Classical Music Titles, Explained

Types of Composition

The purpose of classical music titles is to enable you to distinguish one composition from another without confusion.

Arguably the biggest distinguishing factor between two pieces of music is the type of composition. A piano concerto vs. an opera, for example. 

Classical music employs a number of different musical forms or compositions. These include the symphony, the sonata, the concerto, and the fugue, and more.

The type of composition is mentioned in the title right after the composer’s name. For example - Beethoven’s 5th Symphony.

Composition types or forms in a classical song title begin with a capital letter. Notes and keys, which we’ll soon discuss, should also be capitalized.

Often, the same composer will write multiple compositions in the same form. This is why it doesn’t make sense to simply say that you liked Bach’s ‘Sonata,’ since he wrote 6 of them!

When a composer writes more than one of the same type of composition, “No. X” gets added to the title. 

The number added almost always follows a chronological order. Therefore, it’s fair to assume Beethoven wrote his Symphony No. 5 before his Symphony No. 9.

Instruments

Classical music pieces can be written for different musical instruments (such as piano or violin) or for vocal groups (as in choral music).

Obviously, it’s helpful to know which instrument a work is written for. 

Generic classical music titles often contain the instrument in the title. For example, Bach’s Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major.

A good example of a composer who wrote music for different instruments is Johannes Brahms. He wrote 2 piano concertos, one violin concerto, a double concerto for a violin and a cello, and several other complex works.

Keys

Let's recap what we’ve covered so far. We know the name of the composer, the composition type, the instruments to be used, and the number of the composition are all essential parts of a classical music title. 

In addition to all the above, we also need to know the key, or the musical scale the notes fit into, in which a musical composition is to be played.

As such, the key usually gets included in the title as well. 

A good example of this is Paganini’s Violin Concerto No. 2 in B Minor. Here, the type of composition is a concerto, the second one he wrote. The work is to be played on a violin in the key of B Minor.

Opus Numbers

The opus number is a number assigned to a particular composition. It serves as the “work number” and catalogs a composer’s work chronologically. 

Opus number is abbreviated as Op. or op. To reference more than one opus, you use the abbreviation Opp.

Since opus numbers indicate chronology, you can safely assume someone’s Op. 15 was written before their Op. 16.

The full generic name of almost every single classical music title includes an opus number. If you don’t see one, you’re probably just seeing an abbreviated title.

On the rare occasion a work doesn’t have an opus number, it’s typically noted. In these cases, the term WoO is used. In German, it means “Werke ohne Opuszahl,” or “works without opus number.”

An example of a work without an opus number is Beethoven’s Für Elise, WoO 59.

Remember Beethoven’s 5th Symphony from earlier? Well, its full name is actually Symphony No. 5 in C Minor, Op. 67.

Congratulations! Now you know what all that means!

Catalog Numbers

So, you understand everything up to this point. Now, what about those random letters included at the end of some classical music titles?

You see, some hotshot composers were too cool to properly document their compositions. Others were just too lazy and probably figured someone would do it for them after they died.

Well, turns out they were right.

Famous composers like Bach, Vivaldi, and Mozart all had students of their work come up with new and clever ways to organize and arrange their musical catalogs.

These systems often follow their own internal logic, and aren’t organized chronologically.

For example, works by Bach usually add the abbreviation BWV. This stands for Bach Werke Verzeichnis, or Bach Works Catalog.

This system catalogs Bach’s works by genre, as opposed to the order in which they were written. German musicologist Wolfgang Schmieder created it and published it in 1950.

Similarly, Mozart’s works add the abbreviation K, which stands for Kochel Verzeichnis. Vivaldi’s works are assigned the letters RV, for Ryom-Verzeichnis.

Remember that famous Cello Suite No.1 in G Major?

Its full name is Cello Suite No.1 in G Major, BMV 1007. Now you understand that last part!

Non-Generic Names, Sub-titles, & Nicknames

As certain pieces of classical music started to become famous, they picked up some nicknames as they entered popular culture.

For example, you probably haven’t heard of Piano Sonata No. 14 in C Sharp Minor, but chances are you know of Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata.

Well, here’s some news for you folks: they’re the same thing.

When classical music pieces have well-known non-generic names, those are often included in the title of a piece.

