Classical Music

Hello, I was wondering if someone could explain some of the finer points of why classical pieces are named the way they are. For example: Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto 2 Op. 18. I know the Op stands for Opus, but what exactly does that mean, and why 18? Another example is Mozart's Symphony No 14 in A major, K. 114. Once again I don't know what the 114 is for, or the K for that matter. Can anyone shed some light onto this?

I've forgotten what K stands for, but the 114 would mean that was the 114th work Mozart (insert anyone else) composed.

I think that's correct.

Originally Posted by Marquis de Sade

I've forgotten what K stands for, but the 114 would mean that was the 114th work Mozart (insert anyone else) composed.

I think that's correct.

K stands for Köchel
anyway, since the wiki does it better than I could in 5 minutes:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opus_number
(though there are some exemples ues of catalogmissing... like SWV for Heinrich Schütz, P (Poulton) for John Dowland

Moved to the arts section.

The term "Opus" can mean different things depending on the publisher of the music. Most of the time the Opus merely means the number of the piece. For example, Dimitri Shostakovitch's, Symphony No. 10 in E Minor, Op. 93 means that it was his 93^rd work to compose. However, sometimes, mostly depending on what the publisher does, the Opus could simply mean the number it was published, that is, using Symphony No. 10 in E Minor, Op. 93 as an example again, the publisher could have chosen to have Shostakovitch's Symphony No. 10 in E Minor, Op. 93 published 93^rd behind whatever else they published. Is this too confusing? I don't feel like I'm explaining it well enough.