i’m listening to a banger classical music playlist right now and once again i’m confronted with the question: how do i refer to them to others? how do i even look them up on youtube? for example, i love a piece by vivaldi that i believe is fairly popular. spotify and youtube list it as “Violin Concerto in G Minor, RV 315 “L’estate””. that’s not exactly catchy, and just looking for “vivaldi g minor” brings up a ton of stuff on YouTube. it’s no different with all the other big boys – bach, mozart, brahms… do people who regularly have to do with classical music actually memorise those absurd strings of seemingly random numbers? if i want to tell someone i love a piece by Bach, do i say “check out Bach’s 1st Prelude in C Major, BWV 846!”? that can’t be right, can it?
In: Other
“RV” and “BWV” are catalogs of known works by Vivaldi and Bach respectively. RV 315 and BWV 846 are the catalog and number in that catalog of a single unique work. So “Bach’s prelude in C major” describes the work (and other works), “BWV 846” singles out the specific “prelude in C major” you’re interested in.
Latest Answers