Short score
A composer's sketch of a work on a few staves.
What it means
A short score (German Particell, from Italian particella, "little part") is a composer's sketch of a work on a few staves, usually two to four. In it the composer notes the most important parts, the bass and the harmonic plan and gives hints for the orchestration. It is a preliminary stage of the full score, which shows every instrument line by line.
Musical use
Many composers of the 19th and 20th centuries worked first in short score and orchestrated only afterwards. For unfinished works the short score is sometimes the only surviving version. Gustav Mahler's Tenth Symphony, for instance, survives in short score, so that later editors completed it. The term also stands for the condensed version from which a piano reduction is later made.
The short score should be distinguished from the full score, which shows all parts separately, and from the piano reduction, which arranges a work for piano for practice and is usually prepared by another person.
Performance practice
When you read a short score, pay attention to the orchestration hints, which are often in the margin. It shows you the compositional core: melody, bass and harmony. At the piano you can make it audible.