In classical music, the combination of prelude and fugue is one with a long history. Many composers have written one or, usually, multiple such works. The use of this format is generally inspired by Johann Sebastian Bach's two books of preludes and fugues — The Well-Tempered Clavier — completed in 1722 and 1742 respectively. Bach, however, was not the first to compose such a set: Johann Caspar Ferdinand Fischer wrote a 20-key cycle in his 1702 work Ariadne musica.
A number of composers wrote sets of pieces covering all 24 major and minor keys. Many of these have been sets of 24 preludes and fugues, or 24 preludes.
Read more about Prelude And Fugue: Works, Composers Of
Famous quotes containing the words prelude and/or fugue:
“The less sophisticated of my forbears avoided foreigners at all costs, for the very good reason that, in their circles, speaking in tongues was commonly a prelude to snake handling. The more tolerant among us regarded foreign languages as a kind of speech impediment that could be overcome by willpower.”
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