# A few more dumb Classical Music questions



## Froglips (Jun 9, 2009)

What does the part in bold mean, and what is it's context?
"Concerto No.2 in G Major, *Op. 13, 3rd Mvt*."

When looking for classical violin music, how do I know if the music is played on violin, or some other instrument out front? I know that sounds really stupid, but I do not know how else to ask it.

I also want to look for music that was originally done using the violin, and not adapted to the violin from some other instrument. Do not mind the later, I just want to learn how to know what is what when it comes to Classical music, and start with violin pieces/compositions/composers.

I am learning to play the violin, and I want to expose myself to all of the original classical violin music that I can ... And in the process learn all I can about classical music recordings.

I want to ask you so many more questions, but I do not know how to ask them yet.

Thank you for your time.


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

Froglips said:


> What does the part in bold mean, and what is it's context?
> "Concerto No.2 in G Major, *Op. 13, 3rd Mvt*.


It means that this is 3th part (movement) of 13th work (opus) by this particular composer.



> When looking for classical violin music, how do I know if the music is played on violin, or some other instrument out front?


Name of the piece often include name of solo instrument (if there is any). For example: "concerto for violin" or "violin sonata".


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## bdelykleon (May 21, 2009)

Froglips said:


> What does the part in bold mean, and what is it's context?
> "Concerto No.2 in G Major, *Op. 13, 3rd Mvt*."


A classical piece may be divided into sections called movements, usually they carry Italian names referring tho their tempo: allegro, andante, adagio, presto or to one dance minuetto, sarabanda, chaconne, et.

The Op. means _opus_, _opus _means "work" in Latin and refer to all pieces the composer decided to publish, so Op. 13 means it was the 13th published work by the composer. It usually can show when the composer wrote the piece(for example, Beethoven's string quartets op. 18 were published well before the string quartet op. 131) but it isn1t always so (Beethoven's Sonata op. 53 was composed some 10 years after the Rondo Capriccio op. 136), it depends on when the composer published the piece.


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## nefigah (Aug 23, 2008)

To answer your last question, this might get you started. It's one of the more famous violin pieces.


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## Mirror Image (Apr 20, 2009)

Froglips said:


> What does the part in bold mean, and what is it's context?
> "Concerto No.2 in G Major, *Op. 13, 3rd Mvt*."
> 
> When looking for classical violin music, how do I know if the music is played on violin, or some other instrument out front? I know that sounds really stupid, but I do not know how else to ask it.
> ...


One thing to remember, Froglips...boy that sounds funny saying that, anyway, one thing to remember is there are no stupid questions.

Allow me to answer your questions:

*What does Op. 13 and 3rd Movement mean?*

The Op. 13 means the opus number. Every composer numbers their work and in this case Op. 13 is the 13th piece they have wrote. The 3rd movement means the 3rd section of the concerto, symphony, etc. In most cases, the 3rd movement isn't called the 3rd movement, it's labeled with words such "Adagio," "Andante," "Allegro," "Scherzo," etc. These all refer to the tempo used. Many times you might see "Andante --- Allegro," which means it starts off in Andante, then progresses into Allegro.

*How do I find music specifically for an instrument (i. e. violin)?*

There are a lot of composers who composed for the violin. One the best things to do is look up a composer like let's say Mendelssohn. When you're searching on something like Amazon.com, then when you search by music type in "Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto." This will bring up all the recordings available by Mendelssohn with the title "Violin Concerto." There are many forms of music written for a specific instrument, but there are two types of music that is written for a specific instrument: chamber and orchestral. Chamber music deals with a smaller ensemble or even trio, duo, solo. You will see a title like "Quintet for Oboe, Violin, Trumpet, Cello, and Percussion," "Violin Sonata," "Cello Sonata," "Piano Trio in F major," etc. Orchestral music, however, can take on many titles, but the most common one is "Violin Concerto," "Oboe Concerto," "Romance For Cello And Strings," etc. There are so many titles that can be used when talking about orchestral music.

I hope all of this helps you in your search.


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## UniverseInfinite (May 16, 2009)

Hello, please take some time to read the web page that the following link leads to.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opus_number


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