Steve Schwartz wrote:

>Richard Pennycuick asks:
>
>>No, not the label, but the word, as in Op 14 bis.  I haven't been able
>>to track down any reference to this, but by finding a few examples of its
>>use, ...
>
>Normally, it means to repeat notes or measures or even entire pieces.
>The Harvard Dictionary of Music gives this definition, but not what "op.
>24 bis" means.
>
>What a gyp!  Has Harvard gone to hell?

Grove too.  No mention in Grove 6, at least not under "Bis".  I guess
I always assumed someone knew what it meant.  Oh, wait a minute...  I
just pulled out my trusty Grove 3 (1935) and it says:

    BIS (Fr.), "twice"; (1) a cry equivalent to ENCORE.  The French
    even have a verb, bisser, to repeat.  (2) When written, as it is
    sometimes in MS. music, over a phrase or passage, it signifies
    that the notes are to be repeated; the same thing would be effected
    by dots of repetition at the beginning and end of the phrase.

Well, that isn't definitive, but at least it had something (it's amazing
how much was dropped over the years from the Grove Dictionaries).  No
mention of "bis" in the definition of "opus" in either Grove 3, 5 or
6.  I'm going to go with the definition of "repeated or revisited opus
number or composition" as a tentative solution.

Some "bis" examples I know of:

   Haydn
     Piano Sonata #57 in F Major, Hob XVI:47
     Piano Sonata #19 (Divertimento) in E minor, Hob XVI:47bis

   Rubinstein
     Piano Concerto #3 in G Major, Op. 45
     Barcarolle #2 for Piano in A minor, Op. 45bis

   Beethoven
     Opera "Fidelio", Op. 72
     Harmoniemusik "Fidelio", Op. 72bis

   Suk
     String Quartet #1 in B Flat Major, Op. 11
     Quartet Movement in B Flat Major, Op. 11bis

   Atterberg
     Violin Sonata in B minor, Op. 27
     Horn Sonata in B minor, Op. 27bis

   Tchaikovsky
     Fantasy Overture "Hamlet" in F minor, Op. 67
     Incidental Music "Hamlet", Op. 67bis

That appears to be a hodge-podge of transcriptions or revisions - sometimes
right on top of each other (Tchaikovsky); sometimes decades apart (30 years
separate the Atterberg sonatas) - and just plain ol' doubly assigned opus
numbers (Rubinstein).

Dave
[log in to unmask]
http://www.classical.net/