The question of 'version' and work is a distinction that illuminates some aspect of music from a given music making community and should not be thought of as a line to be drawn once and for all (not saying that is what you are aiming at :) ) ... Beethoven Op 2 No 1 is clearly a 'work,' yet I can easily imagine 'versions' (at least of the 1st mvt) as it sounds as though he decided to write down some improvisations that he had been in the habit of performing (I have no idea whether that is historically accurate or not...makes no difference to the argument). On the other hand, the opening of Op 53 ...while it may well have resulted from some improvisatory sessions does not lend itself to similar imaginings. SImilarly, lots of Machaut seems like it might be 'versioned' while that is much less easy to imagine with Dufay. No judgements of value or quality implied. This is just one 'axis' or 'dimension' (using pairs of terms, distinctions, or topoi) through which the notion of a 'work' can be interrogated.
The question of 'version' and work is a distinction that illuminates some aspect of music from a given music making community and should not be thought of as a line to be drawn once and for all (not saying that is what you are aiming at :) ) ... Beethoven Op 2 No 1 is clearly a 'work,' yet I can easily imagine 'versions' (at least of the 1st mvt) as it sounds as though he decided to write down some improvisations that he had been in the habit of performing (I have no idea whether that is historically accurate or not...makes no difference to the argument). On the other hand, the opening of Op 53 ...while it may well have resulted from some improvisatory sessions does not lend itself to similar imaginings. SImilarly, lots of Machaut seems like it might be 'versioned' while that is much less easy to imagine with Dufay. No judgements of value or quality implied. This is just one 'axis' or 'dimension' (using pairs of terms, distinctions, or topoi) through which the notion of a 'work' can be interrogated.