Writing About Music: A Style Sheet, Second Edition

1 Music Terminology

Titles of Works

1.1 The formal title of a work from the classical repertoire includes

the key, index identiﬁer, and sometimes its familiar or tradi-

tional name.

Beethoven, Symphony No. 3 in EfMajor, op. 55 (“Eroica”)

Beethoven, Symphony No. 3 in E-ﬂat Major, op. 55 (“Eroica”)

Either solution is correct. (The use of lowercase b and the num-

ber symbol # for

Ef and F# is not.) For most applications the

spelled-out version ends posing fewer challenges to design and

layout.

1.2 Generic Titles. Generic titles are those, in English, that use such

describers as symphony, concerto, fantasia, and the like, often

with an identifying opus or catalog number appended. These ti-

tles are given in roman type. Consider the forms given below.

Bach, Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, BWV 565

Haydn, Baryton Trio No. 71 in A Major, Hob. XI:71

___–1

___ 0

___+1

36473_u01.qxd 2/6/08 4:24 PM Page 1

Beethoven, String Quartet No. 1 in F Major, op. 18, no. 1

Beethoven, Violin Concerto in D Major, op. 61

Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony

Schubert, Mass No. 6 in EfMajor, D. 950

Schumann, Variations for Piano, op. 9

the Schumann Variations, op. 9

Lisz,: Piano Sonata in B Minor

(See, for more samples, 1.16, and, for catalogs, 1.25.)

Capitalization styles vary but should be consistent throughout a

work. CMS (8.203), for instance, prefers Symphony no. 3. The

style strongly preferred in the profession, from performing

artists to record producers, uses the uppercase No. for the title—

and lowercase no. for a constituent of the opus number, as in the

case of the Beethoven string quartet above.

1.3 Titles assigned by the composer (usually in their original lan-

guage) are given in italics. (For capitalization of foreign titles, see

1.16, 2.45–53.)

Bach, Das wohltemperierte Clavier (or The Well-Tempered Clavier)

Mozart, Vesperae solennes de confessore

Beethoven, Missa solemnis

Rossini, La gazza ladra

Berlioz, Symphonie fantastique

Mendelssohn, Lieder ohne Worte

Verdi, I masnadieri

Debussy, La Mer

Stravinsky, Le Sacre du printemps (or The Rite of Spring)

Copland, Appalachian Spring

Boulez, Le Marteau sans maître

1.4 Common Names. Many works are referred to by widely recognized

popular names. These are generally put in quotation marks.

Mozart, Symphony No. 41 in C Major (“Jupiter”)

Beethoven, Piano Sonata No. 23 in F Minor, op. 57

music terminology

–1___

0___

+1___

36473_u01.qxd 2/6/08 4:24 PM Page 2

(“Appassionata”)

Beethoven, Piano Trio in BfMajor, op. 97 (“Archduke”)

Schubert, Symphony No. 8 in B Minor (“Unﬁnished”)

the “Archduke” Trio

the “Emperor” Concerto

To refer to Schubert’s “Unﬁnished” Symphony may in a subtle

way suggest that it really isn’t unﬁnished at all, that the quotes are

there as a sort of conspiratorial wink of the eye. There are, how-

ever, any number of unﬁnished symphonies of Schubert, but only

one called the “Unﬁnished.”

1.5 The rule of thumb is, then, to italicize the title that the com-

poser himself gave to the work and put common titles within

quotation marks. These principles collide with vexing fre-

quency; nicknames and true subtitles are often difﬁcult to keep

separate, and the matter of foreign languages complicates things

still further. Neither Beethoven nor Tchaikovsky, it turns out,

approved of the subtitle “Pathétique.” When in doubt, use quo-

tation marks for common names.

(“From the New World”) the Pastoral Symphony

the “New World” Symphony the “Italian” Symphony

the “Pathétique”

1.6 Opera, musicals. Use roman type within quotation marks for

arias drawn from operas (and, likewise, songs drawn from other

theatricals).

