# Total number of classical pieces of music?



## TresPicos (Mar 21, 2009)

I know this is an *impossible *question to answer, but how many pieces of classical music could there be? If, say, 10 000 composers throughout music history wrote, say, 100 pieces each, that would be 1 million compositions. Sounds like a lot, but maybe that's not even enough.

Are there any known estimates?

And are there any estimates of the total number of symphonies written, or string quartets, masses, piano concertos etc? I think I saw an estimate of the total number of requiems once - 2300 or so.


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## Guest (May 14, 2009)

Impossible for two reasons. One, there are probably thousands of pieces that have been lost or forgotten. Two, there are new pieces being written every day.


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## Tapkaara (Apr 18, 2006)

There is only ONE piece...and that is Canon in D by Johann Pachelbel.


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## LvB (Nov 21, 2008)

It is an intriguing question-- and a bit scary, when you realize how much music even the most experienced person will never have heard. As one bit of relevant info: the Paris National Library has the libretti to over 28,000 operas-- and in earlier times it was not uncommon for a popular libretto to be set 10 or 20 (or even as many as 50) times. Yes, there is much unheard music out there....


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## danae (Jan 7, 2009)

LvB said:


> It is an intriguing question--


. 
No, it's an impossible question, as the OP said right from the start. But if the person asking it is expecting to get a serious answer, then the question quickly becomes a stupid one.


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## Tapkaara (Apr 18, 2006)

LvB said:


> It is an intriguing question-- and a bit scary, when you realize how much music even the most experienced person will never have heard. As one bit of relevant info: the Paris National Library has the libretti to over 28,000 operas-- and in earlier times it was not uncommon for a popular libretto to be set 10 or 20 (or even as many as 50) times. Yes, there is much unheard music out there....


28,000 operas? My lord...there's no way they ALL have been performed at some point...or have they?


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## TresPicos (Mar 21, 2009)

danae said:


> .
> No, it's an impossible question, as the OP said right from the start. But if the person asking it is expecting to get a serious answer, then the question quickly becomes a stupid one.


I don't _expect _anything. But I would _like _some serious answers, not just whining.

I have only asked for estimates. It shouldn't be impossible to estimate.

A moment ago, for example, I estimated that it should be hypothetically possible for a person to listen to about 1,000,000 pieces of classical music during a lifetime. If you spend 16 hours a day listening, at a rate of 3 pieces per hour, and keep doing it for 60 years, and never listen to a piece twice, that will amount to around one million pieces.


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## Ciel_Rouge (May 16, 2008)

I also pondered upon the same question when I was beginning to listen to the classical. I found that many composers had pieces amounting to about a thousand works, like BWV1004 etc. Now, there are composers like Bach who is widely recognised even by fans of other genres, and there are still composers with vast high quality output who are important but not recognised outside of classical forums etc. So I thought maybe there are 600 composers worth deeper exploration and if each wrote 600 pieces that would amount to 36000. That is a nice number because that would make an impossible number of 100 pieces a day or more realistically, one piece a day for a hundred years. I am just wondering if the 600 composers and the 600 pieces is close to reality or not. I suppose more experienced listeners could answer that.


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## Guest (May 15, 2009)

TresPicos said:


> I don't _expect _anything. But I would _like _some serious answers, not just whining.


Um, could it be that you are um maybe ah whining here?



TresPicos said:


> I have only asked for estimates. It shouldn't be impossible to estimate.


Yes, even estimating is impossible, given the two circumstances I already (seriously) put forth. But that leaves unanswered an even more relevant question, which is why? Why are you asking for estimates? Why (TWO relevant questions) would anyone do the estimating? For what purpose (THREE relevant questions) would anyone do that?



TresPicos said:


> A moment ago, for example, I estimated that it should be hypothetically possible for a person to listen to about 1,000,000 pieces of classical music during a lifetime. If you spend 16 hours a day listening, at a rate of 3 pieces per hour, and keep doing it for 60 years, and never listen to a piece twice, that will amount to around one million pieces.


Yes, and why would a hypothetical person of a purely imaginary persuasion theoretically do such a thing? (Why, for instance, would one limit oneself to pieces that are only twenty minutes long or less? One hearing of _War and Peace,_ for instance, and your goal of one million is shot. Unless you live long enough. Besides, if you only listen to one piece once, you haven't really listened to it, have you? Unless we're talking live improv. And we're not, are we?)

