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