BWV

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This article is about the catalogue system of Johann Sebastian Bach's musical works. BWV is also the SIL code for the language Bahau River Kenyah spoken in Borneo.

The Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis ("Bach Works Catalogue") is the numbering system used to identify musical works by Johann Sebastian Bach, grouped thematically, not chronologically. The BWV numbers were assigned by Wolfgang Schmieder in 1950, indicating the placement in the catalogue of Bach's works entitled Thematisch-systematisches Verzeichnis der musikalischen Werke von Johann Sebastian Bach. The BWV numbers are universally used and accepted as the standard way of numbering the works of Bach, for example: "Mass in B minor, BWV 232, composed in 1733". At times the BWV numbers are called Schmieder numbers. The terms are interchangeable: in some (mostly older) publications indications like S. 232 for the work mentioned in the example above can be found.

For a list of Bach's works arranged by BWV number, see list of compositions of Johann Sebastian Bach.

Schmieder's catalogue was updated several times, e.g. removing uncertain works to the "annexes", adding newly discovered works, etc... These updated versions generally appear in print: the 1990 edition appeared as ISBN 3-7651-0255-5

A thematical catalogue

Unlike chronologically arranged catalogues for other classical composers, Schmieder's catalogue of Bach's works is arranged by type of work, which is called a thematical catalogue: choral works come first, then works for organ, then other keyboard works, and so on. For this reason, a low BWV number does not necessarily indicate an early work.

Why Schmieder chose this thematical arrangement instead of a chronological is due to several reasons, of which probably the two most important were:

• Many of Bach's works have an uncertain composition date. Even if a date is written on the score, this can mean no more than the date it was copied, re-arranged, etc... Nonetheless, since Schmieder's original publication of the BWV catalogue, scholars have established many more "probable" and "certain" composition dates than was imaginable in the 1950s (see below).
• The Bach Gesellschaft had been publishing Bach's works since 1851; these existing publications had grouped Bach's works by genre (or musical form), so listing according to this established practice was less confusing.

Other cataloguing systems for Bach's compositions

Opus number - publication date

Ordering the complete list of Bach's compositions by Opus number or by publication date were both out of the question: Bach didn't use "Opus" numbers, and only very few of his works had been published during his lifetime.

See also: Bach compositions printed during the composer's lifetime

Chronological

Philippe (and Gérard) Zwang published an alternate system for numbering the cantatas (BWV 1-215 + 248-249), taking a chronology into account, see: http://infopuq.uquebec.ca/~uss1010/catal/bacjs/corrbwvz.html

This list was published in 1982 as Guide pratique des cantates de Bach in Paris, ISBN 2-221-00749-2

See also

• Bach Compendium

• Köchel Verzeichnis

External links

• [BWV-catalogue in bachcentral.com]
• [BWV-catalogue in infopuq.uquebec.ca]

 

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