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Prelude (music)

January 26, 2023

"Intrada" redirects here. For the record label, see Intrada Records.
"Praeludium" redirects here. For the 1935 ballet, see Praeludium (ballet). For the composition by Graham Waterhouse, see Praeludium (Waterhouse).

A prelude (German: Präludium or Vorspiel; Latin: praeludium; French: prélude; Italian: preludio) is a short piece of music, the form of which may vary from piece to piece.[1][2] While, during the Baroque era, for example, it may have served as an introduction to succeeding movements of a work that were usually longer and more complex, it may also have been a stand-alone piece of work during the Romantic era. It generally features a small number of rhythmic and melodic motifs that recur through the piece. Stylistically, the prelude is improvisatory in nature. The term may also refer to an overture, particularly to those seen in an opera or an oratorio.

History

The first preludes to be notated were organ pieces that were played to introduce church music, the earliest surviving examples being five brief praeambula in the Ileborgh Tablature of 1448.[3] These were closely followed by freely composed preludes in an extemporary style for the lute and other Renaissance string instruments, which were originally used for warming up the fingers and checking the instrument's tuning and sound quality, as in a group of pieces by Joan Ambrosio Dalza published in 1508 under the heading tastar de corde (in Italian, literally, "testing of the strings").[3][4]

Keyboard preludes started appearing in the 17th century in France: unmeasured preludes, in which the duration of each note is left to the performer, were used as introductory movements in harpsichord suites. Louis Couperin (c.1626–1661) was the first composer to embrace the genre, and harpsichord preludes were used until the first half of the 18th century by numerous composers including Jean-Henri d'Anglebert (1629–1691), Élisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre (1665–1729), François Couperin (1668–1733) and Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683–1764), whose very first printed piece (1706) was in this form. The last unmeasured preludes for harpsichord date from the 1720s.

The development of the prelude in 17th century Germany led to a sectional form similar to keyboard toccatas by Johann Jakob Froberger or Girolamo Frescobaldi. Preludes by northern German composers such as Dieterich Buxtehude (c.1637–1707) and Nikolaus Bruhns (c.1665–1697) combined sections of free improvised passages with parts in strict contrapuntal writing (usually brief fugues). Outside Germany, Abraham van den Kerckhoven (c.1618–c.1701), one of the most important Dutch composers of the period, used this model for some of his preludes. Southern and central German composers did not follow the sectional model and their preludes remained improvisational in character with little or no strict counterpoint.

During the second half of the 17th century, German composers started pairing preludes (or sometimes toccatas) with fugues in the same key; Johann Pachelbel (c.1653–1706) was one of the first to do so, although Johann Sebastian Bach's (1685–1750) "prelude and fugue" pieces are much more numerous and well-known today. Bach's organ preludes are quite diverse, drawing on both southern and northern German influences. Most of Bach's preludes were written in the theme and variation form, using the same theme motif with imitation, inversion, modulation, or retrogression of the theme as well as other techniques involved in this baroque form.

Johann Caspar Ferdinand Fischer was one of the first German composers to bring the late 17th-century French style to German harpsichord music, replacing the standard French ouverture with an unmeasured prelude. Fischer's Ariadne musica is a cycle of keyboard music which consists of pairs of preludes and fugues; the preludes are quite varied and do not conform to any particular model. Ariadne musica served as a precursor to Johann Sebastian Bach's The Well-Tempered Clavier, two books of 24 "prelude and fugue" pairs each. Bach's preludes were also varied, some akin to Baroque dances, others being two- and three-part contrapuntal works not unlike his inventions and sinfonias. Bach also composed preludes to introduce each of his English Suites.

