The opus thread

OK, since I am interested in knowing the answers to two things as of now I decided to make this thread, I am actually not 100% sure that this is the appropriate forum so correct me if you must. Please ignore this thread and the following questions if you feel inclined to.


I wanted to ask you, the general population, of YC 2 questions (1) How many works or "opera" have each of you created, and (2), What actually defines the word (musically) opus. For example if someone was to make a little 1 minute long ditty would that count as an entire opus? Has any composer made hundred of little ditties and thus ended up with hundreds of opera? I have also included a poll as to show opinion on this matter.

I don't think there's any criteria for this. But, think that back in Mozart, etc's day you couldn't just publish a single 1 minute piece, or single pieces altogether. You had to bunch up a lot of pieces and release them as a collection. Therefore, it was natural to bunch them also under the same opus number for the sake of organization. This trend went on and on, but by modern times, it doesn't matter if things have an opus number at all.

You can as well call something an opus even if it lasts 30 seconds. Look at Webern.

True, Webern has some very short pieces. On the other hand, the word "Opus" means nothing more than "Work", so basically, if you write something and consider it your work, there you go, "Opus X+1", where X is the previous amount of works

I've finished like 6. Maybe. I don't know. Let me count them out:

Almost Like the Rain
Solo for Tambourine and Percussion Ensemble
Insights into Transience for Trumpet and Piano
Insights into Transience for Chamber Ensemble
Quick Trio in c minor
Valley of Sound
Solo for Flute

I'm working on a few pieces. So I'll be up to like 10 by the fall.
Not very impressive, I know.

1. I've not done any opera, up to date!
I've must've written around... 30 'serious' works (for my studies mainly) and many many more for my own enjoyement and work in computer games.
In my masters I composed 11 works, all with score, most mid/small scale and 2-3 larger scale (more than 20 pages, let's say). For my PhD I have composed to date 6 big big works, each one worthy of an "opus"! Pre master works are plenty as well, and solo piano works, symphonic, etc.

One could check some of my music (with scores mostly) in this forum, if they click on my profile and check the threads I've started.

2. Opus can be anything really, as long as it is unique and individual; meaning:
If you have 1 small miniature alone, it can be an opus.
If you have 24 big big preludes (Rachmaninov for example), they could also be 1 opus, even if they spread over 100 pages or so.
3 movements in a sonata is 1 single opus.

Opus has to do with:
i. the connection between works. A small work could very well be an opus. Single page works are fine, if they are indiependant of anything else. If they are in a series of works simmilar in ideas, style, or coherency, then the whole is the opus, not each individual piece.
ii. Publishing. Some people have published small works individually. Prokofiev Tocatta op. 11, 4 minutes, 16 pages, fine as an opus. Sarcasm, again... Other works.
The C# minor prelude by Rach has an indiependant opus, I believe and was published alone. The other 23 (or were they 24, 25 in total) were published in 2 volumes, 2 opus.
Beethoven sonatas are usually unique opus, but small sonatinas were published together thus the op.15 no.1 op.15 No. 2 etc...

Nikolas explains it pretty damned well.

I have - as of yet - not written a single opus, and I don't think I shall for at least another year or so. I want to save opus numbers for significant works that I am really proud of, and I won't be writing anything like that for quite a while methinks.

Originally Posted by nikolas

Beethoven sonatas are usually unique opus, but small sonatinas were published together thus the op.15 no.1 op.15 No. 2 etc...

and the sonatas op.27 nos. 1 and 2. There are many more. (and when I say many I mean just a few )

Anyways, to answer Ramone's question, I have 29 opera (I hope everybody here knows that is the plural of opus, you'd be surprised at the amount of people in our field of music that forget or never knew that) but as a list of ''completed'' works, it is inaccurate. I should probably go back and create a unique list for all my finished works and add to that when I ''finish'' a new work, but that will be a different list. When I officially publish a work, I will call that Opus 1. Currently my list of finished works looks like this:

