Is it all right to perform a single movement of a multi-movement composition?

Question

I used to think it was wrong to extracting single movements from extended compositions was cheap, exploitative, and disrespectful to the composer.

But then I noticed that the C major prelude from Book I of the Well-Tempered Clavier appears in Anna Magdalena's Notebook without the fugue.

I also remembered that Janacek originally intended for the first movement of his Sinfonietta to be a single-movement piece for concert band.

I also remembered that Tchaikovsky wrote a slow piece for violin and orchestra which he originally intended as the second movement of his violin concerto, but later changed his mind and presented as a single-movement composition.

These particulars indicate that composers do not always relate all the movements of each work as closely as we might think.

Anonymous · Answer

Quote: " Is it all right to perform a single movement of a multi-movement composition? " ;

No, of course not.

All these lackadaisical musicians and vocalists should be forced to perform Richard Wagner's Ring Cycle, all in one go.

..... Then follow it up with J S Bach's Mass in B Minor as an encore,

before they are allowed to stop for rest, refreshment, or hospital treatment.

Jack Herring · Answer

I'm not exactly sure when it became fashionable to play a work in it's entirety but a typical Beethoven concert would be a movement of something and a movement of something else, etc. They also would play a single movement of a piano concerto. So yes, it is ok .

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Is it all right to perform a single movement of a multi-movement composition?

2 Answers