Hi,
I would like to establish a work series for the composer Kaija Saariaho
I’ve read the guidelines about opus series and read the thread about it
But Saariaho doesn’t have opus numbers in her catalogue, see e.g. this one: Saarikoski Songs - Kaija Saariaho which has KS # 115 as the number.
So, how should I name a series for her works?
“Works of Kaija Saariaho by [???] number”
Or have I misinterpreted what “opus” means? Does the fact that she gave the piece listed above a number mean that it is technically an opus (work) even though there is no “op.”?
Thanks!
I think this doesn’t quite fall under the guideline you linked for opus numbers, since the numbers were not assigned by the composer herself (https://saariaho.org/works):
The catalogue of Kaija Saariaho’s complete works was established by Aleksi Barrière in October 2023 (latest revision in February 2026). It attributes KS numbers to the composer’s 226 individual works, from Bruden KS.1 to HUSH KS.137, in chronological order of composition, grouping under one number arrangements and adaptations, as well as individual movements performed as independent pieces, regardless of their date of composition.
That said, “Works of Kaija Saariaho by KS number” sounds good for this series. The most important thing is that the title is clear.
Many other composers’ catalogs are similar:
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Pretty much. I started the catalogue:
It doesn’t seem to have a “proper title”, I guess since it’s done by her son on her website rather than by a separate academic as an academic publication, so I just went with “Catalogue of Kaija Saariaho’s Complete Works”.
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Thank you! So “opus” is always assigned by the composer, is that correct?
Amazing, thank you so much for doing that!
I don’t know about always, but usually, yes.
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