Choral music[edit]
Four-part harmony using soprano, alto, tenor and bass is a common scoring in classical music,[1][2][3][4] including chorales and most Bach cantatas.[5]
The letters of the abbreviation are also used by publishers to describe different scorings for soloists and choirs other than four-part harmony. For example, the listing "STB solos, SATB choir", of Bach's Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme, BWV 140, indicates that a performance needs three soloists: soprano, tenor and bass, and a four-part choir.[5] "SATB/SATB" is used when a double choir is required, as in Penderecki's Polish Requiem.[6] or SSATB, with divided sopranos, which is a typical scoring in English church music.[5]: 322 [7] A listing for Bach's Mass in B minor includes the maximum of SSATB soloists and SSAATTBB eight-part choir, and also indicates that it contains choral movements for SATB, SSATB, SSATBB and SATB/SATB, as well as arias for individual soloists, and duets for SS, ST and SA.[5]: 299
Other letters of abbreviation, however with less consistency, have been used by publishers, such as "Tr" for treble (boy soprano), "Mz" for mezzo-soprano,[8] "Ba", "Bar" or "Bari" for baritone, "C" for both canto (the highest part) and contralto, and "Ct" for countertenor.[9] "SATB div." indicates that part are sometimes divided (divisi) during a piece, often sharing the same staff.
Instrumental music[edit]
In a broader sense, choirs of instruments can also be described by the abbreviation SATB, often for members of the same family of instruments, such as consorts of recorders,[14] viola da gamba,[15] saxophones[a][16][17] and trombones.[18] The abbreviations are also a common way to describe which "voices" perform in instrumental compositions such as fugues, including Bach's The Art of Fugue and The Musical Offering, written without indication of specific instruments.