24 Preludes, Op. 28 (1835 - 1839)
Chopin's 24 Preludes, Op. 28 is one of his most respected and popular works.
No. 4 on TalkClassical.com's Poll of 200 Best Solo Keyboard Compositions
Before Chopin, preludes were short pieces that preceded another piece of
music. A famous example of this is J.S. Bach's The Well Tempered Clavier
from 1722 and 1744 that were a series of preludes and fugues in all 24 major
and minor keys.
Johann Hummel (1778 - 1837) was the first composer to write stand-
alone preludes in 1815. Hummel was also an influence on Chopin's piano
style.
Chopin took Bach's work with him to Valldemossa, Mallorca where he,
George Sand and her two children spent the winter of 1837-1838. Chopin
wrote most of the preludes there. Like Bach's work, Chopin's series consists
of a prelude for each of the 24 keys, although he ordered them
differently than Bach's.
3 more Chopin preludes:
Prelude No. 25, Op. 45 (1841)
Prelude No. 26 (1834, pub. 1918)
Prelude No. 27 "Devil's Trill" (unfinished)
A few of the later composers who wrote Chopin-inspired sets of preludes
Chopin took Bach's work with him to Valldemossa, Mallorca where he,
George Sand and her two children spent the winter of 1837-1838. Chopin
wrote most of the preludes there. Like Bach's work, Chopin's series consists
of a prelude for each of the 24 keys, although he ordered them
differently than Bach's.
Chopin's 24 Preludes, Op. 28 are a series of short piano pieces designed
to evoke a wide variety of emotions. Like the impromptu, they give the
impression of being improvised. Only four of the preludes are 3 minutes or
or longer. The great majority of them run between 30 seconds to two minutes.
It takes about 40 minutes to play the whole set.
Chopin's Preludes challenged contemporary standards about the worth of
very short pieces.
3 more Chopin preludes:
Prelude No. 25, Op. 45 (1841)
Prelude No. 26 (1834, pub. 1918)
Prelude No. 27 "Devil's Trill" (unfinished)
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
A few of the later composers who wrote Chopin-inspired sets of preludes
Sergei Rachmaninoff (2 sets).
Johann Sebastian Bach - The Well-Tempered Clavier, BWV 846–893 (1722)
No. 2: Prelude and Fugue in C minor, BWV 847'
András Schiff, piano (3:20)
Chopin's 24 Preludes:
The Circle of Fifths - All 12 Keys
C - G - D - A - E - B - F#/Gb - C#/Db - G#/Ab - D#/Eb - A#/Bb - F - C
Relative Major and Minor Scales - All 12 Keys
Yuja Wang, piano - Opus 28 Preludes Nos. 4 - 12 (10:30)
The nicknames for each of the preludes were coined by the 19th century
composer and conductor Hans von Bülow.
No. 18 in F minor "Suicide"
No. 19 in E-flat major "Heartfelt happiness"
No. 20 in C minor "Funeral March"
No. 21 in B-flat major "Sunday"
No. 22 in G minor "Impatience"
No. 23 in F major "A Pleasure Boat"
No. 24 in D minor "The storm"
No. 1 in C major "Reunion"
No. 2 in A minor "Presentiment of death"
No. 3 in G major "Thou art so like a flower"
_________________________________________________________________________________
No. 4 in E minor "Suffocation"
No. 5 in D major "Uncertainty"
No. 6 in B minor "Tolling bells"
No. 7 in A major "The Polish dancer"
No. 8 in F-sharp minor "Desperation"
No. 9 in E major "Vision"
No. 10 in C-sharp minor "The night moth"
No. 11 in B major "The dragonfly"
No. 12 in G-sharp minor "The duel"
_________________________________________________________________________________
No. 13 in F-sharp major "Loss"
No. 14 in E-flat minor "Stormy sea"
No. 15 in D-flat major "Raindrop"
No. 16 in B-flat minor "Hades"
No. 17 in A-flat major "Scene on the Place de Notre-Dame de Paris"
No. 19 in E-flat major "Heartfelt happiness"
No. 20 in C minor "Funeral March"
No. 21 in B-flat major "Sunday"
No. 22 in G minor "Impatience"
No. 23 in F major "A Pleasure Boat"
No. 24 in D minor "The storm"
No comments:
Post a Comment