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placeholder="Search the documentation..." type="text"/> <span class="buttons inline"><button type="submit">Search</button></span></form></div><h1 class="hierarchy-links"><a href="/doc/Style">Style</a> / <a href="/doc/Style/Classical">Classical</a> / <a href="/doc/Style/Classical/Language">Language</a> / <a href="/doc/Style/Classical/Language/English" style="font-weight:bold">English</a></h1><div><html><head></head><body><div class="mw-parser-output"><table class="wikitable " style="text-align:center; background:#FFFDDF; width:100%; margin-top:0.5em; margin-bottom:0.5em;"><tbody><tr><td style="border:1px solid #ffcc00;"><b>Status:</b> This is an <a href="/doc/Style">official style guideline</a>. </td></tr></tbody></table><p>This is the guideline for titles or parts of titles in English. Do <b>not</b> assume that anything expressed here is valid for other languages. <div aria-labelledby="mw-toc-heading" class="toc" id="toc" role="navigation"><input class="toctogglecheckbox" id="toctogglecheckbox" role="button" style="display:none" type="checkbox" /><div class="toctitle" dir="ltr" lang="en"><h2 id="mw-toc-heading">Contents</h2><span class="toctogglespan"><label class="toctogglelabel" for="toctogglecheckbox"></label></span></div><ul><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-1"><a href="#Catalogue_&_number"><span class="tocnumber">1</span> <span class="toctext">Catalogue & number</span></a><ul><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-2"><a href="#Examples"><span class="tocnumber">1.1</span> <span class="toctext">Examples</span></a></ul><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-3"><a href="#Keys"><span class="tocnumber">2</span> <span class="toctext">Keys</span></a><ul><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-4"><a href="#Sharp/flat"><span class="tocnumber">2.1</span> <span class="toctext">Sharp/flat</span></a><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-5"><a href="#Major/minor"><span class="tocnumber">2.2</span> <span class="toctext">Major/minor</span></a><ul><li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-6"><a href="#Examples_2"><span class="tocnumber">2.2.1</span> <span class="toctext">Examples</span></a></ul></ul><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-7"><a href="#Capitalization"><span class="tocnumber">3</span> <span class="toctext">Capitalization</span></a><ul><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-8"><a href="#Quotation_marks"><span class="tocnumber">3.1</span> <span class="toctext">Quotation marks</span></a><ul><li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-9"><a href="#Examples_3"><span class="tocnumber">3.1.1</span> <span class="toctext">Examples</span></a></ul></ul></ul></div><h2><span id="Catalogue_.26_number"></span><span class="mw-headline" id="Catalogue_&_number">Catalogue & number</span></h2><p>Catalogues should always be preceded by comma and space.<br /> Opus and number should be lower-cased and abbreviated: “op.” and “no.” (except after a colon or at the start of a title). There should be a space before the number.<br /> Specific catalogues (eg. Köchel) should follow their usual capitalization. <h4><span class="mw-headline" id="Examples">Examples</span></h4><p><i>Symphony no. 5</i><br /><i>String Quartet in D major, op. 11</i><br /><i>Sonata for Solo Violin in D minor, op. 27 no. 3</i><br /><i>Five Flower Songs, op. 47: No. 1. To Daffodils</i> (the part number follows a colon)<br /><i>String Quartets: Op. 56 “Voces intimae” / Op. 27</i> (the opus number starts each title)<br /><h2><span class="mw-headline" id="Keys">Keys</span></h2><p>The word "in" should always precede the key name. The key itself should be in upper case, except on releases where lowercase is used to express a minor key (see below). <h3><span id="Sharp.2Fflat"></span><span class="mw-headline" id="Sharp/flat">Sharp/flat</span></h3><p>If the key name contain the words "sharp" or "flat", they should be in lower case and a hyphen should be used as delimiter. <h3><span id="Major.2Fminor"></span><span class="mw-headline" id="Major/minor">Major/minor</span></h3><p>The words "major" & "minor" are always lower-cased. Do not add "major" or "minor" if these words are omitted in the source; tonality is sometimes expressed with capitalization (upper case = major, lower case = minor), or omission (naked key = major, "minor" printed). <ul><li>Using "major" or "minor" is the preferred style for generic Works titles in English.