Frédéric Chopin's 24 Preludes were published in
mid-1839, immediately after the composer's wintertime
stay (with writer George Sand) on the island of
Majorca, having been paid 2000 francs for the copyright
by Parisian publisher Camille Pleyel (son of the more
famous Ignaz Pleyel). While evidence, particularly the
composer's own correspondence, seems to indicate that
the majority of these works were composed between 1837
and 1838, it is possible that a handful of them might
have been produced d...(+)
Frédéric Chopin's 24 Preludes were published in
mid-1839, immediately after the composer's wintertime
stay (with writer George Sand) on the island of
Majorca, having been paid 2000 francs for the copyright
by Parisian publisher Camille Pleyel (son of the more
famous Ignaz Pleyel). While evidence, particularly the
composer's own correspondence, seems to indicate that
the majority of these works were composed between 1837
and 1838, it is possible that a handful of them might
have been produced during the years immediately
preceding and following that period. For many of these
pieces the title Prelude can be a misleading one, for,
while the practice of "preluding" (during a live
performance, preparing the atmosphere of the next major
work by means of a brief, usually improvised,
introductory piece, possibly making a modulation from
the key of the preceding work to the key of the next)
was very much alive during the 1830s--and while it is
on record that Chopin did in fact employ some of the
Preludes in this way, it seems indisputable that the
real intent was for the Preludes to stand on their own,
preferably in a complete performance. The selection of
title may be as much a nod in the direction of J.S.
Bach, whose own Preludes and Fugues in all the major
and minor keys (the two books of the Well-Tempered
Clavier) exerted a heavy influence on Chopin. The gamut
of emotions contained within the collection is
impressive. None of the Preludes is particularly long,
and some of them, like the very first, are of almost
disconcerting brevity. The truncated formal structures
and abbreviated phrase patterns that result from this
general miniaturization--far from diminishing the
works' expressive power--actually serve to focus each
of the pieces in an extraordinarily effective way. On a
large scale, the 24 Preludes are organized by key
group: C major, its relative minor A minor, G major,
its relative minor E major, and so on, moving up the
circle of fifths until the final Prelude in D
minor.
Chopin reduces mazurka form to a bare minimum in the
seventh Prelude (A major, Andantino). Although brief,
the listener is provided with as much of that peculiar,
refined passion as one finds in the composer's
full-blown mazurkas.
This prelude No.7 in A major is probably one of the
shortest pieces in the set, and it feels like a playful
dance tune. It is not surprising therefore that it is
one of several piano pieces by Chopin which were
adapted and orchestrated by Alexander Glazunov to
create the ballet "Les Sylphides".
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