Talk:Opus number

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I guess eventually we might want a separate page on musical catalogues or something, as they are not strictly speaking opus numbers (and virtually every known composer has been catalogued at some point). I suppose we will eventually have more to say about opus numbers themselves, then we can break off, but for now, I think it's OK as it stands. --Camembert

[edit] The Opus Number in the 20th Century

Trying again. (May triplepost.)

I did blather on a lot there, but (always that but...) do believe that something about the conversion, of opus number from generally publication date or date of composition, to increasingly a composer-assigned catalog order itself

One notices for instance composers referring to their first acknowledged work as their "opus 1" even when earlier works are published; with composers like George Enescu giving works written years apart , for ex. the two string quartets, the two piano quartets, the same opus number (I believe they weren't published together, which I know wasn't the case with Myaskovsky's first four acknowledged string quartets, his opus 33 1–4, where #s 3 and 4 originated in 1909–10 or so, and 1, 2 in the 1930s while he revised 3 and 4 and gave them all "opus 33" as I understand it — at which point they were published but separately (I can verify seeing separate scores of them, but not that they were the first published editions from the '30s), only receiving publication even partially as a set when the collected partial edition was published of his music starting in 1953 (quartets 1–3, in volume 8.), etc. ... it seems a habit with language that terms twist inside out at least a bit like this. ) Schissel : bowl listen 00:21, Jan 18, 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Should oeuvre redirect here?

Oeuvre currently redirects here. While oeuvre literally means "work", just as opus does, my impression is that oeuvre usually refers to the collective works of an artist, while opus is more commonly reserved for an individual work. I wouldn't claim to know for certain, however, and wouldn't have enough to add to the Oeuvre page if it were to be created. But to those more knowledgable on the subject: should there be a mention that the collected opuses of an artist are known as his oeuvre (and not, say, as his opera, which is the Latin plural of opus but means something entirely different)? Or is there a more correct term that I'm unaware of?--Severinus 17:42, 6 June 2006 (UTC)

I changed the redirect to refer to work of art, which at least has the benefit of not limiting itself to music. There doesn't seem to be any really good target. Perhaps a disambiguation page would be more appropriate? Christopher Parham (talk) 20:55, 26 January 2007 (UTC)