purposes.

But there are exceptions to this, such as:

  • For Domenico Scarlatti, the Longo catalogue (L numbers) was in use from 1906, and although it has become generally superseded by the 1953 Kirkpatrick catalogue (K or Kk numbers), L numbers are still seen in references. In 1967, Pestelli created a third catalogue (P numbers), which has found acceptance in some places. Because all three symbols are often encountered, there is a concordance to help navigate between them.
  • Beethoven's works can appear with an opus number, a WoO number, a Hess number or a Bia number (see Catalogues of Beethoven compositions). Until 1955, the opus numbers that appeared in the Beethoven Gesamtausgabe were used exclusively, but this edition omitted a large number of works. In 1955, Georg Kinsky and Hans Helm produced a listing of works that had not been given opus numbers, and gave them WoO numbers (Werke ohne Opuszahl, or "Works without opus number"). This listing is often referred to as the Kinsky Catalogue. In 1957, Willy Hess produced a new catalogue of Beethoven's unpublished works, which included all or most of the Kinsky Catalogue as well as other pieces; Hess numbers were allocated to this sequence of works. In 1968, Giovanni Biamonti produced the Biamonti Catalogue, which sought to combine and update all pre-existing catalogues. Bia numbers relate to this catalogue.
    • Note: The WoO symbol has also been used to classify some other composers' works that were not given opus numbers, such as certain works by Mendelssohn, Schumann and Brahms.
  • In Chopin's case, at least four latter-day catalogues vie for prominence: Maurice J. E. Brown (B numbers); Krystyna Kobylańska (KK numbers); Józef Michał Chomiński, whose catalogue is segmented into six parts, each part utilising a different letter (A, C, D, E, P and S); and Chopin National Edition WN numbers. Hence, a work of Chopin can be referred to by its opus number and/or a catalogue number preceded by one of nine letter symbols.
  • The cataloguing of Bartók's works is similarly complex. Bartók assigned opus numbers to his works three times. He ended this practice with the Violin Sonata No. 1, Op. 21 in 1921, because of the difficulty of distinguishing between original works and ethnographic arrangements, and between major and minor works. Since his death, three attempts—two full and one partial—have been made at cataloguing. The first, and still most widely used, is András Szőllősy's chronological Sz numbers, from 1 to 121. Denijs Dille subsequently reorganised the juvenilia (Sz. 1–25) thematically, as DD numbers 1 to 77. The most recent catalogue is that of László Somfai; this is a chronological index with works identified by BB numbers 1 to 129, incorporating corrections based on the Béla Bartók Thematic Catalogue.

List of catalogues

The following incomplete list gives details of many of the catalogues and symbols that have been used, and in many cases are still in use. It is in author or composer order, but can be sorted in symbol order.

More information Composer or publisher, Author(s), publication details ...

References

  1. [1]
    Otto Erich Deutsch, The Schubert Thematic Catalogue. New York: Dover Publications, 1995. ISBN 0486286851 – ISBN 9780486286853 pp. ix ff.
  2. [2]
    Grier, James, 'Thematic catalogue'. In The Oxford Companion to Music (Oxford University Press)
  3. [3]
    J. C. Bach's works are mostly referred to by the opus number assigned by the original publishers, which can cause misidentification because different, secondary publishers used the same (original) opus number (such as using Op. 18 to identify three different sets of J. C. Bach works). Moreover, three of six Op. 6 symphonies are identified as Op. 8, but in a different order. Because of this confusion, the de facto standard catalogue is Terry 1967. When identifying a J. C. Bach work, one cites the page and incipit numbers "in Terry", although they are not catalogue numbers per se. A short list of the Terry numbers is in The New Grove Bach Family, by Christoph Wolff, et al. (pp. 341ff., New York: Norton, 1983). Also used are the opus numbers of the "Thematic Catalog" in the Collected Works of Johann Christian Bach (Ernest Warburton, ed.; New York: Garland Publishing, 1985).
  4. [4]
    Bruckner online – Werkverzeichnis
  5. [5]
    Frédéric Chopin used opus numbers (up to Op. 65) for all his works that he permitted to be published in his lifetime. After his death, some more works were published in 1855 and 1857 as Opp. posth. 66–74. Yet more works were later published, but without opus numbers; some of these were known in Chopin's lifetime, while others have come to light only since his death. At least three major attempts have been made to catalogue all Chopin's works systematically, and each catalogue has its own numbering system. Maurice J. E. Brown uses B numbers, Krystyna Kobylańska uses KK numbers, and Józef Michał Chomiński allocates numbers to a variety of letters (A, C, D, E, P and S). These alternative designations are generally used to identify only the works that were not given opus numbers.
  6. [6]
    Our Chopin
  7. [7]
    "Brown, Maurice John Edwin (1906–1975)". The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music. Oxford University Press. 2004-04-22. ISBN 9780198608844.
  8. [8]
    Leconte, Thomas (2005). "Catalogue des œuvres de Jean-Marie Leclair". Portail Philidor. Archived from the original on 2008-11-07.
  9. [9]
    Philidor (2005). "Catalogue des œuvres de Jean-Marie Leclair". Portail Philidor. Archived from the original on 2008-11-07.
  10. [10]
    Alessandro Longo's 1906 catalogue (L numbers) was superseded by Ralph Kirkpatrick's 1953 catalogue (K or Kk numbers). Giorgio Pestelli's 1967 catalogue (P numbers) also has its adherents. List of solo keyboard sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti gives a concordance between these three systems.
  11. [11]
    Strauss gave opus numbers to 88 compositions. Two volumes of a catalogue of the remaining works were published by Erich Hermann Mueller von Asow (1892–1964) in 1959. After von Asow's death, Franz Trenner (d. 1993) and Alfons Ott (d. 1976) published the third volume, based on von Asow's notes; this catalogue lists 323 titles, including Strauss's literary writings. The numbers for compositions from this catalogue have AV numbers. During the 15 years it took to publish von Asow's work, many new sources became available, so Trenner created a new chronological catalogue in 1985. An updated edition was published in 1993, and his son Florian Trenner published a completely revised edition in 1999; this catalogue lists 298 works and it uses TrV numbers.
  12. [12]
    Tchaikovsky Research
  13. [13]
    Tchaikovsky gave opus numbers to almost all his major works, but there are many other works that were not given opus numbers. All his musical and literary works have been catalogued by later researchers: TH numbers come from Alexander Poznansky & Brett Langston, The Tchaikovsky Handbook, vol. 1 (2002); ČW numbers come from Polina Vaidman, Liudmila Korabel'nikova, Valentina Rubtsova, Thematic and Bibliographical Catalogue of P. I. Čajkovskij's Works (2006), and in: P. I. Čajkovskij. New Edition of the Complete Works (1993–date).

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