Intro to Classical Music Terms

It seems that you can’t talk about classical music without getting into another language - and I don’t mean Italian, German, French or Russian. There are words that have common usage that are unfamiliar to any newcomer to music, especially classical music. So, with some fear and trepidation, here is an intro to some of those terms.

Let’s say you read or hear music described as Beethoven’s Symphony # 5 in C minor, opus 67. What does it all mean? Let’s break it down.

The first mention here is Beethoven, who composed this music.

Next is Symphony, which is often a large work to be played by an orchestra, usually a large orchestra with most or all kinds of instruments included. A symphony traditionally has 4 sections, or movements, each one usually offering a change from what preceded and what follows - something like fast, slow, fast, faster; or slow, fast, moderate, fast, and so forth. If the description reads Beethoven’s Violin Concerto in D major, opus 61, the work is not a symphony, but a composition for one or more solo instruments accompanied by an orchestra.

To list a symphony as # 5 shows that it was the fifth symphony in the composer’s musical output. This is not always true. Some compositions were found after a composers death and may be listed posthumously; however, they certainly weren’t written after the composer died! I can remember in my lifetime when Dvorak’s New World Symphony was catalogued as # 5 in E minor. But further research of Dvorak’s music uncovered several earlier symphonies, causing musicologists to renumber the E minor symphony as # 9.

In C minor describes the key signature, the musical key in which the work was written. Although not always true, major keys are often bright, cheerful works while minor keys or darker, melancholy works. The key signature generally applies only to the first movement; other movements are usually in a different key.
Some composers, e.g., Schubert, wrote more than one symphony in the key of C major, the sixth and the ninth. To distinguish popularly, the former is called the “Little C major Symphony” while the latter is called the “great C major Symphony.” To further distinguish musical works, an opus number is assigned.

Opus 67 refers to the order of composition in the works of a composer. The 5th symphony, thus, was Beethoven’s 67th composition. Well, it would simply make things easier if that were always true, but it isn’t. It has become the customary designator, but may not always truly indicate order. Sometimes you may find a series of compositions, such as Haydn String Quartets, Opus 76 #s 1 - 6. In this case, Haydn wrote a series of 6 string quartets to be published together at the same time. Some composers’ works are so numerous and tradition so uncertain that others have made it their goal to catalog the composer’s words. After a Bach composition you will usually see BWV # (whatever). After a Mozart work, you will find a Koechel number, such as Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, K. 525. Haydn’s works were catalogued by Hoboken, hence an H number. Other composers have their catalogers, but these are the main ones.

We’ve mentioned several major types of music, i.e., symphony and concerto, but there are more. A sonata is generally a 4-movement work like a symphony, but played by a single instrument, or an instrument with piano accompaniment. An overture is an introduction to a major musical work, usually offering previews of themes that will be heard in the major work itself. However, some overtures stand alone, independent of a larger work, such as Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture.

Other works for larger instrumental forces include tone poems, concertos for orchestra, ballet music, incidental music, rhapsodies, divertimentos, and serenades, but this is not an exhaustive listing.

Other works are usually thought in the context of a solo instrument - etudes, preludes, fantasies/fantasias, sonatas, among others.

Some works are composed for small groups of musical instruments, and are generally known as chamber music. These include piano trios, string trios, string quartets, piano quartets, wind quartets and quintets, sextets, septets, octets and occasionally for even more instruments. Some composers wrote music for various combinations of piano, strings and wind instruments. To clarify, a piano trio isn’t 3 pianos playing together; it’s usually a violin, a cello and a piano. A string trio can be any combination of stringed instruments, but is often 2 violins and a cello. A string quartet includes 2 violins, a viola and a cello. A string quintet may have mixed combinations of violins, violas, cellos and double bass. If you know any Latin numbers, the rest are generally self-explaining: sex is six, sept is seven, oct is eight, non is nine

Then there is vocal music, either solo or choral or a combination. Solo vocal music include arias, chansons, songs, while group choral compositions may include operas, operettas, oratorios, cantatas, motets, choruses, and may be for any number of singers and a variety of singing ranges (soprano, alto, tenor, bass).

Well...There’s a lot here, and this is simply an introduction. I hope that this may help you to understand some of the basic terms used in naming classical music forms.