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       “A Prelude by Bach“ (1868)              

              Simeon Solomon

                     __________

what’s a prelude 

as the word suggests – pre, from the

Latin, means before, lūdus, again 

from the Latin, means game, play, 

spectacle – it is a piece of music that 

precedes another more elaborate 

segment in a compositional whole

 

a prelude is therefore likely to be short,

otherwise completely improvisatory,

no technical demands, just something 

that comes from the heart

 

there probably existed preludes before 

Bach, but he’s the one who put them 

on the map, with, specifically, his 

monumental Preludes and Fugues,

though that’s another story, more 

about which later, but he did write 

some stand-alone preludes, for 

instance his Six Little Preludes,  

BWV 933-938, from around 1717

to 1720, see above

 

a little over a hundred years later,

in 1834, Chopin picked up the 

mantle and wrote his own iconic

Opus 28, 24 stand-alone preludes,

one for every major and minor key, 

and established thereby the prelude 

as a viable musical form

 

nearly a hundred years later still, 

Debussy set up his own homage 

to Chopin, in two bursts of inspired 

composition, the twelve preludes of 

his Book 1 in 1909 to 1910, followed 

by his Book 2, again of twelve preludes, 

written in 1912 to 1913

 

these works are now generally played 

in complete sets, though they often 

pop up individually as short and sweet  

encores here and there at the end of 

successful recitals

 

enjoy

 

 

R ! chard