The Well-Tempered Clavier influenced many composers in the coming centuries, some of whom wrote preludes in sets of 12 or 24, sometimes with the intention of utilizing all 24 major and minor keys as Bach had done. Frédéric Chopin (1810–1849) wrote a set of 24 preludes, Op. 28, often composed in a simple ternary form, which liberated the prelude from its original introductory purpose and allowed it to serve as an independent concert piece. While other pianist-composers, including Muzio Clementi, Johann Nepomuk Hummel and Ignaz Moscheles, had previously published collections of preludes for the benefit of pianists unskilled at improvisatory preluding, Chopin's set renewed the genre.[5]

Chopin's set served as a model for other collections of 24 or 25 piano preludes in the major and minor keys,[3] including those by Charles-Valentin Alkan (Op. 31 for piano or organ), Ferruccio Busoni (Op. 37, BV 181), César Cui (Op. 64), Stephen Heller (Op. 81), and Alexander Scriabin (Op. 11). Claude Debussy (1862–1918) wrote two books of impressionistic piano preludes which, unusually in this genre, carry descriptive titles.[3] Chopin's conception of the prelude as an unattached character piece expressing a mood rather than a specific musical programme extended into the 20th century with works by composers such as George Antheil, George Gershwin, Alberto Ginastera, Dmitry Kabalevsky, Bohuslav Martinů, Olivier Messiaen, Sergei Rachmaninoff (who also completed an entire set), Giacinto Scelsi and Karol Szymanowski.[3]

Preludes were also incorporated by some 20th-century composers into Baroque-inspired suites: such "attached" preludes include Maurice Ravel's Le tombeau de Couperin (1914/17) and Arnold Schoenberg's Suite for piano, Op. 25 (1921/23), both of which begin with an introductory prelude (Schoenberg's choral introduction to the Genesis Suite is a rare case of an attached prelude written in the 20th century without any neo-baroque intent[3]). As well as a series of unattached piano preludes (Op. 2), Dmitri Shostakovich composed a set of 24 Preludes and Fugues in the tradition of Bach's The Well Tempered Clavier.

Some avant-garde composers have also produced unattached preludes. John Cage's brief Prelude for Meditation is written for prepared piano, while François-Bernard Mâche's Prélude (1959) and Branimir Sakač's Aleatory Prelude (1961) call on electronic resources and aleatoric techniques.[3]

Notable collections of preludes

  • Charles-Valentin Alkan (1813–1888) 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).
  • Lera Auerbach (born 1973) 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).
  • Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) 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 (1770–1827) wrote two preludes, Op. 39, as a teenager; each one cycles through all of the major keys of the piano.
  • Felix Blumenfeld (1863–1931) composed a set of 24 preludes, Op. 17 in 1892, following Chopin's key scheme, as well as a set of four, Op. 12.
  • York Bowen (1884–1961) wrote a set of 24 preludes, his Op. 102, in 1938. It is in all major and minor keys and was published posthumously.
  • Julian Cochran (born 1974) wrote three volumes of preludes, many with an impressionistic character, and increasing in complexity and length through each volume.[6][self-published source]
  • Frédéric Chopin (1810–1849) 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 stand-alone pieces.
  • Claude Debussy (1862–1918) 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.
  • Johann Caspar Ferdinand Fischer (c. 1656 – 1746)'s Ariadne musica (1702), contained 20 preludes and fugues in 19 different keys.
  • Alberto Ginastera (1916–1983) wrote a cycle of 12 American Preludes (Doce Preludios Americanos; 1946).
  • Paul Hindemith (1895–1963) wrote Ludus Tonalis (1940), a prelude, 11 interludes, and a postlude, all separated by 12 fugues.
  • Dmitry Kabalevsky (1904–1987) wrote many preludes for piano, op. 1, op. 5, op. 20, op. 38, op. 61 (1943–1944).
  • Nikolai Kapustin (1937–2020) wrote 24 Preludes in Jazz Style, Op. 53, and later a set of 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 82.
  • Olivier Messiaen (1908–1992)'s set of eight piano preludes (1929) developed from the Impressionism of Debussy's piano music.
  • Casimir Ney (1801–1877) wrote a collection of 24 preludes in all major and minor keys for solo viola from 1849–53.
  • Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887–1959) wrote 5 preludes for guitar (1940), which have become popular repertory pieces. A sixth prelude is lost.
  • Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873–1943) wrote a prelude, Op. 3, No. 2, in 1892 followed by 10 preludes, Op. 23 (1903) and 13 preludes, Op. 32 (1910) for a total of 24 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).
  • Florent Schmitt (1870–1958) wrote two books of preludes, book 1, 3 préludes op. 3 (1890 - 95), book 2,10 Préludes op. 5 (1896).
  • Alexander Scriabin (1872–1915) wrote 24 Preludes, Op. 11 in 1896, and numerous shorter sets of preludes. He followed the same pattern as the Chopin preludes.
  • Dmitri Shostakovich (1906–1975) 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.
  • Matthias Vanden Gheyn (1721–1785) composed 11 preludes, possibly off-the-cuff, for performance on a carillon, a musical instrument of bells. They are festive pieces featuring virtuosic progressions and effects to a propulsive bass rhythm. They are additionally the earliest known compositions specifically for the instrument. Citing his preludes, carillonneurs refer to Vanden Gheyn as "the Bach of the carillon".[7]
A carillonneur plays Prelude No. 9 by Matthias Vanden Gheyn at St. Rumbold's Cathedral in Mechelen, Belgium

