Prelude (music) - Notable Collections of Preludes

Notable Collections of Preludes

• Marcel Dupré is especially famous for his 3 Préludes and Fugues, in B Major, F Minor and G Minor, Op.7.
• J.C.F. Fischer's Ariadne musica (1702), contained 20 preludes and fugues in 19 different keys.
• Johann Sebastian Bach wrote the two volumes of The Well-Tempered Clavier (1722, 1744). Both volumes contain 24 preludes (and associated fugues) proceeding up the chromatic scale with alternating parallel major and minor keys (C major and C minor; C♯ major and C♯ minor; D major and D minor; etc.).
• Ludwig van Beethoven wrote two sets of preludes, Op. 39, as a teenager; each one cycles through all of the major keys of the piano.
• Frédéric Chopin wrote 24 Preludes, Op. 28, which cycle through all of the major and minor keys. The odd numbered preludes are in major keys, starting with C major, and each is followed by a prelude in the relative minor key. The paired preludes proceed through the circle of fifths (C major and A minor; G major and E minor; D major and B minor; etc.). Most can be played as a stand alone piece.
• Charles-Valentin Alkan wrote a set of 25 Preludes, Op. 31, published in 1847. His key scheme differs from Chopin's in that the major keys ascend chromatically and are followed by their respective minor subdominants, though Alkan also starts on C major. The last piece returns to C major, hence the additional prelude (a device Alkan repeated in the Esquisses, Op. 63, and that César Cui employed in his own 25 Preludes, Op. 64). As a further distinction between his and Chopin's sets, Alkan provides programmatic titles for several of his preludes, including the most famous of the set, La chanson de la folle au bord de la mer (The Song of the Madwoman by the Seashore).
• Felix Blumenfeld composed a set of 24 Preludes, Op. 17 in 1892, following Chopin's key scheme, as well as a set of four, Op. 12.
• Alexander Scriabin wrote 24 Preludes, Op. 11 in 1896, and numerous shorter sets of preludes. He followed the same pattern as the Chopin preludes.
• Sergei Rachmaninoff, wrote a prelude, Op. 3, No. 2, in 1892 followed by Ten Preludes, Op. 23 (1903) and Thirteen Preludes, Op. 32 (1910) for a total of twenty-four preludes in all the major and minor keys; he also composed a Prelude in D minor, without opus number, in 1917 (there is yet another among his early unpublished works). The two most famous of these are the Prelude in C♯ minor and the Prelude in G minor.
• Claude Debussy wrote two books of 12 Préludes, Book 1 (1910) and Book 2 (1913), for a total of 24 preludes. The title of the prelude is given at the end of the piece, while a Roman numeral serves as the heading.
• Olivier Messiaen's set of eight piano preludes (1929) developed from the Impressionism of Debussy's piano music.
• Paul Hindemith wrote Ludus Tonalis (1940), a prelude, 11 interludes, and a postlude, all separated by 12 fugues.
• Alberto Ginastera wrote a cycle of 12 American Preludes (Doce Preludios Americanos) (1946).
• Dmitri Shostakovich wrote a cycle of 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87 in 1951, as well as an earlier set of 24 Preludes, Op. 34 (1933), for piano.
• Lera Auerbach wrote three full sets of 24 Preludes, which cycle through all of the major and minor keys, for piano solo, violin and piano, and cello and piano respectively (2003).
• Nikolai Kapustin has written 24 Preludes in Jazz Style, Op. 53, and later a set of 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 82.
• Heitor Villa-Lobos wrote his 5 Preludes in 1940, which has become a highly popular inclusion in classical guitar repertoire. A sixth prelude is lost.
• David Garrett wrote his Rock Prelude.