No, methinks this suppositious circumstance is certainly silly.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

TresPicos said:


> A moment ago, for example, I estimated that it should be hypothetically possible for a person to listen to about 1,000,000 pieces of classical music during a lifetime. If you spend 16 hours a day listening, at a rate of 3 pieces per hour, and keep doing it for 60 years, and never listen to a piece twice, that will amount to around one million pieces.


 I have to quit my job NOW!


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## TresPicos (Mar 21, 2009)

some guy said:


> Um, could it be that you are um maybe ah whining here?


I feel I must bow and surrender, due to your superior argumentation. I never saw that one coming. Oh, you are truly the master of debate... 



> Yes, even estimating is impossible, given the two circumstances I already (seriously) put forth. But that leaves unanswered an even more relevant question, which is *why*? Why are you asking for estimates? Why (TWO relevant questions) would anyone do the estimating? For what purpose (THREE relevant questions) would anyone do that?


Why? What kind of question is that? Why the hell not? Curiosity, of course! You know, curiosity, that little thingy inside that, over time, tend to contribute to the progress of humanity. Some people just want to know, and some don't. But if you don't, try not to get in the way of us who do.

Of course, estimating is _not _impossible. An exact answer is impossible. You may feel that you have seriously put forth your two "circumstances", but they are mere difficulties, not showstoppers.



> Yes, and why would a hypothetical person of a purely imaginary persuasion theoretically do such a thing? (Why, for instance, would one limit oneself to pieces that are only twenty minutes long or less? One hearing of _War and Peace,_ for instance, and your goal of one million is shot. Unless you live long enough. Besides, if you only listen to one piece once, you haven't really listened to it, have you? Unless we're talking live improv. And we're not, are we?)
> 
> No, methinks this suppositious circumstance is certainly silly.


Um, 20 minutes a piece is just my qualified guess for the mean length of a classical music piece. Lots of pieces are shorter, some are much longer. It wasn't a limitation, it was an... anyone? anyone?... estimate.

And do you even know what the word "hypothetical" means? A "hypothetical" person doesn't need justification for doing what I - hypothetically - want him to do... I want him to sit there 16 hours a day and listen to music, and you ask why he would want to do that?

Clearly, this is not a thread for you.


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## JustAFan (May 5, 2009)

Ciel_Rouge said:


> I am just wondering if the 600 composers and the 600 pieces is close to reality or not. I suppose more experienced listeners could answer that.


There might be 600 composers, depends how you count them I guess, but I don't believe most would be considered to have 600 worthy pieces. Of course one would have to define terms like "composer", "have", and "worthy".

Does a piece count if:
- its composer thought about it and maybe hummed a few bars here and there but never passed it along in written form or played it for anyone else 
- it was written down (but maybe lost and we only have tantalizing historical references)
- manuscript copies still exist and are available to us today (although maybe it's never played let alone been recorded)
- it's been recorded
- if its recordings are still in print and available for sale today
- it's been performed live any time in the last 100 years
- it's regularly performed live today
These would all be different numbers to make a guess at.


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## vavaving (Apr 20, 2009)

Judging by the classical music encyclopedias I've come across, there are more composers left out of the references than listed within them, and by virtue of my experience as a music consumer, I'd estimate that fewer than half of all tangible compositions will end up being recorded, less than half of those will be in print at any given time, and fewer than half of those will be listed from the major distributors in your country.

In other words, it could take longer to generate a hypothetical playlist of all classical music than it would take to listen to it.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

I think it really is a question someone could estimate, in the same way that astronomers estimate the number of stars in the galaxy for instance. Practically we could ask how many classical pieces have survived that we have access to. There would have to be a cut off date - that being the date of the estimate. One could go to ArkiveMusic and count all the composers and then all the works for each composer -- starting with A. Bisov whoever that is/was:

http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/NameList?role_wanted=1&alpha=a

I'd be more inclined to just email them and ask how many entries are in their database though. Estimating from that and adding a couple thousand for works that slipped through their cracks and missing works that may yet be discovered should give a good idea of the maximum one could expect to be available in one's lifetime.

I'm not willing to do this footwork at the moment I'm afraid.


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## David C Coleman (Nov 23, 2007)

TresPicos said:


> A moment ago, for example, I estimated that it should be hypothetically possible for a person to listen to about 1,000,000 pieces of classical music during a lifetime. If you spend 16 hours a day listening, at a rate of 3 pieces per hour, and keep doing it for 60 years, and never listen to a piece twice, that will amount to around one million pieces.


If they paid me a good rate, I would gladly do that job!!!...


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## Guest (May 16, 2009)

TresPicos said:


> I know this is an *impossible *question to answer


Your point. My posts have simply been glosses on it.


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