SATB

Choral music

Four-part harmony using soprano, alto, tenor and bass is a common scoring in classical music, including chorales and most Bach cantatas.

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. "SATB/SATB" is used when a double choir is required, as in Penderecki's Polish Requiem. or SSATB, with divided sopranos, is a typical scoring in English church music. 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.

other parts Other letters of abbreviation, however with less consistency, have been used by publishers, such as "Tr" for treble (boy soprano), "Mz" for mezzo-soprano, "Ba", "Bar" or "Bari" for baritone, "C" for both canto (the highest part) and contralto, and "Ct" for countertenor. "SATB div." indicates that parts are sometimes divided (divisi) during a piece, often sharing the same staff.

Moreover, multiple parts can be assigned; first tenors, second basses, and so on.

Notation

When the soprano and alto are notated in one staff, all stems for the soprano go up, and all for the alto go down. Similarly, when the tenor and bass are notated in one staff, the upper voice is marked by stems up, and both voices are written in bass clef, while the tenor is usually written in treble clef marked an octave down if it has its own staff.

The rules of voice leading apply to SATB notations.

Instrumental music

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, viola da gamba, saxophones and trombones. 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 indicating specific instruments.

Notes

References

References

1. [https://www.musiklexikon.info/musiklexikon/satb SATB] musiklexikon.info
2. [https://www.carus-verlag.com/en/choral-music/choral-collections/choral-collections-choir-satb/ Choral collections – Choir SATB] [[Carus-Verlag]] 2022
3. [https://www.thalia.de/shop/home/artikeldetails/A1046950285 Voces8 SATB / A Cappella Songbook] thalia.de 2022
4. Dai, Jiajie. (12 April 2019). "Modelling Intonation and Interaction in Vocal Ensembles".
5. 978-0-19-532778-6
6. [https://en.schott-music.com/shop/polnisches-requiem-no38258.html Polish Requiem] {{Webarchive. link. (2022-05-11 [[Schott Music]] 2022)
7. [https://www.alfred.com/te-deum-in-d/p/00-K06382/ Te Deum in D / By Henry Purcell] alfred.com
8. Verdi, Giuseppe. (2022). "Requiem : For S Mz T B Soli, SATB Chorus, and Orchestra [Latin]".
9. [https://www.universaledition.com/miserere-fuer-soli-sopran-alt-ct-2-tenor-bass-chor-satb-ensemble-und-orgel-paert-arvo-ue30871 Arvo Pärt: Miserere] Universal Edition 2022
10. [https://music.utk.edu/theorycomp/courses/murphy/documents/PartWritingRules.pdf Dr. Barbara Murphy, University of Tennessee, School of Music]{{Dead link. (July 2025)
11. (4 August 2021). "Voice Leading".
12. "LilyPond Learning Manual: A.1.1 SATB template".
13. "LilyPond Learning Manual: 3.4.2 Four-part SATB vocal score".
14. [https://en.schott-music.com/shop/the-schott-recorder-consort-anthology-no42204.html The Schott Recorder Consort Anthology] [[Schott Music]] 2022
15. [https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/ensembles/viola-da-gamba/satb/500040+900097?se=2828 Viola da Gamba SATB] sheetmusicplus.com 2022
16. [https://saxpress.com/product-category/sax-quartet/ Saxophone Quartet] {{Webarchive. link. (2022-05-07 saxpress.com 2022)
17. "Lyric-form archetype and the early works for saxophone quartet, 1844—1928: An analytical and historical context for saxophone quartet performance.".
18. [https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/ensembles/trombone-solo/satb/500040+900177?ge=7 Trombone Solo SATB Music] sheetmusicplus.com 2022