Number (music)

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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.

The term "number opera" is used to distinguish such a work from an opera that does not easily, if at all, divide into easily extractable pieces, such as Wagner's music dramas. Nevertheless, it should be understood that, despite the fact that a composer may apply a designation of scenes or numbers in an opera, the musical flow is not necessarily interrupted.