Kevin Sutton wrote:

>Karl Miller wrote:
>
>>What about Bach's arrangements of Vivaldi Concerti, Stokowski orchestrating
>>anybody, Casella rearranging Scarlatti and Paganini, Schoenberg rewriting
>>Monn, etc.?
>
>I think that you are confusing "arrangement" with "transcription" here.
>An arrangement often completely alters notes and harmonies.  ...
>
>The examples you cite above do not alter the composer's original works,
>except to make them playable on instruments other that what was originally
>intended.  ...

Not true.  Casella did alter some of the thematic material.  Likewise, I
find Stokowski's version of works like Night on Bald Mountain to be more
like arrangements than transcriptions.  Bach altered Vivaldi's harmonies
when he rewrote Vivaldi's music.  For me, the differences between the
two notions are not particularly significant.  In orchestration class
the students have to do an orchestration (transcription) of a work (not
changing any of the notes or harmonies).  Exact transcription in art
music, to the best of my knowledge, happens rarely.

It is interesting to compare the two definitions as they appear in the
Harvard Dictionary of Music:

Arrangement: The adaptation of a composition for a medium different from
that for which it was originally composed, usually with the intention of
preserving the essentials of the musical substance...

Transcription: The adaptation of a composition for a medium other than
its original one, e.g., of vocal music for instruments, or a piano for
orchestra...

I will agree that there are many works that are more transcription than
arrangement, but I find it to be a subtle distinction at best.

Karl