“Where’er You Walk,” from Handel’s Semele

“Porgi amor”

“Somewhere,” from West Side Story

1.7 Song Titles. Songs as freestanding compositions are rendered in

italic; songs as constituent members of a larger titled work fol-

low 1.6. The same is true of named instrumental works.

titles of works

___–1

___ 0

___+1

36473_u01.qxd 2/6/08 4:24 PM Page 3

Bist du bei mir

Darling Nellie Gray

Gretchen am Spinnrade

L’Heure exquise

The Lost Chord

“Der Leiermann,” from Winterreise

“Arlequin,” from Carnaval

“Ondine,” from Gaspard de la nuit

1.8 For parallelism or owing to context, consider elevating the

quoted level to italics. This is especially useful when dealing

with very loose umbrella titles like Préludes and Images, or pub-

lishers’ fancies, like Schwanengesang.

Her rendition of An die Musik, like that of Gretchen am Spinnrade earlier

in the program, drew a chorus of approving murmurs and not a few tears.

His favorite Debussy preludes were Le Vent dans la plaine (The Wind in the

Plain) and La Cathédrale engloutie (The Submerged Cathedral).

1.9 Latin Liturgical Works. Capitalize such titles as Mass, Requiem,

and Te Deum, as well as their constituent movements; and leave

them in roman type.

Kyrie Sanctus

Gloria Agnus Dei

Credo Benedictus

In view of the symbolic and structural function of these high sonorities in the

Credo and Benedictus of the Mass, it is not surprising that Beethoven re-

sorted to this framework again, in those parts of the choral ﬁnale of the Ninth

Symphony with an explicitly religious text.

Kyrie Cunctipotens genitor

Alleluia Angelus domini

the motet In seculum/In nova fert / Garrit gallus

1.10 Movement Titles. Tempo indications as movement titles are cap-

italized and, in most cases, given in roman type.

music terminology

–1___

0___

+1___

36473_u01.qxd 2/6/08 4:24 PM Page 4

We expect a string quartet to commence with a sonata-allegro movement,

but to this point the Allegro has all the earmarks of an interjection within an

Adagio movement.

1.11 Listings in concert programs and related publications require

full formal titles. (See chapter 6.)

Beethoven, Piano Concerto No. 4 in G Major, op. 58

Beethoven, Concerto No. 4 for Piano and Orchestra in G Major, op. 58

or even (in high Boston Symphony Orchestra style)

Beethoven, Concerto No. 4 for Piano and Orchestra, in G Major, opus 58

Liszt, Les Préludes (The Preludes), Symphonic Poem after Lamartine

1.12 Numbering of Symphonies by Schubert, Mendelssohn, and Dvorˇák.

These are especially difﬁcult because more than one numbering

system is or has been in wide use. Use the following, which re-

ﬂect contemporary knowledge and practice and are in each case

the systems adopted by The New Grove.

schubert

Symphony No. 6 in C Major, D. 589 (“Little C-Major”)

Symphony No. 7 in E Minor, D. 729 (a sketch)

Symphony No. 8 in B Minor, D. 759 (“Unﬁnished”)

Symphony No. 9 in C Major, D. 944 (“Great C-Major”)

mendelssohn

Symphony No. 3 in A Minor, op. 56 (“Scotch” or “Scottish”)

Symphony No. 4 in A Major, op. 90 (“Italian”)

Symphony No. 5 in D Major, op. 107 (“Reformation”)

dvorˇák

Symphony No. 7 in D Minor, op. 70

Symphony No. 8 in G Major, op. 88

Symphony No. 9 in E Minor, op. 95 (“From the New World”)

titles of works

___–1

___ 0

___+1

36473_u01.qxd 2/6/08 4:24 PM Page 5

1.13 When an opus or catalog number is used as sole identiﬁcation of

the work, it does not have to be preceded by a comma.

Adagio K. 411

In the Trio op. 97, Beethoven achieves...