Op.1 - Fantasia in C, "Spring Spirits" (solo piano)
Op.2 - Two 'Preludes' (solo piano)
- No.1 in G major "Trillium"
- No.2 in Ab major "The King's Courts"
Op.3 - Two Marches (solo piano)
- No.1 in B minor "Marche Espanole"
- No.2 in F# minor "Tanze Marziale"
Op.4 - String Quartet(ino) in G major (three movements)
Op.5 - Two Waltzes (solo piano)
- No.1 in G minor
- No.2 in C major
Op.6 - Six Rhapsodies for Concert Band
Op.7 - March and Minuet in F (two short pieces, solo piano)
Op.8 - Romanze in F# minor for String Quintet
Op.9 - Depictions of Persons Suite (orchestra, currently 14 completed movements)
Op.10 - Valse in G minor, ''Valse in Blue Notes''
Op.11 - ''Celeste'' for Concert Band (a standalone piece)
Op.12/1 - Duet for Two Bassoons (three movements)
Op.12/2 - Duet for Two Bassoons (a single movement)
Op.13 - Suite for Brass Choir
- I Coronation in Bb major
- II Todesmarsch in D minor
- III Der Erlkönig in D minor (unfinished/WIP)
Op.14 - "Reflections of New Years" for Three Violoncelli and Two Contrabassi
Op.15 - "Variations on John Brown's Body" for Horn and String Orchestra

In my signature there is a link to my profile and if you follow that you will come across a complete listing of all my works, finished and unfinished, and you can see all the works that I did NOT include in the list above, since they were either cruddy, or unfinished. My current opus list just shows the order I started writing pieces and if I started a couple a short time from each other, I might put them under the same opus. See Op.2, 3, 5, and 13 on the above list for examples. The Op.10 (above) was written a good bit later than Op.5, so I didn't bunch it together.

That's to answer the first question. To answer the second, 'what defines an opus'... I usually think of opus as a published work. However, the method I've been using in my own works is just "add one to the list when I start it, whether I finish it or not" and later adding a WoO. list and horribly confuzzling matters. What *I* think an opus should be, is a work that the composer is proud of. Something he (she!) is willing to put in a list of works that will be put out into the public, listened to, and PLAYED. If you're embarrassed to include a work, you don't have to designate an opus, as simple as that. Surely, I do not think that using a numbering system is NECESSARY, but if you write a LOT of works it will help identify ones of similar types, like quartets and sonatas. However if you are a fan of programmatic names through and though, I don't really think there is a need for op. this op. that unless you want to preserve some sense of chronological order. (which is my personal aim)

Also in your signature, there's a link to your Variations on John Brown's Body for Horn and Orchestra, and apparently it's the 29th of your 15 works It says Op.29 in your signature..

and you are also working on the 27th of your 15 works, according to your signature.. is it telling the future?

Originally Posted by jujimufu

Also in your signature, there's a link to your Variations on John Brown's Body for Horn and Orchestra, and apparently it's the 29th of your 15 works It says Op.29 in your signature..

and you are also working on the 27th of your 15 works, according to your signature.. is it telling the future?

Originally Posted by EnigmusJ4

Anyways, to answer Ramone's question, I have 29 opera ... Currently my list of finished works looks like this:

Op.1 - Fantasia in C, "Spring Spirits" (solo piano)
Op.2 - Two 'Preludes' (solo piano)
- No.1 in G major "Trillium"
- No.2 in Ab major "The King's Courts"
Op.3 - Two Marches (solo piano)
- No.1 in B minor "Marche Espanole"
- No.2 in F# minor "Tanze Marziale"
Op.4 - String Quartet(ino) in G major (three movements)
Op.5 - Two Waltzes (solo piano)
- No.1 in G minor
- No.2 in C major
Op.6 - Six Rhapsodies for Concert Band
Op.7 - March and Minuet in F (two short pieces, solo piano)
Op.8 - Romanze in F# minor for String Quintet
Op.9 - Depictions of Persons Suite (orchestra, currently 14 completed movements)
Op.10 - Valse in G minor, ''Valse in Blue Notes''
Op.11 - ''Celeste'' for Concert Band (a standalone piece)
Op.12/1 - Duet for Two Bassoons (three movements)
Op.12/2 - Duet for Two Bassoons (a single movement)
Op.13 - Suite for Brass Choir
- I Coronation in Bb major
- II Todesmarsch in D minor
- III Der Erlkönig in D minor (unfinished/WIP)
Op.14 - "Reflections of New Years" for Three Violoncelli and Two Contrabassi
Op.15 - "Variations on John Brown's Body" for Horn and String Orchestra

(I don't quite get his system either though )

I have around 60, haven't counted lately.
A few are unfinished but still extensive.

I don't like cheating the system and waiting until I write a 'great' work until I label it my first work. I'd rather people see the history of my works and how I progressed. I want them to see how crap I started!