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Johann Sebastian Bach's vocal music includes cantatas, motets, masses, Magnificats, Passions, oratorios, four-part chorales, songs and arias. His instrumental music includes concertos, suites, sonatas, fugues, and other works for organ, harpsichord, lute, violin, viola da gamba, cello, flute, chamber ensemble, and orchestra. There are over 1,000 known compositions by Bach. Almost all are listed in the Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis (BWV), which is the best known and most widely used catalogue of Bach's compositions. Listing Bach's compositions Some of the early biographies of Johann Sebastian Bach contain lists of his compositions. For instance, his obituary contains a list of the instrumental compositions printed during the composer's lifetime, followed by an approximate list of his unpublished work. The first separately published biography of the composer, by Johann Nikolaus Forkel, follows the same approach: its ninth chapter first lists printed works (adding four-part chorales which had been published in the second half of the 18th century), followed by a rough overview of the unpublished ones. In the first half of the 19th century more works were published, so the next biographies (Schauer and Hilgenfeldt in 1850) had more elaborate appendices listing printed works, referring to these works by publisher, and the number or page number given to the works in these publications. So, for example, the Prelude and Fugue in E-flat major can be indicated as "C. F. Peters Vol. III No. 1", or any of the variants ("Griepenkerl and Roitzsch Vol. 3 p. 2", "Peters Book 242 p. 2", "P. S. V., Cah. 3 (242), No. 1", etc.) BG In the 2nd half of the 19th century the Bach-Gesellschaft (BG) published all Bach's works in around 50 volumes, the so-called Bach Gesellschaft Ausgabe (BGA). This offered a unique identification of all Bach's known works, a system that was quickly adopted, for instance, by the biographers: Philipp Spitta used it complementarily to the Peters edition's numbering for the BG volumes that had appeared when he was writing his Bach-biography in the second half of the 19th century (e.g. "B. G., III., p. 173" for the above-mentioned Prelude in E-flat major), and Terry used it in the third Appendix to his 20th-century translation of Forkel's biography. Despite this, there was still much confusion. Some authors preferred to list Bach's works according to Novello's editions, or Augener's, or Schirmer's, giving rise to various conversion tables at the end of books on Bach's compositions (e.g. Harvey Grace's in a 1922 book on Bach's organ compositions). NBG In 1900 the BG published its last volume, and dissolved itself, as its primary goal, publishing all of Bach's known works, was accomplished. The BG was succeeded by the Neue Bachgesellschaft (NBG), with a new set of goals (Bach yearbook, Bach festivals, and a Bach museum). Occasionally however the NBG published newly discovered works, or variants not published in the BGA. For instance the 1740s version of O Jesu Christ, meins Lebens Licht was published in NBG XVII1 in 1916 (the 1730s version of the same piece, with a different orchestration, had been published in BG 24, pp. 185–192). BWV In 1950 the Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis was published, allocating a unique number to every known composition by Bach. Wolfgang Schmieder, the editor of that catalogue, grouped the compositions by genre, largely following BG for the collation (e.g. BG cantata number = BWV number of the cantata): Kantaten (Cantatas), BWV 1–224 Motetten (Motets), BWV 225–231 Messen, Messensätze, Magnificat (Masses, Mass movements, Magnificat), BWV 232–243 Passionen, Oratorien (Passions, Oratorios), BWV 244–249 Vierstimmige Choräle (Four-part chorales), BWV 250–438 Lieder, Arien, Quodlibet (Songs, Arias and Quodlibet), BWV 439–524 Werke für Orgel (Works for organ), BWV 525–771 Werke für Klavier (Keyboard compositions), BWV 772–994 Werke für Laute (Lute compositions), BWV 995–1000 Kammermusik (Chamber music), BWV 1001–1040 Orchesterwerke (Works for orchestra), BWV 1041–1071, originally in two separate chapters: Concertos (BWV 1041–1065) and Overtures (BWV 1066–1071) Kanons (Canons), BWV 1072–1078 Musikalisches Opfer, Kunst der Fuge (Musical Offering, Art of the Fugue), BWV 1079–1080 For instance, the Prelude and Fugue in E-flat major now became BWV 552, situated in the range of the works for organ. In contrast to other catalogues such as the Köchel catalogue for Mozart's compositions there is no attempt at chronological organization in the BWV numbering, for instance BWV 992 is an early composition by Bach. Exceptionally BWV numbers are also indicated as Schmieder (S) numbers (e.g. S. 225 = BWV 225). Another consequence of the ordering principles of the BWV was that it tore known collections apart, for instance Clavier-Übung III was partly in the organ compositions range (BWV 552 and 669–689), with the four duets listed among the keyboard compositions (BWV 802–805). BWV Anh. The Anhang (Anh.), i.e. Appendix, of the BWV listed works that were not suitable for the main catalogue, in three sections: I – lost works, or works of which only a tiny fraction had survived (Anh. 1–23) II – works of dubious authenticity (Anh. 24–155) III – works that were once attributed to Bach, but for which it had been established they were not composed by him (Anh. 156–189) Within each section of the Anhang the works are sorted by genre, following the same sequence of genres as the main catalogue. Schmieder published the BWV's second edition in 1990, with some modifications regarding authenticity discriminations, and more works added to the main catalogue and the Anhang. A strict numerical collation was abandoned to insert additions, or when for another reason compositions were regrouped. For example, BWV 11, formerly listed as a Cantata, was moved to the fourth chapter of the main catalogue as an Oratorio. Rather than renumbering a composition, an arrow indicated where the composition was inserted: "BWV 11/249b→" meaning "BWV 11, inserted after BWV 249b" (4th chapter). Similarly, BWV 1083/243a→ meant BWV 1083, inserted after BWV 243a (3rd chapter). Also authenticity discriminations, based on new research, could lead to such repositionings within the catalogue, e.g. "BWV Anh. II 114" became "Anh. II 114/Anh. III 183→ indicating it was now considered a spurious work. In 1998 Alfred Dürr and Yoshitake Kobayashi published a small edition of the catalogue, based on the 1990 second edition. This edition, known as BWV2a, contained a few further updates and collation rearrangements. New additions (Nachträge) to BWV2/BWV2a included: BWV 1081–1126 BWV Anh. 190–213 A few exceptions to the principle that compositions were not renumbered were when a composition from the Anhang could be recovered or authenticated as Bach's, so that it deserved a place in the main catalogue, in which case it was given a number above 1080. So, for example, BWV Anh. 205 (BWV2) → BWV 1121 (BWV2a, where it is in.... Discover the Alfred Durr Richard Jones popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Alfred Durr Richard Jones books.