The Abbreviation Thread

[Maciek]

I'm sure I'm not the only one who doesn't always know all of the orchestra acronyms that appear on GMG. Also, there's a problem with orchestras from exotic countries like Poland, where the acronym that is the standard in a given country doesn't make much sense in the English-speaking world (examples will follow). So I'm starting a thread where you can post acronyms of the popular orchestras near you or simply your favorite orchestras. Also, we can ask each other here about the meaning of the musical acronyms we don't understand. Later on, when someone doesn't know what an acronym means, he or she can always do a search limited to this thread (in order to do that you simply have to enter this thread - and you've already done that, if you're reading this - and use the search parser at the top of the page; it will only return results from this thread).

So here's an example of a Polish orchestra with a complicated acronym status:

The Polish Radio National Symphony Orchestra = that would be PRNSO. ALSO KNOWN AS the National Symphony Orchestra of the Polish Radio = NSOPR. Which was formerly known as the Great Symphony Orchestra of the Polish Radio = GSOPR. Sometimes "and Television" is added at the end (which would give NSOPRT or NSOPRTV, GSOPRT or GSOPRTV).

However, the Polish acronyms are quite standardized. WOSPR is for the old name (Wielka Orkiestra Symfoniczna Polskiego Radia [i Telewizji]). NOSPR for the new one (Narodowa Orkiestra Symfoniczna Polskiego Radia [i Telewizji]). The orchestra is seated in Katowice.

This orchestra is NOT TO BE CONFUSED with the Polish Radio Orchestra (PRO). Here the Polish acronym is POR (Polska Orkiestra Radiowa). This one is from Warsaw. I'm not sure if it even still exists - they were going to dissolve it a couple of months ago because of financial difficulties.

Maciek

[CK]

Well since I think I'm the only one living in Hong Kong I will do the acronyms for the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra.  It's simply HKPO. 

Btw it actually improved quite a lot under the lead of de Waart.

[uffeviking]

Interesting new thread should clarify a lot of questions - except the rare cases where two, or more, institutions have the same acronym. 

BPO - could be the Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra, or the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra! Maybe in such a case, listing the name of the city would be helpful. 

[karlhenning]

Interesting new thread should clarify a lot of questions - except the rare cases where two, or more, institutions have the same acronym. 

BSO, which can mean either Boston or Baltimore . . . .

[Joe Barron]

Interesting new thread should clarify a lot of questions - except the rare cases where two, or more, institutions have the same acronym. 

BPO - could be the Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra, or the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra! Maybe in such a case, listing the name of the city would be helpful. 

Is there such a thing as the Boston Philharmonic? In these pages, I refer to the Boston Symphony Orhcestra as the BSO.

I usually identify the Chicago Symphony Orchestra as the CSO, and the New York Philharmonic is the NYPO. The San Francisco Symphony may be the SFS sometimes, but everything else I identify by name.

The Philadelphia Orchestra occasionally refers to itself as the POA, for Philadelphia Orchestra Association, but that's generally just an in-house designation. In the real world, it's just the Philadelphia Orchrestra, or the Philadelphia, or, on a whim, The Philly Orch.

By the way, just to be clear: none of these are acronyms, Mr Osa. They are abbrevations. Technically, an acronym is an abbreviation that actually spells a word, such as Students Together Opposing Prejudice, whose acronym is STOP, or Mothers Against Drunk Driving, which whose acronym is MADD.   

[karlhenning]

Is there such a thing as the Boston Philharmonic?

There is, though I do not much see it abbreviated to BPO.

[Cato]

And some orchestras just use the name of the city, e.g. "Ormandy and (the) Philadelphia's recording of..."  or "have you heard Cleveland and von Dohnanyi in the latest work by..."  "Chicago and Fritz Reiner's recording of..."

I have also seen in print things like "Abbado and the Berliners" which could be a funky 80's soft-punk band, if you didn't know any better!

[Maciek]

By the way, just to be clear: none of these are acronyms, Mr Osa. They are abbrevations. Technically, an acronym is an abbreviation that actually spells a word, such as Students Together Opposing Prejudice, whose acronym is STOP, or Mothers Against Drunk Driving, which whose acronym is MADD.   

Thanks. I just changed the thread title.

[Holden]

Here are all the Australian ones - based on the names or the capital cities of the states.

QSO, SSO, TSO, WASO, MSO

[Brian]

The Polish Radio National Symphony Orchestra = that would be PRNSO. ALSO KNOWN AS the National Symphony Orchestra of the Polish Radio = NSOPR. Which was formerly known as the Great Symphony Orchestra of the Polish Radio = GSOPR. Sometimes "and Television" is added at the end (which would give NSOPRT or NSOPRTV, GSOPRT or GSOPRTV).

To make things more confusing, they record for Naxos under the name Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, or PNRSO.

[Maciek]

Well, now you can see even more plainly which orchestra (and how) inspired me to start this thread.

[karlhenning]

. . . or PNRSO.

An abbreviation?

In Czech, that's a name 

[Maciek]

Actually, there's no problem with saying WOSPR or NOSPR in Polish!

But I'm not about to say that that was the reason I initially called this the "acronym" thread...

[BachQ]

My favorite abbreviation: NIIOMTPLABOPARMBETZHELBETRABSBOMONIMONKONOTDTEKHSTROMONT

[Joe Barron]

My favorite abbreviation: NIIOMTPLABOPARMBETZHELBETRABSBOMONIMONKONOTDTEKHSTROMONT

Which stands for ...?

[Bogey]

My favorite abbreviation: NIIOMTPLABOPARMBETZHELBETRABSBOMONIMONKONOTDTEKHSTROMONT

Which stands for ...?

Wow....just Googled and it actually came up.  Shame on me for doubting your integrity for even a moment D.

[Maciek]

 

I thought it was a joke too.

BTW, that can't possibly be "the world's longest acronym"!...?

[karlhenning]

Wow....just Googled and it actually came up.  Shame on me for doubting your integrity for even a moment D.

Hmm, and on at least two sites it says:

Meaning: Laboratory for Shuttering, Reinforcement, Concrete and Ferroconcrete Operations for Composite-monolithic and Monolithic Constructions of the Department of Technology of Building Assembly Operations of the Scientific Research Institute of the Organization for Building Mechanization and Technical Aid of the Academy of Building and Architecture of the USSR.

It is an acronym not of the USA sort, but of the Sunoco (= Sun Oil Company) sort.

And the information is not quite right, since there is no "USSR" element in there (which would either be the four letters CCCP in Cyrillic, or some reduction of, e.g., Sovyetsky Soyuz).

[Bogey]

Hmm, and on at least two sites it says:

It is an acronym not of the USA sort, but of the Sunoco (= Sun Oil Company) sort.

And the information is not quite right, since there is no "USSR" element in there (which would either be the four letters CCCP in Cyrillic, or some reduction of, e.g., Sovyetsky Soyuz).

I wish I could thank you for the clarification of this Karl, but I just quite can't do that. 

[Sergeant Rock]

I wish there were an abbreviation for my local band, the Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz. It's a pain in the butt typing that out.

Sarge