Major And Minor

1.14 The words major and minor are identical in grammatical struc-

ture, both of them adjectives. The convention of uppercase Ma-

jor and lowercase minor is correct only for some styles of chord

notation, notably analysis and ﬁgured bass, where such abbrevi-

ations as GM (G major) and Gm (G minor), or even G and g,

can be useful.

Sonata in A Major

Sonata in A Minor

The words major and minor are capitalized only in titles, however.

The ﬁrst theme is in C minor; the second, in E-ﬂat major.

1.15 When a key precedes a genre in the title, it becomes an adjectival

construction and requires a hyphen.

A-Major Sonata

A-Minor Sonata

Capitalization Schemes

1.16 See also 2.45–53. In English and German titles, capitalize the

nouns; in French capitalize through the ﬁrst substantive; in Italian,

capitalize just the ﬁrst letter. The following are typical examples:

Rhapsody in Blue

Ein deutsches Requiem

Le Roi Lear

music terminology

–1___

0___

+1___

36473_u01.qxd 2/6/08 4:24 PM Page 6

Les Vêpres siciliennes

I vespri siciliani

Der Freischütz

Ich hatte viel Bekümmernis

Ariettes oubliées

Prélude à “L’Après-midi d’un faune”

Il re Lear

Il viaggio a Reims

Composers’ Names

1.17 Use transliterated, American English names for composers. Ab-

sent reason to the contrary, adopt the most common version. The

usual resource is “Biographical Names” at the back of Merriam-

Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (or at Merriam-Webster Online).

Stravinsky Dussek

Tchaikovsky Josquin des Prez

Scriabin Fauré

Machaut von Bülow

The Franco-Germanic rendering Tchaikovsky is practically

universal in symphony halls, opera houses, and at the ballet.

But Richard Taruskin’s massive oeuvre on Russian music

uses Chaikovsky. If you adopt the latter spelling, make certain to

put a cross-reference in any alphabetical bibliography or index.

1.18 The Beethoven Problem. According to the standard (Webster’s)

system, the name is broken “Bee

•tho•ven.” For those who are

aware of the fact that -hoven is a common Dutch sufﬁx, the

proper break is “Beet

•hoven.” It is preferable to avoid the issue

entirely, separating the word as: “Beetho

•ven.”

1.19 The Problem of Possessives. There are any number of theories about

the proper formation of possessives for names. We recommend

that of CMS (7.18): add an apostrophe and an s.

composers’ names

___–1

___ 0

___+1

36473_u01.qxd 2/6/08 4:24 PM Page 7

Berlioz’s

Brahms’s

Boulez’s

Saint-Saëns’s

Incidentally, the z in Berlioz and Boulez, as well as the ﬁnal s in

Saint-Saëns, is pronounced.

1.20 The Mendelssohn Problem. Remember “Mendel’s son” in this

most frequently misspelled of composers’ names.

Mendels• sohn

1.21 The Russian Problem. Transliteration from the Russian alphabet

is, at best, troublesome; see 2.65–66. Generally use the spellings

with v, not w or ff, and y at the end, not ii. In the case of Rach-

maninov (or Rachmaninoff, as he spelled it in the West; or

Rakhmaninov, as some argue), the best advice is to make a rea-

soned decision and stick to it.

Glazunov Scriabin

Koussevitzky (note the z) Stravinsky

Prokoﬁev Tchaikovsky

Rachmaninov

1.22 Umlauts: the Schoenberg Problem. Schoenberg dropped the um-

laut (and added an e) when he immigrated to the United States.

Charles Münch did, too, after a very brief period of being

Muench. The decision to become Charles Munch (no umlaut)

was jointly made by himself, his agents, the papers, and the

Boston Symphony Orchestra. Händel emigrated only so far as

England but loses his umlaut anyway.

Handel (but the complete edition is Georg Friedrich Händels Werke)

Munch

Schoenberg

music terminology

–1___

0___

+1___

36473_u01.qxd 2/6/08 4:24 PM Page 8

1.23 Names with “von” and “de.” By and large these particles are omit-

ted, except in the full name.

