Opus number

Opus (plural Opera, abbreviation Op., Or op ) is the Latin name for a plant, especially a composer. Many composers from the Baroque to the Romantic period is the count of their works with the help of the then assigned opus numbers ( opus numbers ) still in use today. Also the work of another creative artist or a (art) artisan, for example, an organ builder, may be referred to as Opus (see also Opus magnum ). It can also mean the complete works of a person.

Spellings

• The Latin word opus (abbreviation op, plural opera) corresponds to the foreign word in German Opus (abbreviation Op., Plural Opera).
• With the announcement usually goes hand in hand Capitalization: a massive opus. This is also prevalent when a number of stories follows: Beethoven's Opus 61 ( rare: Beethoven's opus 61).
• The abbreviation lowercase outweighs: Beethoven Op 61 ( rare: Beethoven Op 61. ).
• Usually it is just a trailing additional specification. Then lower case is the rule: Beethoven's Violin Concerto, Op 61
• Exception: CD covers and notes opus numbers part of the title. Here you will often see the capitalization Op. used (especially in English and / or at the beginning of the line ).

Other abbreviations

• Opp. represents the majority of opera and is sometimes used in the naming of several opus numbers.
• Post op (h). stands for opus post ( h) umum and refers to a work which was published posthumously (after the composer's death ).
• Op cit. ( = Opus citatum ) is - outside of music - part of a quotation and proof corresponds to the German lc ( = at the specified location ).

History

Ongoing opus numbers were first introduced by music publishers to designate published in the printed works of a composer. Since the Romantic composers numbered by their works, regardless of whether they were printed or not. In modern times many composers abandoned (eg Alban Berg ) Opus names, and in the presence of music, they have become uncommon. Depending on the order of publication be opus numbers often to no conclusion on the order or the date of their occurrence. Often published publisher discovered in the estate of early or so Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Piano Sonata in G minor of 1821, the opus number 105 carries after the death of a composer 's early works by further counting the numbers, while the last to print unauthorized work, the Six Pieces for Children in 1847, operates as Op 72. Related Even as far back as publishers occasionally high opus numbers to feign particularly new or mature works; This gave Dvořák's Symphony No. 5, the opus number 76, higher than the later No. 6 and 7

One of the first composers whose chamber music works are named to this day with their original opus number, belonged Corelli and Handel. From this period also the custom to combine several works of the same cast in an edition and with its opus number originates: in the Baroque period of twelve or six, then to classical before Beethoven usually six plants. Beethoven published a maximum of three works under an opus number (Piano Trio op 1, op 2 piano sonatas, string trio, Op 9 Piano Sonatas Op 10, Violin Sonatas, Op 12 etc - the six string quartets Opus 18 are a significant exception), but already his String Trio in E flat major of 1792 appeared as an individual business with its own opus number. Later, even the smallest pieces were like a single song (Op. 32) with its own number laid ( but that does not necessarily go back to Beethoven's own will, but definitely on the high-handedness of his publishers ).

Even Haydn and Mozart string quartets published their under opus numbers, while written for specific occasions orchestral works, exhibitions, operas and so on did not appear until later in print today and by subsequently developed business directories are accessed (eg Köchelverzeichnis ). Certain genera, such as variations or opportunity cantatas were not provided with an opus number, when the composer deemed to lightweight. Only Beethoven brought under such a high proportion of its production among publishers that his oeuvre is still known on the basis of the original opus numbers - with the exception of the posthumously cataloged " works without opus number" ( WoO ), which include about most of its variations.