Ron Chaplin wrote:

>Margaret Mikulska contributed:
>
>>Bach's works are nowadays preceded by "BWV"
>
>What does BWV stand for?  Also, I've seen some of Bach's works cataloged
>using an S.  Why are two systems used?

BWV stands for "Bach Werke Verzeichnis" or "Catalog of Bach Works".  It
was compiled/edited by Wolfgang Schmieder and published in 1950 by VEB
Breitkopf & Haertel in Leipzig.  A second edition was published in 1990
or thereabout.

Originally, "S" was used by some (stands for "Schmieder") by analogy with
"K" for Koechel (the editor of the Mozart catalog).  Schmieder supposedly
objected and "BWV" was commonly accepted.  There seems to be a trend to use
"*WV" nowadays - as in HWV, SWV, TWV (Handel, Schuetz, Telemann), at least
when referring to German catalogues.

So "S" and "BWV" are in reality the same system.

-Margaret