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The Zen of Classical Music Tagging (Part1): The anatomy of a composition
To tag classical music properly we need to mention the composition which the most fundamental and complicated piece of information, hence the topic of Part 1. When we are faced with a text describing a piece of music, like W.A. Mozart?s Symphony in C No. 41 ?Jupiter? K551 or L. van Beethoven?s Opus 59 No. 2 String Quartet No. 8 in E minor ?Rasumovsky?, what does it all mean? We are going to try to shed a bit of light on this esoteric topic?.
Name or form
Usually the first word describes either the scale or the form of the piece. This name can vary of lot: from typical names like sonatas and symphonies to rare ones such as cassations, partitas or even new ones invented by the composer himself such as nocturnes (yes, before Mr. John Field [1782-1837], that stuff did not exists). A Symphony involves a whole orchestra, a quartet four players (I know you guessed that one), a sonata can be one to three etc. Look at Wikipedia for a complete description of all musical forms; it excels at that.
Instruments
Pretty self explanatory, a piano sonata or a violin concerto involves the instrument(s) stated. However, sometimes the piece is performed by another instrument than the one intended, so it can get a bit confusing. For example, J.S. Bach?s Chaconne for violin has been played with a guitar or a piano. Or, a suite for keyboard can be performed either with a harpsichord, a piano forte or a piano. But in most cases when a piece is written, say, for a violin, a violin is the instrument one hears, a fact I find most comforting. Altough another instrument not mentioned anywhere, such as a piano or a harpsichord could be heard too, but ignore it.
Opus
The Opus (or Op.) designates an order in publication for a composer. It has different meaning during the Baroque era or later. During the Baroque, the composer would try to compile his best works irrespectively of the date of composition in order to get money from the publication and sales of the scores. Later on, most composers did catalogue their work themselves in order of completion. For example:
Vivaldi?s famous ?Four Seasons? were packaged in the Opus 8 ?Il cimento dell'armonia e dell'inventione?, twelve violin concertos all written between 1723 to 1725. Now remember for later that an Opus can be composed (no pun intended) of more than one composition.
Of course, there are always exceptions to the rule. Beethoven catalogued his compositions himself except when? he did not; because he did not think there were important enough or who knows what was going on in this old grumpy man?s head. As consequence the (in)famous Bagatelle in A minor, WoO 59 ?F?r Elise? that any piano beginner destroys ad infinitum is WoO (without Opus) number 59. This lack of opus is also true of most of Beethoven?s vocal music. Another exception has to do with the speed of the Grim Reaper; composers did not always have the time to do it themselves, so it gets published by, of course, somebody else. An example of this is Schubert?s extraordinary three last piano sonatas, which were written in the last months of his life, but were not published until about ten years after his death; they are written Op. posth[umous].
Ranking
This part has to do with the No. abbreviation, Beethoven wrote 9 symphonies, conveniently numbered 1 to 9, usually in chronological order. In the same fashion, but nothing is that simple in life, Mozart wrote 40 symphonies, numbered 1-41 (gotcha here). Because the Symphony No. 37 in G major, K. 444 was actually composed by Michael Haydn (brother of the more famous Joseph) and was removed from Mozart?s catalogue. So expect to sometimes have gaps in the numbered list due to historical factors.
Going back to our first example: for L. van Beethoven?s String Quartet No. 8 Opus 59 No. 2 in E minor, you will notice that there are two numbers No. 2 and No. 8 (these old guys are really tricky). Now if you recall from above (if not, pay more attention or seek medical help immediately) an Opus may have more than one piece (in the case of Op. 59, three), so the No. 2 represent the sub-opus number (the second piece within the Op 59). This number is always the one that appears closest to the word Opus; the No. 8 is the absolute ranking among the whole collection of Ludwig van?s sixteen string quartets; crystal clear by now?
Catalogue
The amazing thing about human beings is their diversity (do not worry nothing very profound is coming after that). Some people actually spent their entire life running after dusty manuscripts and letters in attempt to catalogue a composer?s complete work, and that was way before the creation of federal grants. So I guess they were really into it, baffling if you ask me.
Ludwig von K?chel (1800-1877) is responsible for W.A. Mozart?s list of compositions, abbreviated with K or KV. Why V? Because ?Verzeichnis? means register in German, but it omitted sometimes. So, the Symphony No. 25 in G minor, K. 183 (173d B) the K. 183, is the original number, but of course this catalog has been amended several times, leading to ambiguity over some K numbers, one of which was renamed, ?173d B?, just to mess with us. Moreover, very few of Mozart?s compositions have Opus numbers, because he hardly published anything during his lifetime, so numbering by Opus numbers would be impractical. So the K number is the way in this case.