See also

References

  1. ^ "preludes". Retrieved 9 April 2018 – via The Free Dictionary.
  2. ^ "Prelude - music". britannica.com. Retrieved 9 April 2018.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Ledbetter, David; Ferguson, Howard. "Prelude". Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. Retrieved 22 January 2014. (subscription required)
  4. ^ Fabris, Dinko. "Tastar de corde". Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. Retrieved 22 January 2014. (subscription required)
  5. ^ Taruskin, Richard (24 June 2009). "The Chopinesque Miniature". The Oxford History of Western Music: Music in the Nineteenth Century. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 333–338. ISBN 978-0-19-979602-1.
  6. ^ Stephen Pleskun (2012). A Chronological History of Australian Composers and Their Compositions - Vol. 3. Xlibris Corporation.[self-published source]
  7. ^ Rombouts, Luc (2014). Singing Bronze: A History of Carillon Music. Translated by Communicationwise. Leuven University Press. pp. 113–115. ISBN 978-90-5867-956-7.

Further reading

  • Howat, Roy. The Art of French Piano Music: Debussy, Ravel, Faure, Chabrier. 2009. Print.
  • A.B. Wenk : Claude Debussy and Twentieth-Century Music (Boston, 1983)

January 26, 2023
prelude, music, intrada, redirects, here, record, label, intrada, records, praeludium, redirects, here, 1935, ballet, praeludium, ballet, composition, graham, waterhouse, praeludium, waterhouse, this, article, needs, additional, citations, verification, please. Intrada redirects here For the record label see Intrada Records Praeludium redirects here For the 1935 ballet see Praeludium ballet For the composition by Graham Waterhouse see Praeludium Waterhouse This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Prelude music news newspapers books scholar JSTOR November 2009 Learn how and when to remove this template message A prelude German Praludium or Vorspiel Latin praeludium French prelude Italian preludio is a short piece of music the form of which may vary from piece to piece 1 2 While during the Baroque era for example it may have served as an introduction to succeeding movements of a work that were usually longer and more complex it may also have been a stand alone piece of work during the Romantic era It generally features a small number of rhythmic and melodic motifs that recur through the piece Stylistically the prelude is improvisatory in nature The term may also refer to an overture particularly to those seen in an opera or an oratorio Contents 1 History 2 Notable collections of preludes 3 See also 4 References 5 Further readingHistory EditThe first preludes to be notated were organ pieces that were played to introduce church music the earliest surviving examples being five brief praeambula in the Ileborgh Tablature of 1448 3 These were closely followed by freely composed preludes in an extemporary style for the lute and other Renaissance string instruments which were originally used for warming up the fingers and checking the instrument s tuning and sound quality as in a group of pieces by Joan Ambrosio Dalza published in 1508 under the heading tastar de corde in Italian literally testing of the strings 3 4 Keyboard preludes started appearing in the 17th century in France unmeasured preludes in which the duration of each note is left to the performer were used as introductory movements in harpsichord suites Louis Couperin c 1626 1661 was the first composer to embrace the genre and harpsichord preludes were used until the first half of the 18th century by numerous composers including Jean Henri d Anglebert 1629 1691 Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre 1665 1729 Francois Couperin 1668 1733 and Jean Philippe Rameau 1683 1764 whose very first printed piece 1706 was in this form The last unmeasured preludes for harpsichord date from the 1720s The development of the prelude in 17th century Germany led to a sectional form similar to keyboard toccatas by Johann Jakob Froberger or Girolamo Frescobaldi Preludes by northern German composers such as Dieterich Buxtehude c 1637 1707 and Nikolaus Bruhns c 1665 1697 combined sections of free improvised passages with parts in strict contrapuntal writing usually brief fugues Outside Germany Abraham van den Kerckhoven c 1618 c 1701 one of the most important Dutch composers of the period used this model for some of his preludes Southern and central German composers did not follow the sectional model and their preludes remained improvisational