</ul><h4><span class="mw-headline" id="Examples_2">Examples</span></h4><p><i>Sonata in C-sharp minor</i><br /><i>Symphony in E major</i><br /><i>Suite no. 4 in E-flat</i> (major omitted, but implied) - but work <i>Suite no. 4 in E-flat major</i><br /><i>Concerto in c</i> (lowercase implies minor) - but work <i>Concerto in C minor</i><br /><h2><span class="mw-headline" id="Capitalization">Capitalization</span></h2><p>English titles in general should follow MusicBrainz's <a href="/doc/Style/Language/English">standard capitalization for English</a>, but librettos and quotes should always follow sentence style. <h3><span class="mw-headline" id="Quotation_marks">Quotation marks</span></h3><p>Always use <a href="/doc/Style/Miscellaneous">double quotes</a> (as opposed to single quotes or other types of quotation marks) in English titles. <h4><span class="mw-headline" id="Examples_3">Examples</span></h4><p><i>Songs of Travel: The Roadside Fire</i><br /><i>Songs of Travel: Bright is the ring of words</i><br /><i>Nocturne from “A Midsummer Night's Dream”</i><br /> “<i>Träume” - “Schmerzen” from the “Wesendonck” Lieder</i><br /><center><table border="1" class="wikitable "><tbody><tr><th class="mbwiki-navbox-header" colspan="2"><a href="/doc/Style">Style</a></th></tr><tr class="mbwiki-navbox-row"><td class="mbwiki-navbox-rowtitle"><b>Overview</b></td><td class="mbwiki-navbox-rowlinks"><a href="/doc/Style/Principle">Style Principle</a> · <a href="/doc/Style/Principle/Error_correction_and_artist_intent">Error correction & Artist intent</a> · <a href="/doc/Style/Old_style_practices">Old and/or outdated style practices</a> · <a href="/doc/Communication#Forums">Forums</a> · <a href="/doc/Proposals">How to propose style changes</a></td></tr><tr class="mbwiki-navbox-row"><td class="mbwiki-navbox-rowtitle"><b>Title Style</b></td><td class="mbwiki-navbox-rowlinks"><a href="/doc/Style/Titles">Titles</a> · <a href="/doc/Style/Titles/OC_ReMix_series">OC ReMix series</a></td></tr><tr class="mbwiki-navbox-row"><td class="mbwiki-navbox-rowtitle"><b>Entities</b></td><td class="mbwiki-navbox-rowlinks"><a href="/doc/Style/Artist">Artist</a> (<a href="/doc/Style/Artist/Sort_Name">Sort name</a>) · <a href="/doc/Style/Release_Group">Release Group</a> · <a href="/doc/Style/Release">Release</a> · <a href="/doc/Style/Recording">Recording</a> · <a href="/doc/Style/Work">Work</a> · <a href="/doc/Style/Series">Series</a> · <a href="/doc/Style/Place">Place</a> · <a href="/doc/Style/Event">Event</a> · <a href="/doc/Style/Aliases">Aliases</a> · <a href="/doc/Style/Artist_Credits">Artist credits</a></td></tr><tr class="mbwiki-navbox-row"><td class="mbwiki-navbox-rowtitle"><b>Relationships</b></td><td class="mbwiki-navbox-rowlinks"><a href="/doc/Style/Relationships">Relationships</a> · <a href="/doc/Style/Relationships/URLs">URLs</a> (<a href="/doc/Style/Relationships/URLs/Lyrics_whitelist">Lyrics Whitelist</a>) </td></tr><tr class="mbwiki-navbox-row"><td class="mbwiki-navbox-rowtitle"><b>Classical</b></td><td class="mbwiki-navbox-rowlinks"><a href="/doc/Style/Classical">Classical portal</a> · <a class="mw-redirect" href="/doc/Style/Classical/Release/Title">Release title</a> · <a class="mw-redirect" href="/doc/Style/Classical/Release/Artist">Release artist</a> · <a class="mw-redirect" href="/doc/Style/Classical/Track/Title">Track titles</a> · <a class="mw-redirect" href="/doc/Style/Classical/Track/Artist">Track artist</a> · <a class="mw-redirect" href="/doc/Style/Classical/Recording/Artist">Recording artist</a> · <a href="/doc/Style/Classical/Works">Works</a></td></tr><tr class="mbwiki-navbox-row"><td class="mbwiki-navbox-rowtitle"><b>Special Cases/Misc.