Dittersdorf La Guerre

Gluck Lassus

Weber Machaut

but usually

von Bülow

de Gaulle (because “Gaulle” is only one syllable)

1.24 Summary. The following is a list of names that pose difﬁculties

of one sort or another, with their hyphenations. Note that in ty-

pography words may not break after the ﬁrst letter or before the

last two letters.

Bach, Carl Phi•lipp Ema•nuel Gou•nod

Bar

•tók, Béla Grieg

Beet

•ho•ven Han•del, George Fri• deric

Ber

•lioz Haydn

•zet Hof•manns•thal

•ro•din Ko•dály

Brahms Kre

•nek

Bruck

•ner Liszt

Cho

•pin, Fré•dé•ric Mah•ler

Cle

•menti Men•dels•sohn

Cop

•land Mo•zart

•bussy Mus•sorg•sky

•libes Pa•ga•nini

•lius Rach•ma•ni•nov or Rach•ma•ni•noff

Dia

•ghi•1ev Ra•vel

D’Indy (uppercase D)Re

•spi•ghi

•kas Rimsky-Kor•sa•kov

Dvo

•ˇrákRos•sini

Fauré Schoen

•berg

Franck Schu

•bert

Glinka Schu

•mann

composers’ names

___–1

___ 0

___+1

36473_u01.qxd 2/6/08 4:24 PM Page 9

Scria•bin, Alex•an•der Verdi

Sme

•tana von Bü•low

Strauss Wag

•ner

Stra

•vin•sky We•ber

Tchai

•kov•sky

Remember that you can always look in the back of your Web-

ster’s for the latest notions of what constitutes a proper Amer-

ican spelling of a famous biographical name, and its word

divisions.

As for ﬁrst names, the usual convention for running text is to

include a person’s full name on ﬁrst mention, then only the sur-

name. Where this strategy won’t work is with big families of

musicians like the Bachs and Mozarts, and famous couples like

the Schumanns, appearing close to one another in the same text.

We generally talk about J. S. and C. P.E. Bach—but about

Leopold and Wolfgang and Nannerl and Constanza Mozart,

and Robert and Clara Schumann.

Thematic Catalogs of Composers’ Works

1.25 Thematic catalogs are abbreviated with a letter or letters sug-

gesting their author’s name, followed by a period.

K. 191 In Köchel’s catalog of Mozart, the Bassoon Concerto in Bf

Major

D. 628 In Deutsch’s catalog of Schubert, Erlkönig

J. 277 In Jahn’s catalog of Weber, Der Freischütz

Hob. XXII:9 In Hoboken’s catalog of Haydn, the Missa in tempore belli

The exception is BWV, for Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis, Wolfgang

Schmieder’s catalog of the works of Bach. This is usually abbre-

viated without periods.

BWV 1050 In the Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis, the Fifth Brandenburg Concerto

music terminology

–1___

0___

+1___

36473_u01.qxd 2/6/08 4:24 PM Page 10

Pitch Names

1.26 For most purposes a simple uppercase letter deﬁnes pitch names

well enough.

The high C immediately descends two octaves and loses every trace of energy.

The bass moves sequentially from G to Bf to D.

The plural of a pitch name takes simply an s, not ës.

Its symmetrical images (m. 7: the Cs) are now stable and dramatically

executed.

1.27 Naming the Octaves. The conﬂicting systems in use descend

from medieval practice, national habit, pipe-organ terminology,

the work of Hermann von Helmholtz and Arnold Dolmetsch,

and on and on. What has (recently) prevailed, largely because of

its adoption for synthesizers and music-typography software, is

the so-called Scientiﬁc Pitch Notation. Here middle C is the be-

ginning of the fourth octave:

C4 middle C

A4 A =440 (above middle C)

The octave changes on C, not A; take care when dealing with

pitches just below a particular C to refer to the previous octave.