So, the aforementioned piece is often written as Sonata No. 14 “Moonlight” in C-Sharp Minor, Op. 27 No. 2.

Titles such as Messiah (Handel), Nocturne (Chopin), and The Surprise Symphony (Haydn) are based on representative themes. They are known as sub-titles or non-generic names in music naming convention.

Non-generic names may either have been added by the composer himself (in which case they’re called sub-titles) or have been added by others including biographers (in which case they’re called nicknames).

Occasionally, a composer may give a non-numeric sub-title to a particular composition and the piece is known exclusively by that name. The Symphonie Fantastique by Berlioz and Also Sprach Zarathustra by Richard Strauss are good examples of this.

For many well-known classical songs, it is enough to identify the piece by mentioning the sub-title or nickname. Typical examples include Three Places in New England (Charles Ives), La Campanella (Paganini), and Zadok the Priest (Handel).

When writing out the full title of a piece, the sub-title is often appended to the end of a classical song title. A good example is Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 in C Minor, Resurrection.

Music Tempo Markings

Another important characteristic by which songs can be distinguished is tempo.

In plain English, musical tempo is the pace at which beats are played by the artist or orchestra performing a composition. 

Changing the tempo also changes the mood and the expression of the piece being played. Indicating the tempo in the title allows composers to give performers a better idea of how the piece is to be played.

To distinguish between different tempos, composers use Italian names such as lento for slow, adagio for slowly but with great expression, or presto for very, very fast.

To make this distinction between tempos more precise, the number of beats played per minute (bpm) is used to create a tempo scale.

Below are some common tempo markings used on the tempo scale alongside their corresponding Italian names.

Common Tempo Markings:

1. Largo (40-60 bpm)

2. Lento (45-60 bpm)

3. Adagio (66-76 bpm)

4. Andante (76-108 bpm)

5. Allegro (120-156 bpm)

6. Vivace (156-176 bpm)

7. Presto (168-200 bpm)

Now that you understand the tempo marking scheme, let’s take a look at an example. Consider Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5 in E Minor, Op. 64: I. Andante - allegro con anima.

In the title above, Tchaikovsky is the composer, while the composition type is a symphony, being the 5th one Tchaikovsky composed.

This piece is in the key of E Minor, and Op. 64 indicates it’s the 64th work in Tchaikovsky’s catalog. 

The Andante - allegro indicates that the tempo range for this piece. Allegro also means ‘cheerful’ in English, so that should give you a good idea of the expected tempo as well.

Lastly, the Italian con anima means “with feeling" or "with soul" and indicates the piece should be performed as such.

Other Common Musical Modifiers:

1. a capella: meaning without instrumental accompaniment

2. a niente: meaning the music diminishes to completely fade away

3. a piacere: meaning at pleasure, giving the performer the freedom to deviate from the rhythm

4. accelerato: meaning with increased tempo

5. agitato: a loose translation renders this “stirred up” or “rough,” and means the music should be performed more aggressively.

Movements

Lastly, roman numerals at the end of classical music titles typically indicate which movement of a piece is being performed.

Large compositions like symphonies and concertos almost always break up their pieces into smaller movements. There is a clear start and end to each movement, and it’s rare to ever break up a movement into smaller pieces.

For a great example of how movements work, let’s look to Vivaldi.

His work The Four Seasons is composed of four concertos: one each for spring, summer, autumn, and winter.

Within each concerto are three movements. The breakdown is as follows:

Concerto No. 1 in E major, Op. 8,  RV  269, “Spring”

I. Allegro (in E major)

II. Largo e pianissimo sempre (in C♯ minor)

III. Allegro pastorale (in E major)

If you were to go listen to The Four Seasons on Spotify, you’d notice there are three different tracks for the first concerto “Spring.” There's one track for each movement. 

The Four Seasons consists of four concertos of three movements each, so twelve “tracks” total. You’ll never see it broken down into smaller sections.

Conclusion:

This is all the information you need to understand classical music titles.

As mentioned earlier, you won’t always see pieces referenced by their full generic name. Many people abbreviate classical music titles or refer to them by nicknames.

However, when you do see Symphony No. 9 in D Minor ‘Choral’, Op. 125 instead of Ode to Joy, you’ll know what it all means!

Classical music titles look scarier than they actually are. There's no need to be intimidated!

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-Evan