Magnum Opus

With Magnum Opus (also Magnum Opus ) or opus magnum (Latin: magnum " great " opus " work" ) is called the most important work of an artist (especially of musicians, poets and writers ), or scientist. Earlier also the main work of eminent scholars was so named.

Equivalent to the terms Summum Opus (also Summum opus ) and Opus summum (Latin summum " highest ").

Often it is the summum opus to a late work, in which the author condenses his acquired over long years of experience and knowledge of the relationships in a field into a masterpiece.

An example of a magnum opus is Marcel Proust's novel In siebenbändiger Search of Lost Time.