Number (music)
A number in music is a self-contained piece that is combined with other such pieces in a performance. In a concert of popular music, for example, the individual songs or pieces performed are often referred to as "numbers." The term is applied also to sections of large vocal works (such as opera, oratorio, or musical) when the written or printed score for such a work designates the titles of the pieces with sequential numbers, hence the aptness of the term. The use of numerical designations in extended vocal musical works has the practical advantage of facilitating rehearsal plans, especially when their designations include assignment of characters.
Read more about Number (music): Number Opera
Famous quotes containing the word number:
“Among a hundred windows shining
dully in the vast side
of greater-than-palace number such-and-such
one burns
these several years, each night
as if the room within were aflame.”
—Denise Levertov (b. 1923)