MuseData Works and Title Numbers

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The CCARH databases use the work designations found in the sources which are encoded. This normally includes the language, spelling, and punctuation of the published text. The identifying information may be supplemented with additional information from later catalogues or online work-lists, as explained under Sources.

Naming conventions for musical works are functional but they are not entirely standardized from one repertory to another. Cataloguing conventions continue to evolve.

If your first search is unsuccessful, consider these possibilities:

• Symphonies and other instrumental works may be named by key or by number:
  "G-Minor Symphony" vs. "Symphony No. 7"
  
  
  
• Some well-known works are known by nicknames:
  "Moonlight" Sonata vs. Sonata in C# Minor, Op. 27, No. 2
  
  
  
• Plurals vary from language to language:
  Sonatas (English) vs. Sonate (Italian) vs. Sonates (French) vs. Sonaten (German)
  
  
  
• The texts of vocal works are often translated into multiple languages:
  "Jesu, meine Freude" vs. "Jesus, My Heart's Treasure"
  
  
  
• Short works may be extracted from larger works. The CCARH databases contain only works which are complete and for which the authorship is established.
  
  
• Opus number may be specific to an individual publisher:
  Publisher Smith's "Op. 1"= publisher Jones's "Op. 2"
  
  
  
• Work identifiers such as Köchel numbers for Mozart may change as the underlying catalogues are revised

Some useful sources for decoding the contents of collected editions are:

Anna Harriet Heyer, Historical Sets, Collected Editions, and Monuments of Music (1957; 1969; 1989);

Collected Editions, Historical Series and Sets and Monuments of Music: A Bibliography by George Robert Hill and Norris L. Stephens (Fallen Leaf Reference Books in Music, No. 14; 1997);

relevant work lists in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (1980; rev. edn., 2000).