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A prelude is a short piece of music, the form of which may vary from piece to piece. The prelude may be thought of as a preface. 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 prelude also may refer to an overture, particularly to those seen in an opera or an oratorio.
John Nicholson Ireland was an English composer and teacher of music. The majority of his output consists of piano miniatures and of songs with piano. His best-known works include the short instrumental or orchestral work "The Holy Boy", a setting of the poem "Sea-Fever" by John Masefield, a formerly much-played Piano Concerto, the hymn tune Love Unknown and the choral motet "Greater Love Hath No Man".
24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87 by Dmitri Shostakovich is a set of 24 preludes and fugues for solo piano, one in each of the major and minor keys of the chromatic scale. The cycle was composed in 1950 and 1951 while Shostakovich was in Moscow and premiered by pianist Tatiana Nikolayeva in Leningrad in December 1952; it was published the same year. The complete work takes about two and a half hours to play. It is one of several examples of music written in all major and/or minor keys.
E-flat major is a major scale based on E♭, with the pitches E♭, F, G, A♭, B♭, C, and D. Its key signature has three flats: B, E, and A. Its relative minor is C minor, while its parallel minor is E♭ minor.
D-flat major is a major scale based on D♭, consisting of the pitches D♭, E♭, F, G♭, A♭, B♭ and C. It is enharmonically equivalent to C-sharp major. Its key signature has five flats.
B-flat minor is a minor scale based on B♭, consisting of the pitches B♭, C, D♭, E♭, F, G♭, and A♭. Its key signature has five flats. Its relative major is D-flat major and its parallel major is B-flat major. Its enharmonic equivalent, A-sharp minor, which would contain seven sharps, is not normally used.
E-flat minor is a minor scale based on E♭, consisting of the pitches E♭, F, G♭, A♭, B♭, C♭, and D♭. Its key signature consists of six flats. Its relative key is G-flat major and its parallel key is E-flat major. The direct enharmonic equivalent of E-flat minor is D-sharp minor, a key signature of six sharps.
Three Preludes are short piano pieces by George Gershwin, which were first performed by the composer at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City in 1926. Each prelude is a well-known example of early-20th-century American classical music, as influenced by jazz.
Frédéric Chopin wrote a number of preludes for piano solo. His cycle of 24 Preludes, Op. 28, covers all major and minor keys. In addition, Chopin wrote three other preludes: a prelude in C♯ minor, Op. 45; a piece in A♭ major from 1834; and an unfinished piece in E♭ minor. These are sometimes referred to as Nos. 25, 26, and 27, respectively.
Green Ways is a set of three short atmospheric piano works composed by John Ireland in 1937; the individual titles are The Cherry Tree, Cypress and The Palm and May. They were written when the composer was 57, and are among the last pieces he wrote for piano.
The composer Sergei Rachmaninoff produced a number of solo piano pieces that were either lost, unpublished, or not assigned an opus number. While often disregarded in the concert repertoire, they are nevertheless part of his oeuvre. Sixteen of these pieces are extant; all others are lost. Ten of these pieces were composed before he completed his Piano Concerto No. 1, his first opus, and the rest interspersed throughout his later life. In these casual works, he draws upon the influence of other composers, including Frédéric Chopin and Pyotr Tchaikovsky. The more substantial works, the Three Nocturnes and Four Pieces, are sets of well-thought out pieces that are his first attempts at cohesive structure among multiple pieces. Oriental Sketch and Prelude in D minor, two pieces he composed very late in his life, are short works that exemplify his style as a mature composer. Whether completed as a child or adult, these pieces cover a wide spectrum of forms while maintaining his characteristic Russian style.
La Cathédrale engloutie is a prelude written by the French composer Claude Debussy for solo piano. It was published in 1910 as the tenth prelude in Debussy's first of two volumes of twelve piano preludes each. It is characteristic of Debussy in its form, harmony, and content.
The Well-Tempered Clavier, BWV 846–893, is a collection of two sets of preludes and fugues in all 24 major and minor keys, composed for solo keyboard by Johann Sebastian Bach. In Bach's time Clavier (keyboard) was a generic name indicating a variety of keyboard instruments, most typically a harpsichord or clavichord – but not excluding an organ.
Anyone for Mozart, Bach, Handel, Vivaldi? is a CD compilation re-issue of music by the Swingle Singers. It combines tracks from two previous LP releases, Going Baroque and Swinging Mozart.
The Prelude Op. 28, No. 20, in C minor by Frédéric Chopin has been dubbed the "Funeral March" by Hans von Bülow but is commonly known as the "Chord Prelude" due to its slow progression of quarter note chords.
There is a long tradition in classical music of writing music in sets of pieces that cover all the major and minor keys of the chromatic scale. These sets typically consist of 24 pieces, one for each of the major and minor keys.
Fantasy-Sonata is a piece in E-flat major for clarinet and piano composed by John Ireland in 1943. The work is Ireland's only extant piece for solo clarinet and one of his last major compositions before his retirement. It is dedicated to Frederick Thurston and was premiered by Thurston and Ireland in January 1944. The two also broadcast the piece live on the BBC in 1948. The piece is about 15 minutes long.
Preludes for Piano is a set of four short pieces for piano solo composed by John Ireland between 1913 and 1915. They were published in the latter year.
The Prelude in A-flat major, B. 86 was composed by Frédéric Chopin as a gift to a friend, Pierre Wolff, professor of piano at the Geneva Conservatory. The composition, which predates the first of the Preludes, Op. 28, ended up in the possession of the family of one of Wolff's students and was not publicly performed until 1919, following the compositions first publication, in a Swiss arts magazine in 1918.
References
- ↑ "List of works – N to P". The John Ireland Trust. Retrieved 1 May 2015.
- ↑ John Ireland: Prelude, for piano in E flat major at AllMusic . Retrieved 1 May 2015.
- ↑ John Ireland / Eric Parkin: Prelude for Piano in Eb at AllMusic . Retrieved 2 May 2015.
- ↑ "Ireland: Prelude in E flat major" . Retrieved 1 May 2015.
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