All that Beethoven- 6.0

The musical works of Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827) are classified by both genre and various numbering systems.

* List of compositions by Ludwig van Beethoven

The most common methods of numbering Beethoven's works are by opus number, assigned by Beethoven's publishers during his lifetime, and by number within genre. For example, the 14th string quartet, published as Opus 131, may be referenced either as "String Quartet No. 14" or "the Opus 131 String Quartet".

Many works that were unpublished or else published without opus numbers have been assigned either "WoO" (works without opus number) or "Anh" (appendix) numbers. For example, the short piano piece "Für Elise", is more fully known as the "Bagatelle in A minor, WoO 59 ('Für Elise')". Some works are also commonly referred to by their nicknames, such as the 'Kreutzer' Violin Sonata, or the Eroica Symphony.

The listings include all of these relevant identifiers. While other catalogues of Beethoven's works exist, the numbers here represent the most commonly used and widely known. Years in parentheses denote dates of composition or publication.

For cataloguing purposes, pieces by Beethoven are identified in four ways:

by opus number.
These were assigned by his publishers, and follow the order in which his works were published, rather than the order they were written. This is why, for example, the Wind Octet of 1792 can be Opus 103, when Opus 102 and Opus 104 were written in 1815 and 1817 respectively. Everything up to and including Opus 135 was published in Beethoven's lifetime; later numbers were published posthumously.

by WoO (Werke ohne Opuszahl - literally, "works without opus number") number.
These were assigned by Georg Kinsky and Hans Halm (who took over from Kinsky after his death) in their 1955 catalogue of Beethoven's works.

by AnH number - these are works listed in the appendix (German: Anhang, hence the abbreviation) of Kinsky's catalogue as being probably spurious. Some of these have since been shown to be authored by Beethoven.

by Hess (abbreviated to H) number.
These were assigned by Willy Hess in a listing published shortly after Kinsky's which includes pieces not included in the 19th century Beethoven Gesamtausgabe published by Breitkopf und Härtel. Hess includes many more fragmentary works than does Kinsky. Many pieces have both WoO and H numbers - in these cases, WoO numbers are generally favoured over Hess numbers.