Some catalogues are arranged by genre (a thematic catalog), while others, as we saw with Mozart, are in chronological order. For Johann Sebastian Bach, we have BWV (Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis i.e. Bach Works Catalogue). By the way, notice that the scholar involved in this enterprise, Mr. Wolfgang Schmieder does not appear anywhere in the initials (unlike K?chel) - W does not represent Wolfgang but work. The BWV catalog is thematic so a lower number does not mean it is an earlier composition, Bach?s cantatas are numbered BWV 1 to 244 and Violin concertos BWV 1046 to 1051. For the thicker part of our audience, let us clarify a bit: Bach the father did not start composing cantatas at 18 years old only to suddenly switch to solely writing concertos at around 45.
Tonality
Tonality denotes the musical key of the piece. Obviously, this does not apply to some examples of atonal modern music, nor to opera or sacred work. If you want to learn more about it, consult http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonality. Because I understand as much about musical theory as I do for indoor marine plumbing, I just know it is the part that starts with ?in? like ?in E minor?, sometimes it can be stated with the do, re, mi scale instead of the C, D, E notation for foreign recordings. Moreover, you might have the word Major/Minor, or the half tone flat/sharp for the note. It may happen that, for not so famous composers, (I could not write minor here) that is all you have, for example: Jir?nek, Concerto for Bassoon in G minor (who knows this guy?), so the tonality can be a crucial way to identify and correlate a composition with the instrument.
Nickname
Sometimes another name is added to a composition usually in single or double quote. This is the nickname. Because many musicians needed patrons to survive, it could be the name of the person who commissioned (translate bought) the work. As far as the String Quartets Opus 59 ?Rasumovsky?. Count Rasumovsky having excellent taste in music asked Beethoven to write few pieces for him for a fee. It could also be a dedication, a grateful note to thank for a past favor or a kissing of rump in the hopes of a future position at court. There are other types of nicknames; the Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat major, Op. 73 ?Emperor ? was coined as such by the unscrupulous publisher hoping to make more profit using a catchy name. Nearly never, these (often silly) names are given by the composers themselves. A few make sense but most often they seem to have been chosen by a party of musicians inspired by a few barrels too many of schnapps. How about ?razor?, ?donkey?, ?the joke? and ?How do you do? to prove my point?
By now we are all expert in decrypting compositions, so we can go to the next phase (Part 2) on how to use this for tagging our music audio files?.
The MusiCHI team
The Zen of Classical Music Tagging (Part1): The anatomy of a composition
To tag classical music properly we need to mention the composition which the most fundamental and complicated piece of information, hence the topic of Part 1. When we are faced with a text describing a piece of music, like W.A. Mozart?s Symphony in C No. 41 ?Jupiter? K551 or L. van Beethoven?s Opus 59 No. 2 String Quartet No. 8 in E minor ?Rasumovsky?, what does it all mean? We are going to try to shed a bit of light on this esoteric topic?.
Name or form
Usually the first word describes either the scale or the form of the piece. This name can vary of lot: from typical names like sonatas and symphonies to rare ones such as cassations, partitas or even new ones invented by the composer himself such as nocturnes (yes, before Mr. John Field [1782-1837], that stuff did not exists). A Symphony involves a whole orchestra, a quartet four players (I know you guessed that one), a sonata can be one to three etc. Look at Wikipedia for a complete description of all musical forms; it excels at that.
Instruments
Pretty self explanatory, a piano sonata or a violin concerto involves the instrument(s) stated. However, sometimes the piece is performed by another instrument than the one intended, so it can get a bit confusing. For example, J.S. Bach?s Chaconne for violin has been played with a guitar or a piano. Or, a suite for keyboard can be performed either with a harpsichord, a piano forte or a piano. But in most cases when a piece is written, say, for a violin, a violin is the instrument one hears, a fact I find most comforting. Altough another instrument not mentioned anywhere, such as a piano or a harpsichord could be heard too, but ignore it.
Opus
The Opus (or Op.) designates an order in publication for a composer. It has different meaning during the Baroque era or later. During the Baroque, the composer would try to compile his best works irrespectively of the date of composition in order to get money from the publication and sales of the scores. Later on, most composers did catalogue their work themselves in order of completion. For example:
Vivaldi?s famous ?Four Seasons? were packaged in the Opus 8 ?Il cimento dell'armonia e dell'inventione?, twelve violin concertos all written between 1723 to 1725. Now remember for later that an Opus can be composed (no pun intended) of more than one composition.
