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I've always been kind of curious about this, so I wonder if anyone here has a good answer to this: how do composers pick their opus numbers? Do they apply to some formula or some rule, or do they just pick random numbers? For example, Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No. 1 is from Opus 1, but his second piano concerto is Opus 18, and his third is Opus 30. I cannot imagine that he did 16 unpublished concertos or revisions between the first and second concerto. . . any comments? -random or orderly or something else?

He obviously wrote and published other works. Check out this website. All shall be revealed (there is a chronological listing of compositions by opus number at the end of the article.)

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

Read this as well.

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

i think that they are generally assigned in order of publication, and are not necessarily genre-specific or based on the date of composition. For example, Rachmaninov published

(1891) Piano Concerto No. 1 op. 1
(1892) Prelude & Oriental Dance op. 2
(1892) Morceaux de Fantaisies op. 3
(1890) Six Songs op. 4
(1893) Suite No. 1, op. 5,
etc...

Beethoven wrote his Opus 49 sonatas earlier (1795) than his third concerto (Opus 37, 1803), but since they were published later, they recieved a higher opus number.

Edited for brutal spelling...

The numbers are generally given to each and every published music book from that composer, in the order they arrived on the market. For example, Rachmaninoff opus 2 is a pair of pieces for cello and piano.

A compose can choose whether or not to give a published piece an opus number. It's a chronological catalogue, just like K numbers for mozart, but actually dictated by the composer instead of some musicologist. They're generally used for significant pieces that composers regard as being their main canon of work.

If you keep in mind that "opus" means work, and in the context of a composer's output it usually means published (or significant) work, then a composer's Opus 18, for example, is his eightheenth (major or published) work. Keep in mind, too, that an 'opus' can be divided into numbers of individual works, particularly if they were composed and/or published as a set.

Hence, the Opus 14 of Beethoven contains two Sonatas, the Opus 10 of Chopin contains 12 Etudes, whereas Chopin's Nocturnes now published not as a set, but as a collection - there's a difference! - were composed throughout the composer's life and therefore bear opus numbers from 9 to 72, and the last one, Op 72, no 1 was actually the first composed, but ... oh dear!

The plural of 'opus', by the way, is 'opera' - not to be confused with the musical genre of opera.

Regards,

Or you could make life easier for yourself and just say opuses lol

Opus numbers have a weird history. Bach's Opus 1 was his Six Partitas. He had written mountains of music by then (they are catalogued as BWV 825-830), but publishing in those days was a big, big deal and very expensive. He chose these pieces as his Op. 1, and published them at his own expense.

Well, thanks. I'm glad to know that there is some order to it (never thought of looking at them as a whole - always saw them by type of piece (like preludes have their opus numbers, piano concertos have their own, etc.) This definitely clears up a lot.

Opus numbers are usually associated with publication, not with the chronology of creation. They are often assigned by publishers, not by the composers. Opus numbers should not be confused with other numbers sometimes assigned in thematic catalogs (i.e. BWV or K numbers). From Grove (in Oxford Music Online):

"In the absence of corroborating information, opus numbers can never be relied upon to establish the chronology of a composer’s works. Generally, numbers were not applied until publication, and then often by the publisher, not the composer. Where the same work appears with two publishers, it may have different numbers assigned to it (as with Haydn, or with Boccherini, who assigned further numbers in his own catalogue). Sometimes, as in the case of Schütz, the numbers were added later. Before about 1800 it was customary for several works to be gathered under one number, often 12 in the early 18th century, later six and then, as individual works became longer (towards 1800), three or two; the chronology may not correspond with the internal numbering (it does not in Beethoven’s op.18 quartets for example). Smaller pieces, occasional compositions, youthful works and works in manuscript are not usually numbered, and miscellaneous clues must be used to fit them into the list of numbered works."

The same article also makes this observation about plural forms of the word:

"The Latin plural, opera, has become singular in Italian, and its plural is opere. To avoid confusion with the usual English or Italian meaning of ‘opera’, the English plural, ‘opuses’, may be preferred."

They're the chronology of things published, not creation.