In the 20th Century the titles given by the composers for the instrumental
music are interesting, curious and until funnies. We can classify them in
the following patterns (non exhaustive list) and works examples (also non
exhaustive):
a) TRADITIONAL (piece, prelude, sonata, trio, quartet, quintet, concerto
grosso, concerto, suite, symphony - thousands of composers independently
of the style)
b) TECHNICAL SOUNDS/STRUCTURES
" 4'33" " - J Cage
"Kontrapunkte" - K Stockhausen
"Sinister Resonance" - H Cowell
"Timbres, Espace, Mouvement" - H Duttilleux
"Modes de valeurs and intensite" - O Messiaen
"Ludus Tonalis" - P Hindemith
"Melodien" - G Ligeti
"De natura sonoris" - K Penderecki
"Drummings" - S Reich
"Music in Fifths" - P Glass
c) SCIENTIFICALLY
"Anaklasis" - K Penderecki
"Hyperprism" - E Varese
"Density 21,5" - E Varese
"Ionization" - E Varese
"Metastasis" - I Xenakis
d) GEOGRAPHICAL
"Three Places in New England" - C Ives
"New York Skyline Melody" - H Villa-Lobos
"El salon Mexico" - A Copland
"Central park in the dark" - C Ives
"Pacific 231" - A Honegger
"Venetian games" - W Lutoslawski
"Catalague d'oiseaux" - O Messiaen
"La Mer" - CA Debussy
"Noches en los jardines de Espana" - M de Falla
"Orient Occident" - I Xenakis
"The planets" - G Holst
e) RELIGIOUS/PHILOSOPHICAL
"Quatour pour la fin du temps" - O Messiaen
"Turangalila" - O Messiaen
"The unanswered question" - C Ives
"The poem of ecstasy" - A Skryabin
"Men and Mountains" - C Ruggles
f) STATES OF SOUL/POETICAL/ARTS
"Imaginary Landscape" - J Cage
"Night Thoughts" - A Copland
"In a Summer garden" - F Delius
"Klee Pictures" - PM Davies
"Verklart Nacht" - A Schoenberg
"Music for accompaniment to a film scene" - A Schoenberg
g) SPORTS/MISCELLANEOUS
"Rugby" - A Honegger
"Tierkreis" - K Stockhausen
PS.:
1) I excluded opera, oratorio, cantata, choral music and the songs,
ballets, theater, film track
2) We could make a list with titles in Greek, Latin, Sancrist,
Esperanto or invented by the composer etc.
3) The concern is with the title and not with the musical form or the
instrumentation
Edson Ortolan
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