</b></td><td class="mbwiki-navbox-rowlinks"><a href="/doc/Style/Unknown_and_untitled">Unknown and untitled entities</a> (<a href="/doc/Style/Unknown_and_untitled/Special_purpose_artist">Special Purpose Artist</a>, <a href="/doc/Style/Unknown_and_untitled/Special_purpose_label">Special Purpose Label</a>, <a href="/doc/Style/Unknown_and_untitled/Special_purpose_track_title">Special Purpose Track Title</a>) · <a href="/doc/Style/Specific_types_of_releases">Specific types of releases</a> (<a href="/doc/Style/Specific_types_of_releases/Pseudo-Releases">Pseudo-Releases</a>, <a href="/doc/Style/Specific_types_of_releases/Soundtrack">Soundtracks</a>, <a href="/doc/Style/Specific_types_of_releases/Theatre">Theatre</a>, <a href="/doc/Style/Specific_types_of_releases/Live_bootlegs">Live bootleg</a>, <a href="/doc/Style/Specific_types_of_releases/Broadcast_programs">Broadcast</a>, <a href="/doc/Style/Specific_types_of_releases/Audiobook">Audiobooks</a>, <a href="/doc/Style/Specific_types_of_releases/Remixes_and_mashups">Remixes and mashups</a>) · <a href="/doc/Style/Miscellaneous">Miscellaneous</a></td></tr><tr class="mbwiki-navbox-row"><td class="mbwiki-navbox-rowtitle"><b>Languages</b></td><td class="mbwiki-navbox-rowlinks"><a href="/doc/Style/Language/English">English</a> (<a class="mw-selflink selflink">Classical</a>) · <a href="/doc/Style/Language/Catalan">Catalan</a> · <a href="/doc/Style/Language/Chinese">Chinese</a> · <a href="/doc/Style/Language/Czech">Czech</a> · <a href="/doc/Style/Language/Danish">Danish</a> · <a href="/doc/Style/Language/Dutch">Dutch and Frisian</a> · <a href="/doc/Style/Language/Estonian">Estonian</a> (<a href="/doc/Style/Classical/Language/Estonian">Classical</a>) · <a href="/doc/Style/Language/Finnish">Finnish</a> · <a href="/doc/Style/Language/French">French</a> · <a href="/doc/Style/Language/German">German</a> · <a href="/doc/Style/Language/Greek">Greek</a> · <a href="/doc/Style/Language/Hebrew">Hebrew</a> · <a href="/doc/Style/Language/Hungarian">Hungarian</a> · <a href="/doc/Style/Language/Italian">Italian</a> · <a href="/doc/Style/Language/Japanese">Japanese</a> · <a href="/doc/Style/Language/Latin">Latin</a> · <a href="/doc/Style/Language/Latvian">Latvian</a> · <a href="/doc/Style/Language/Lithuanian">Lithuanian</a> · <a href="/doc/Style/Language/Norwegian">Norwegian</a> · <a href="/doc/Style/Language/Polish">Polish</a> · <a href="/doc/Style/Language/Portuguese">Portuguese</a> · <a href="/doc/Style/Language/Romanian">Romanian</a> · <a href="/doc/Style/Language/Russian">Russian</a> · <a href="/doc/Style/Language/Slovak">Slovak</a> · <a href="/doc/Style/Language/Spanish">Spanish</a> (<a href="/doc/Style/Classical/Language/Spanish">Classical</a>) · <a href="/doc/Style/Language/Swedish">Swedish</a> · <a href="/doc/Style/Language/Turkish">Turkish</a> · <a href="/doc/Style/Language/Vietnamese">Vietnamese</a> · <a href="/doc/Style/Language/Yiddish">Yiddish</a> · <a href="/doc/Style/Language/Transliterations">Transliterations</a></td></tr></tbody></table></center></div></body></html></div><div class="wikidocs-footer">This page is <a href="/doc/WikiDocs">transcluded</a> from revision <a class="internal" href="////wiki.musicbrainz.org/Style/Classical/Language/English?oldid=78123">#78123</a> of <a class="internal" href="//wiki.musicbrainz.org/Style/Classical/Language/English">Style / Classical / Language / English</a>.</div></div></div><div id="footer"><p class="left" id="footer-menu"><a class="internal" href="https://metabrainz.org/donate">Donate</a><a class="internal" href="//wiki.musicbrainz.org/">Wiki</a><a class="internal" href="https://community.metabrainz.org/">Forums</a><a class="internal" href="/doc/Communication/ChatBrainz">Chat</a><a class="internal" href="http://tickets.metabrainz.org/">Bug tracker</a><a class="internal" 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