in character with little or no strict counterpoint During the second half of the 17th century German composers started pairing preludes or sometimes toccatas with fugues in the same key Johann Pachelbel c 1653 1706 was one of the first to do so although Johann Sebastian Bach s 1685 1750 prelude and fugue pieces are much more numerous and well known today Bach s organ preludes are quite diverse drawing on both southern and northern German influences Most of Bach s preludes were written in the theme and variation form using the same theme motif with imitation inversion modulation or retrogression of the theme as well as other techniques involved in this baroque form Johann Caspar Ferdinand Fischer was one of the first German composers to bring the late 17th century French style to German harpsichord music replacing the standard French ouverture with an unmeasured prelude Fischer s Ariadne musica is a cycle of keyboard music which consists of pairs of preludes and fugues the preludes are quite varied and do not conform to any particular model Ariadne musica served as a precursor to Johann Sebastian Bach s The Well Tempered Clavier two books of 24 prelude and fugue pairs each Bach s preludes were also varied some akin to Baroque dances others being two and three part contrapuntal works not unlike his inventions and sinfonias Bach also composed preludes to introduce each of his English Suites The Well Tempered Clavier influenced many composers in the coming centuries some of whom wrote preludes in sets of 12 or 24 sometimes with the intention of utilizing all 24 major and minor keys as Bach had done Frederic Chopin 1810 1849 wrote a set of 24 preludes Op 28 often composed in a simple ternary form which liberated the prelude from its original introductory purpose and allowed it to serve as an independent concert piece While other pianist composers including Muzio Clementi Johann Nepomuk Hummel and Ignaz Moscheles had previously published collections of preludes for the benefit of pianists unskilled at improvisatory preluding Chopin s set renewed the genre 5 Chopin s set served as a model for other collections of 24 or 25 piano preludes in the major and minor keys 3 including those by Charles Valentin Alkan Op 31 for piano or organ Ferruccio Busoni Op 37 BV 181 Cesar Cui Op 64 Stephen Heller Op 81 and Alexander Scriabin Op 11 Claude Debussy 1862 1918 wrote two books of impressionistic piano preludes which unusually in this genre carry descriptive titles 3 Chopin s conception of the prelude as an unattached character piece expressing a mood rather than a specific musical programme extended into the 20th century with works by composers such as George Antheil George Gershwin Alberto Ginastera Dmitry Kabalevsky Bohuslav Martinu Olivier Messiaen Sergei Rachmaninoff who also completed an entire set Giacinto Scelsi and Karol Szymanowski 3 Preludes were also incorporated by some 20th century composers into Baroque inspired suites such attached preludes include Maurice Ravel s Le tombeau de Couperin 1914 17 and Arnold Schoenberg s Suite for piano Op 25 1921 23 both of which begin with an introductory prelude Schoenberg s choral introduction to the Genesis Suite is a rare case of an attached prelude written in the 20th century without any neo baroque intent 3 As well as a series of unattached piano preludes Op 2 Dmitri Shostakovich composed a set of 24 Preludes and Fugues in the tradition of Bach s The Well Tempered Clavier Some avant garde composers have also produced unattached preludes John Cage s brief Prelude for Meditation is written for prepared piano while Francois Bernard Mache s Prelude 1959 and Branimir Sakac s Aleatory Prelude 1961 call on electronic resources and aleatoric techniques 3 Notable collections of preludes EditThis section has multiple issues Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page Learn how and when to remove these template messages This section needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Prelude music news newspapers books scholar JSTOR April 2022 Learn how and when to remove this template message This section contains information of unclear or questionable importance or relevance to the article s subject matter Please help improve this section by clarifying or removing indiscriminate details If importance cannot be established the section is likely to be moved to another article pseudo redirected or removed Find sources Prelude music news newspapers books scholar JSTOR April 2022 Learn how and when