C5–B4–A4–G4

The C-major chord C4–E4–G4 consists of separate tones vibrating at

262, 330, and 392 Hz.

The most common alternative is the Helmholtz system, which

calls the C two octaves below middle C “Great C,” then c, c

(for

middle C), c

, and so on.

If it is not self-evident from the context, specify the octave

nomenclature in a note. Be particularly attentive to these nuances

pitch names

___–1

___ 0

___+1

36473_u01.qxd 2/6/08 4:24 PM Page 11

for subject areas that have traditionally used other systems—

MIDI, for instance, and organ building.

1.28 When a series of pitches is given, join the pitch names with en

dashes (see 2.30–31).

The initial F–G–F–Bfprovides the framework for the vocal phrase that be-

gins songs 3, 5, and 7.

Dynamics

1.29 Directions for dynamic nuance are given in italic.

piano, pianissimo

forte, fortissimo

mezzo piano, mezzo forte

sforzando

Returning to the pianissimo level, it reinterprets the B as an element of a

normal V

The Horowitz recording shows an astonishing control of dynamics through

a myriad of levels between pianissimo and mezzo forte.

1.30 Abbreviations of these terms for dynamic nuance may be in

italic as well. Boldface italic is even clearer.

The movement originally ended ff at what is now m. 493.

Numbers

1.31 Meter Signatures. These are given in roman or boldface roman

characters. In proper musical notation, the constituents of a

numerical meter signature go directly over each other, not as a

fraction.

The one is in major and

(

), and the other is in minor and

music terminology

–1___

0___

+1___

36473_u01.qxd 2/6/08 4:24 PM Page 12

It is better to avoid meter signatures entirely (using, instead,

such formulations as “the passage in triple meter”) than to settle

for fractions in the published product, since the slash in a frac-

tion suggests all sorts of relationships that do not apply. But in

ordinary manuscript, simply type meter signatures as a fraction

and postpone the question of how they will appear in the ﬁn-

ished publication until the design phase.

1.32 Chords and Figured Bass. Roman numerals, uppercase (for ma-

jor) and lowercase (for minor), are used for chord progressions.

The arabic numbers and the sharps and ﬂats that modify the

numerals are quite small, since two and sometimes three of

them must ﬁt within a line of type; the same is true of ﬁgured

bass. Take care to specify the exact position of the sharps and

ﬂats, so as not to confuse Db

with D

The second chord of ex. 3 is

on the dominant.

The ﬁrst movement opens with a bold, terse gesture, a I

–V

–I cadence

which echoes down the whole length of the exposition and development.

1.33 Pitch-Class Symbols. The caret-over-the-arabic-numeral is some-

times used to indicate pitch class.

In mm. 229–33 the rising fourths, which had always been left open (1

– 4

– 5

), are closed (1

– 4

/ 5

– 1

1.34 Rehearsal numbers are generally given in boxes in score nota-

tion, a convention that can be elegant in running text as well.

The Adagietto at is centered on D and carries a signature of two

sharps, while the music from to has E at its center.

A typical way of referring to passages from standard scores that

lack published measure numbers is to cite the nearest rehearsal

number, plus or minus the correct number of measures.

5854

numbers

___–1

___ 0

___+1

36473_u01.qxd 2/6/08 4:24 PM Page 13

The standard cut goes from 28 to 29+7, then 41 to 43−3.

The alternative is to use boldface for rehearsal numbers (or let-

ters), sometimes preceded by “reh.”

Other

1.35 On the question of italic or roman typeface for such musical ter-

minology as “pizzicato” and “tremolo,” see 2.83, 88. The latter is

generally preferable.

1.36 Pitches reside on a staff (s.) or staves (pl.).

manuscript paper of thirty-two staves

twelve-staff paper

the cross-hatching in staff 8

music terminology

–1___

0___

+1___

36473_u01.qxd 2/6/08 4:24 PM Page 14