Program Style Guidelines

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Basic Title Capitalization Rules

English (headline style capitalization): Capitalize the first word and all subsequent words except articles, conjunctions and prepositions (unless they begin or end a title or subtitle).

French[1], Italian, and Spanish: Capitalize the first word and all proper nouns.

Le songe d’une nuit d’été

La belle Hélène

Roméo et Juliette

Cosi fan tutte

La gazza ladra

Il barbiere di Siviglia

La vida breve

La casa de Bernardo Alba

German: Capitalize the first word and all subsequent nouns.

Latin: Capitalize all words except conjunctions and prepositions (the same as English).

Vesperae Solennae de Confessor

In Dulci Jubilo

Composer Names and Dates

Provide composers full name (in the transliterated, Americanized spelling) followed by birth and death dates (birth date only if living) for initial entries. Subsequent works by the same composer should listed in abbreviated form (last name only).

Program Style and Formatting

Instrumental works

Generic titles: Use headline style capitalization and roman script (no italics) for all generic titles, including key (“sharp” and “flat” are lower case, preceded by a hyphen), mode, opus and numbering. E.g.:

                  Sonata in E-flat Major, Op. 15, No. 3

Popular titles assigned to generic titles (e.g., “Pastorale”) should be placed in quotation marks within parenthesis following the generic title (see examples below)

Distinctive titles: Italicize distinctive or unique titles, e.g., Symphonie fantastique

Movements: Do not italicize any movements. Do not number if performed completely and in order. E.g.,

Allegro con brio
Marcia funebre: Adagio assai
Scherzo: Allegro vivace
Finale: Allegro molto

• Number (Roman numerals) only if all movements will not be performed in order. E.g.,

III. Scherzo: Allegro vivace

• List movements in English in Roman script. E.g.,

Sunrise
Painted Desert
On the Trail
Sunset
Cloudburst

Spacing between pieces: The spacing in between pieces will vary and change depending on what will visually appear more "correct" to the eye, rather than what is technically accurate. The main reason behind this is that there is a visual illusion when there is other information around a piece. Below is an image that shows two different versions of the spacing—the first one derives its spacing from Jason’s name to Motordom, the second one derives its space from O Magnum Myterium to Motordom.

It’s true that the spacing is more technically consistent in the second spread as shown by the boxes between each piece—but optically, it actually appears more inconsistent. In summary, spacing will differ per program, and it's best practice to design for with what is more “correct” to the average eye.

Thematic Catalog Abbreviations

Most thematic catalog citations used in the titles of works comprise a capital letter followed by a period, a space, and a number. E.g.: K. 475, D. 950. The exceptions are:

• BWV (Bach)
• RV (Vivaldi)
• TWV (Telemmann)
• WoO (Werke ohne Opus, numerous composers, including Beethoven and Brahms)

E.g., BWV 565, RV 269, TWV 55:C3, WoO 45

Instrumental Works Example

Franz Joseph Haydn          Symphony No. 6 in D Major, Le Matin
(1732-1809)                         Adagio–Allegro
                                             Adagio–Andante–Adagio
                                             Menuetto

Vocal Works

Italicize operas and song cycles, but not individual song titles or generic works like Masses. For single songs or arias, place the larger work in parenthesis.

Vocal Works Examples

Pace, pace mio Dio (from La forza del destino)                                                                               Giuseppe Verdi

    (1813-1901)

From Krämerspiegel, Op. 66 (1918)                                                                                                Richard Strauss

1. Es war einmal ein Bock                                                                                                              (1864-1949)

2. Einst kam der Bock als Bote

3. Es liebte einst ein Hase

5. Hast du ein Tongedicht vollbracht

 Diacritical marks

All names and non-English words should receive careful attention for the correct placement of diacritical marks (or diacritics). The following may be copied and pasted into the program editor:

Á à Â ä Å å Æ æ á ç É È é è Í Ì í ì î ñ ó Ò ò ö ø ß Ú ú ù ü

Some of the more common are:

Umlaut ä ö ü

Accent acute á é í ó ú [used in Spanish (lower case only), French and Slavic languages]

Accent grave à è ì ò ù (used in Italian, French and Slavic languages)

Circumflex â ê î ô û (used in French, Italian)

Cedilla or cédille ç (used in French)

há?ek or caron ? (used in Slavik languages)

For further reading and reference, see:

Wikipedia entry on “Diacritic”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diacritic

Standard Character Set for Macintosh: http://www.adobe.com/type/pdfs/characcessmac.pdf

Keyboard Help for Windows

http://www.starr.net/is/type/kbh.html

If you experience difficulty, or have questions about producing the correct diacritical marks (or other aspects of style) in your program text, please send an e-mail to: BSOM_Programs@mail.music.utexas.edu