to remove this template message Learn how and when to remove this template message Charles Valentin Alkan 1813 1888 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 Cesar 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 Lera Auerbach born 1973 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 Johann Sebastian Bach 1685 1750 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 1770 1827 wrote two preludes Op 39 as a teenager each one cycles through all of the major keys of the piano Felix Blumenfeld 1863 1931 composed a set of 24 preludes Op 17 in 1892 following Chopin s key scheme as well as a set of four Op 12 York Bowen 1884 1961 wrote a set of 24 preludes his Op 102 in 1938 It is in all major and minor keys and was published posthumously Julian Cochran born 1974 wrote three volumes of preludes many with an impressionistic character and increasing in complexity and length through each volume 6 self published source Frederic Chopin 1810 1849 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 stand alone pieces Claude Debussy 1862 1918 wrote two books of 12 Preludes 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 Johann Caspar Ferdinand Fischer c 1656 1746 s Ariadne musica 1702 contained 20 preludes and fugues in 19 different keys Alberto Ginastera 1916 1983 wrote a cycle of 12 American Preludes Doce Preludios Americanos 1946 Paul Hindemith 1895 1963 wrote Ludus Tonalis 1940 a prelude 11 interludes and a postlude all separated by 12 fugues Dmitry Kabalevsky 1904 1987 wrote many preludes for piano op 1 op 5 op 20 op 38 op 61 1943 1944 Nikolai Kapustin 1937 2020 wrote 24 Preludes in Jazz Style Op 53 and later a set of 24 Preludes and Fugues Op 82 Olivier Messiaen 1908 1992 s set of eight piano preludes 1929 developed from the Impressionism of Debussy s piano music Casimir Ney 1801 1877 wrote a collection of 24 preludes in all major and minor keys for solo viola from 1849 53 Heitor Villa Lobos 1887 1959 wrote 5 preludes for guitar 1940 which have become popular repertory pieces A sixth prelude is lost Sergei Rachmaninoff 1873 1943 wrote a prelude Op 3 No 2 in 1892 followed by 10 preludes Op 23 1903 and 13 preludes Op 32 1910 for a total of 24 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 Florent Schmitt 1870 1958 wrote two books of preludes book 1 3 preludes op 3 1890 95 book 2 10 Preludes op 5 1896 Alexander Scriabin 1872 1915 wrote 24 Preludes Op 11 in 1896 and numerous shorter sets of preludes He followed the same pattern as the Chopin preludes Dmitri Shostakovich 1906 1975 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 Matthias Vanden Gheyn 1721 1785 composed 11 preludes possibly off the cuff for performance on a carillon a musical instrument of bells They are festive pieces featuring virtuosic progressions and effects to a propulsive bass rhythm They are additionally the earliest known compositions specifically for the instrument Citing his preludes carillonneurs refer to Vanden Gheyn as the Bach of the carillon 7 source source source source source source source source source source source source A carillonneur plays Prelude No 9 by Matthias Vanden Gheyn at St Rumbold s Cathedral in Mechelen BelgiumSee also EditChorale prelude Overture Music written in all major and or minor keys Prelude and fugue TaqsimReferences Edit preludes Retrieved 9 April 2018 via The Free Dictionary Prelude music britannica com Retrieved 9 April 2018 a b c d e f g Ledbetter David Ferguson Howard Prelude Grove Music Online Oxford Music Online Retrieved 22 January 2014 subscription required Fabris Dinko Tastar de corde Grove Music Online Oxford Music Online Retrieved 22 January 2014 subscription required Taruskin Richard 24 June 2009 The Chopinesque Miniature The Oxford History of Western Music Music in the Nineteenth Century Oxford Oxford University Press pp 333 338 ISBN 978 0 19 979602 1 Stephen Pleskun 2012 A Chronological History of Australian Composers and Their Compositions Vol 3 Xlibris Corporation self published source Rombouts Luc 2014 Singing Bronze A History of Carillon Music Translated by Communicationwise Leuven University Press pp 113 115 ISBN 978 90 5867 956 7 Further reading EditHowat Roy The Art of French Piano Music Debussy Ravel Faure Chabrier 2009 Print A B Wenk Claude Debussy and Twentieth Century Music Boston 1983 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Prelude music amp oldid 1094709558, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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