SEARCH TIPS & GUIDELINES

COMPOSER

If you have trouble finding the name you want, use Browse composers on the navigation bar at the top. Alternatively, all the usual search techniques are available (e.g., Cop*, if you're unsure whether the correct spelling is "Copland" or "Copeland").

This database uses Tch as the transliteration of the Cyrillic letter tse which other systems sometimes represent as Tsch or Ch.

For composers' names and dates, our main source for verification has been Grove Music Online, supplemented as needed. Because Russia did not adopt the Gregorian calendar, standard in the West, until 1918, Grove gives birth and/or death dates in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars for many late 19th- and early 20th-century Russian composers. In such cases it is the Julian date (about 10 days earlier than the Gregorian) that comes first.

TITLE

For generic titles (Symphony, Concerto, etc.) we have adopted the uniform title system of American libraries. Recognizing that this database is being used all over the world, we have generally rendered distinctive titles (i.e., non-generic) in their original form, if it is in one of the languages with which most musicians have a passing acquaintance (English, Italian, German, French, Spanish, Latin). Titles in other languages are generally given first in English, with the original following in parentheses, transliterated if necessary; however, this principle is not followed slavishly, if common sense dictates otherwise (e.g., Stravinsky's Les noces).

It is most efficient to enter the smallest and most distinctive portion of a title, including nicknames; thus faune, or eroica, or jupiter.

Avoid generic titles, which tend to produce too long a list of hits: thus wachet auf rather than Cantata no.140; london, rather than Symphony No.104.

For opus numbers or thematic index rubrics, use quotation marks: "op.125", "K.417". Do not put a space between "op." and the number.

For concertos, either harp concerto or concerto harp work equally well.

Keywords

This will search the entire entry, often yielding unexpected results. It may be useful if you are searching for a movement of a larger work.

You can also enter composer and title in Keywords. Example: stravinsky rite.

INSTRUMENTATION FORMULA

The formulaic arrangement of wind instruments is used here: flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon-horn, trumpet, trombone, tuba. Amplifications, if any, are spelled out in brackets. A dot (.) separates one player from another; a slash (/) indicates doubling. Thus:

3[1.2.3/pic]     2[1.Eh]     3[1.2.3/Ebcl/bcl]     3[1.2/cbn.cbn]

3 flutists, the 3rd player doubling on piccolo
2 oboists, the 2nd playing English horn throughout
3 clarinetists, the 3rd doubling also on E-flat clarinet and bass clarinet
3 bassoonists, the 2nd doubling on contrabassoon, and the 3rd playing contra throughout

In the first three print editions of Orchestral Music, some 4500 works were listed using a scheme involving the symbols *, +, and =. These showed that certain auxiliary woodwinds were present, but not how many of them, nor in which part. With many of these, OLIS provided the missing specifics; others we managed to track down. However, there is a certain residue for which we could not be certain of the details. For these we have resorted to such devices as: 3[incl pic], meaning that one or more of the three flutists must play, or double on, piccolo.

In the notes to individual works, for "2fl" read "2 flutes." For "fl2," read "flute 2" (i.e. 2nd flute).

DURATIONS

Durations vary from one performance to the next, even under the same conductor. The durations in this database should be considered reasonable approximations only. Quite aside from tempo variances, some conductors consider repeats to be optional, which will cause further divergence.

PUBLISHERS

Sources of scores and parts appear in short form across the bottom of each entry with a link to more information. These can also be accessed on the Sources page.

HISTORICAL PRACTICES

In using this database, it helps to have some knowledge of certain orchestral practices of earlier periods.

FLUTES AND RECORDERS: When a baroque composer used the term flauto unmodified, or perhaps flauto dolce, he meant recorder. If he wanted a transverse flute, he took pains to call it traversa or flauto traverso or some such term.

WOODWIND DOUBLING: As late as the time of Mozart, players were likely to alternate on several instruments. This explains why an eighteenth-century work otherwise for 2 oboes, 2 horns and strings, suddenly uses 2 flutes and strings for a middle movement. The oboists simply switched to flute. Nowadays, of course, that is largely impractical.

BASSOONS: In eighteenth-century practice, a bassoon played the bass line of an orchestral work, whether specified in the score or not. The bassoon may have been optional in works for string orchestra, but if other winds were used, the bassoon was de rigueur. In such cases, some editions list the bassoon and some do not. We have merely followed the edition in hand, but conductors may wish to employ the bassoon, perhaps playing from a cello or bass part, whether it is called for or not.

Nineteenth-century French orchestras normally had 4 bassoons doubling two real parts. Occasionally they might split into four parts for a few bars. We have attempted to distinguish between the number of bassoons called for and the number of real parts involved, if different.

SARRUSOPHONE, SERPENT, & OPHICLEIDE: These three instruments were prominent in the nineteenth-century quest for a suitable bass instrument for woodwind and brass choirs. The sarrusophone was a keyed brass instrument in various sizes played with a double reed. Its contrabass form competed with, and was eventually superceded by, the contrabassoon. Serpent and ophicleide were cup-mouthpiece keyed instruments ultimately replaced by the tuba. Curious combinations are encountered, such as Mendelssohn's indication (Symphony No.5, last movement) Contrafagotto e Serpente on the same part. That would seem to suggest a contrabassoon and tuba playing in unison, as a modern equivalent, though in practical modern terms, the part is usually covered by contrabassoon alone.

TROMBONES: In eighteenth-century choral music, it was customary for trombones to double the altos, tenors, and basses of the chorus, and sometimes for a cornetto (also known as zink, a relative of the serpent) to double the sopranos. These instruments were often not mentioned in the score at all. You may add them when they are not indicated, or omit them when they are—since in any case, a modern chorus with large-bore trombones is not going to sound much like an eighteenth-century chorus (using boy sopranos and male altos) with the sackbut-like trombones of the period.

BASS DRUM & CYMBALS: In nineteenth-century bass drum parts, especially Italian opera, cymbals were expected to be played with the bass drum, even though they were not specifically notated in the part. Probably the cymbals weren't added indiscriminately to every single note, but were applied with a certain amount of taste and discretion—a vague and not terribly helpful recipe.

A related question is whether two players are required in these cases, or whether mounting one cymbal on the bass drum and clashing it with the other is acceptable. Some say that attaching one cymbal spoils its tone; others that having a single musician play both instruments has compensating virtues.

For the purposes of the percussion count in this book, we have indicated two players in all these situations—even in cases where we were pretty sure the composer had in mind one player.

TENOR DRUM & FIELD DRUM: In American practice it seems clear that of these two deeper drums, the field drum has snares and the tenor drum does not. Other nations have other traditions, and especially with such terms as tamburo rullante, caisse roulante, or Rührtrommel, it is not always entirely clear in a particular composition which instrument is intended. Sometimes the composer helps by specifying: caisse roulante avec cordes, for example.