Of course, there are always exceptions to the rule. Beethoven catalogued his compositions himself except when? he did not; because he did not think there were important enough or who knows what was going on in this old grumpy man?s head. As consequence the (in)famous Bagatelle in A minor, WoO 59 ?F?r Elise? that any piano beginner destroys ad infinitum is WoO (without Opus) number 59. This lack of opus is also true of most of Beethoven?s vocal music. Another exception has to do with the speed of the Grim Reaper; composers did not always have the time to do it themselves, so it gets published by, of course, somebody else. An example of this is Schubert?s extraordinary three last piano sonatas, which were written in the last months of his life, but were not published until about ten years after his death; they are written Op. posth[umous].
Ranking
This part has to do with the No. abbreviation, Beethoven wrote 9 symphonies, conveniently numbered 1 to 9, usually in chronological order. In the same fashion, but nothing is that simple in life, Mozart wrote 40 symphonies, numbered 1-41 (gotcha here). Because the Symphony No. 37 in G major, K. 444 was actually composed by Michael Haydn (brother of the more famous Joseph) and was removed from Mozart?s catalogue. So expect to sometimes have gaps in the numbered list due to historical factors.
Going back to our first example: for L. van Beethoven?s String Quartet No. 8 Opus 59 No. 2 in E minor, you will notice that there are two numbers No. 2 and No. 8 (these old guys are really tricky). Now if you recall from above (if not, pay more attention or seek medical help immediately) an Opus may have more than one piece (in the case of Op. 59, three), so the No. 2 represent the sub-opus number (the second piece within the Op 59). This number is always the one that appears closest to the word Opus; the No. 8 is the absolute ranking among the whole collection of Ludwig van?s sixteen string quartets; crystal clear by now?
Catalogue
The amazing thing about human beings is their diversity (do not worry nothing very profound is coming after that). Some people actually spent their entire life running after dusty manuscripts and letters in attempt to catalogue a composer?s complete work, and that was way before the creation of federal grants. So I guess they were really into it, baffling if you ask me.
Ludwig von K?chel (1800-1877) is responsible for W.A. Mozart?s list of compositions, abbreviated with K or KV. Why V? Because ?Verzeichnis? means register in German, but it omitted sometimes. So, the Symphony No. 25 in G minor, K. 183 (173d B) the K. 183, is the original number, but of course this catalog has been amended several times, leading to ambiguity over some K numbers, one of which was renamed, ?173d B?, just to mess with us. Moreover, very few of Mozart?s compositions have Opus numbers, because he hardly published anything during his lifetime, so numbering by Opus numbers would be impractical. So the K number is the way in this case.
Some catalogues are arranged by genre (a thematic catalog), while others, as we saw with Mozart, are in chronological order. For Johann Sebastian Bach, we have BWV (Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis i.e. Bach Works Catalogue). By the way, notice that the scholar involved in this enterprise, Mr. Wolfgang Schmieder does not appear anywhere in the initials (unlike K?chel) - W does not represent Wolfgang but work. The BWV catalog is thematic so a lower number does not mean it is an earlier composition, Bach?s cantatas are numbered BWV 1 to 244 and Violin concertos BWV 1046 to 1051. For the thicker part of our audience, let us clarify a bit: Bach the father did not start composing cantatas at 18 years old only to suddenly switch to solely writing concertos at around 45.
Tonality
Tonality denotes the musical key of the piece. Obviously, this does not apply to some examples of atonal modern music, nor to opera or sacred work. If you want to learn more about it, consult http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonality. Because I understand as much about musical theory as I do for indoor marine plumbing, I just know it is the part that starts with ?in? like ?in E minor?, sometimes it can be stated with the do, re, mi scale instead of the C, D, E notation for foreign recordings. Moreover, you might have the word Major/Minor, or the half tone flat/sharp for the note. It may happen that, for not so famous composers, (I could not write minor here) that is all you have, for example: Jir?nek, Concerto for Bassoon in G minor (who knows this guy?), so the tonality can be a crucial way to identify and correlate a composition with the instrument.
Nickname
Sometimes another name is added to a composition usually in single or double quote. This is the nickname. Because many musicians needed patrons to survive, it could be the name of the person who commissioned (translate bought) the work. As far as the String Quartets Opus 59 ?Rasumovsky?. Count Rasumovsky having excellent taste in music asked Beethoven to write few pieces for him for a fee. It could also be a dedication, a grateful note to thank for a past favor or a kissing of rump in the hopes of a future position at court. There are other types of nicknames; the Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat major, Op. 73 ?Emperor ? was coined as such by the unscrupulous publisher hoping to make more profit using a catchy name. Nearly never, these (often silly) names are given by the composers themselves. A few make sense but most often they seem to have been chosen by a party of musicians inspired by a few barrels too many of schnapps. How about ?razor?, ?donkey?, ?the joke? and ?How do you do? to prove my point?
By now we are all expert in decrypting compositions, so we can go to the next phase (Part 2) on how to use this for tagging our music audio files?.
The MusiCHI team
