In this article, we will look at the importance of music to the Romans, the occasions during which music could be heard, and what it sounded like. Features of Roman music Early Romans sang at feasts, and often, their song was accompanied by a tune on a pipe. These songs, called carmen, were sometimes performed by a choir at …
Today, timekeeping is an integral part of our daily lives. The devices we use are very accurate and present everywhere. This was not the case for a very long time. Also in music, up till the invention of the metronome, timekeeping and tempo was rather based on individual feeling than science. Time to organize society Small tribes, later larger societies, …
As is the case with other composers, the works of Beethoven are classified by genre and more kinds of numbering systems. The most relevant and important numbering is the opus numbering. There are 172 Beethoven compositions numbered in this system and these are listed under 138 opus numbers (one opus number can contain multiple compositions). Apart from opus numbers, there …
Werke ohne Opuszahl (Works without opus number), abbreviated WoO, is a German musical catalog prepared by Hans Halm and Georg Kinsky in 1955. The goal was to list all Beethoven compositions that were not numbered with opus numbers or exist only in fragments. The original German title was Das Werk Beethovens: Thematisch-bibliographisches Verzeichnis seiner sämtlichen vollendeten Kompositionen. Example for WoO …
In musicology work numbers that are assigned to compositions are called opus numbers. In abbreviated form “Op.” stands for one composition and “Opp.”refers to more than one work under the same opus number. If a composition was published posthumously, it was denoted as “Op. posth.” Opus numbers not necessarily mean a chronological order of works. The word has its origin in …
What is scherzo? It is an Italian word, meaning joke (scherzo /ˈskɛərtsoʊ/, plural scherzos or scherzi). In music execution it can mean a certain way of playing a piece. If in a musical notation scherzando is written by the composer, it means that the music should be played in a playful manner. The other meaning is to describe a complete …