music

[tiny tim]

which composer's works were given 'k' numbers in the 20th century?

[Jansy]

Off the top of my head, I think it was Mozart.

[sft42]

To understand this question better it might help to know what a "K" number is....the K refers to Ludwig von Kochel who was a botanist and mineralogist who greatly admired Mozart's music. In the mid 1800's, he undertook the arduous task of attempting to catalog the compositions in chronological order. This was a tough challenge for two reasons: Mozart was so prolific during his short life that there would be no way of knowing for certain that all of his compositions had been located. The second challenge lay in the fact that, although Mozart was well-known in his own lifetime, he was almost constantly having to write new works to get out of money problems -- as a consequence, no particular value was placed on the preservation of each work. It took Kochel more than ten years to locate the pieces, determine the chronological order, assign a catalog number and then publish the catalog. For his efforts, he is remembered (if only indirectly) each time a Mozart work is listed.

Sometimes, you will see or hear "KV" with Mozart. This is not a separate catalog. The "V" stands for the German "Verzeichnis" (or "catalog"). So in effect KV means "Kochel Catalog". Bottom line, "K" and "KV" mean the same thing.

So from the above info it simply CAN'T be Mozart if the question is written correctly therefore it must be referring to the works of Domenico Scarlatti. The "K" in this instance means Ralph Kirkpatrick who was a professor at Yale. Using the same method as Kochel, Kirkpatrick assigned catalog numbers in chronological sequence.