The Prelude op 20 no 15, one of Chopin’s 24 Preludes in every major and minor key, is a miraculous example of Chopin’s amazing virtuosity in translating human emotions to piano music. It is better known as the Raindrop Prelude, due to the repeating A-flat that appears throughout the piece and sounds like raindrops to many listeners.
Within this rather short piece - even if it is one of the longest of the preludes - Chopin manages to build up two entirely different atmospheres, using the same obsessively repeated note. The C-sharp minor section begins rather suddenly in measure 28, and with it the piece changes from something peaceful and serene into something much darker. Listeners and music historians have likened it to a beautiful dream that turns into an oppressive nightmare, which is a very appropriate description for this work. The feeling of uneasiness present in the middle part is made even stronger by the serene calm and beauty of the first 27 measures. The first theme is reintroduced towards the end of the prelude, giving it a peaceful ending. The repeating A-flat (written as G-sharp in the middle, ominous section) never stops throughout the piece.
This is my first audition room posting, so please be gentle! Although I used to love performing in any capacity, it turns out that even recording myself on my iPad makes me nervous these days. I have no opportunities to perform, so recording and posting is my only chance to start getting over this unfamiliar anxiety.
Apologies for the poor recording quality and the couple of wrong notes. Otherwise, enjoy! Helpful comments much appreciated
I'm learning Chopin's Raindrop Prelude and am trying to learn some theory at the same time. I have three questions so far about it, if someone could help that would be great. In measures 9-10 is he modulating from Db Major to Gb Major? That is what it looks like to me. I'm writing down the roman numerals for the chords, should I make the Gb the new I chord because of the modulation or should I continue writing the chords as if it didn't modulate (making Gb a IV chord)? I can't figure out the chords on beats 3&4 of measure 12, I'm not sure if they are considered chords or something else as I'm new to this theory stuff, any idea? Same thing in measure 16.
In Chopin prelude op.28 no 15 (Raindrop), sheet music from pianostreet puts 1 - 2 over the A at the first bar and, at the second bar 5 - 3 over the C. Also, at 3ş bar, 5 -4 over F and G. It seems it is intended to play the chords (EGC - DFE - CGE, etc, with the right hand. However, there`s a musical phrase made by the upper notes and the inferior notes of these chords are "linked" to the notes played by the left hand. I saw Valentina Igoshima playing this prelude and it seems to me that she plays the melody with RH and all the other notes with LH. And tjis seems to me more logical. So, I`m confused and ask for your help. How to play correctly these bars? Thanks. Rui
I have a short question about de playing of this piece. (or accually about the playing of chopins music at all) Can the Sostenuto pedal be of good use in certain passages of chopin?
This question came to me when I suddenly just did it when playing the Sotto Voce part of this prelude and I never really thought of it.. (im using it on the left hand) I know chopin himself never heard of the Sostenuto Pedal but on the other hand the sound of piano's itself chanced aswell.
So I'm playing a couple of technically "less challenging" works to work on interpretation. I have to say this is one of the more difficult pieces I have played!
I'd like some feedback what you think of my playing
Ok, I know, real pianos are prefered, so I will probly upload this song again from my old Blasius. After listening to this again, I think I played it way to fast and with little expression, so its not the way I play it when its not being recorded. I guess I was nervous. :/
I just started learning Prelude 15 last night and there's a chord in the 9th measure that is not meant for hands my size.
D flat - C - F. Is it acceptable to play the F with my right thumb while I play the F with my right hand? My version has it as a rolled chord, but still, that's a stretch for me. I don't want to spend the week practicing it that way and have my teacher say "nope".
This is my first post here, would appreciate your opinion...
Recorded yesterday and it's not perfect, the bit where the ff left hand chord drowns out the raindrop note during in the middle section is not ideal, and there are one or two tiny flubs. Comments and suggestions would be hugely appreciated since I've not really had anyone with a discerning ear ever listen to my playing. Don't worry about being overly critical, I want to get this nailed down before I move polish something else.
I have made a recording of the Chopin "Raindrop", and I'd really appreciate your input.
I recorded it on my digital Yamaha, I think its a fine instrument. Im well aware that you frown upon digital instruments but for me its pretty much the only way to go, I live in an apartment. A cheap A/D (behringer) converter and audacity on my laptop.
I'm preparing an essay that compares several different performances of this piece (The Raindrop Prelude).
One aspect that I wish to look at is how various editions have affected performance practises. There are a few issues in particular:
Having listened to a performance by Alfred Cortot, where, in th final page, before the return to D flat, he sounds as though he plays large broken chords in the left hand before playing the actual scored notes.
Valentina Igoshina adds in a passing note in bar 16, between the F and E flat in the right hand on beats 2 and 3. Also, when playing the grace notes in the middle section at bars 39 and 55, she plays the note in a higher octave, before diving to the lower octave. This performance can be found here (if you have the patience to sit through it, she plays at a VERY slow, self indulgent tempo): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gV9gUeFHIw
I have chosen to compare these two performances because, whilst I am not fond of either, they both display very different approaches, and both are products of their respective times.
It is very possible that these examples are just individual performers trying to make a piece their own, but I was wondering if anybody knew of any scores that might allude to such practises as these. Unfortunately, the trend for Urtext scores means that I can only find scores that stick very faithfully to the originals. The oldest I've found is the one at www.sheetmusicarchive.net which I'm assuming is over 75 years old, therefore preceding the trend for Urtext scores. Unfortunately, it is fairly faithful to the original, so is not particularly useful for my purposes.
Any thanks in this matter would be hugely appreciated.
PS: Does anyone else think it's crazy that our trend towards authenticity is proving ruinous to my attempts to study authentic fallacies of the early part of the last century?
Recorded this last week. With the exception of a couple of mistakes and some slight hesitation towards the end, I was pretty happy with this performance.
This recording was made in November, my exam was in March- so as you can imagine it's early stages, but it's all I have online atm. If you excuse the stilted introduction, your comments are appreciated
(Depressingly, I've lost that ring and that bracelet now )
Hi, this is me playing Chopin Prelude No. 15 at my house. I started playing about one year ago. The playing isn't perfect, it has mistakes on 00:44, 3:27 and in 4:04 I played the notes too forte instead of piano and crescendo (though I still do the crescendo). Besides those mistakes, this is pretty much how I interpretate it. I don't know, I guess I get nervous about the camera. Please comment what do you think of it. Greetings
I recorded this yesterday. It is still not perfect, but I never could play this without any slip, I guess. Still, it ended up quite near my idea for this piece. I've began paying much more attention to tempo in these last times, after some opinions I received here and before posting here, so it is still a bit unsteady, but I think better anyway than what I used to do. Please, tell me everything you can think of to help me improve.
From my limited knowledge, to me it is a sad Chopin, sad that his wife and her child have gone for a walk and he misses them, and the raindrops are aggravating him as he composes. As he takes more notice of the raindrops, thunder starts to roll in the distance and it eventually overwhelmes the sound of the rain. Suddenly paranoia hits him: it's been a long time since his spouse and her child left for their walk and they haven't returned, and the storm outside ignites thoughts in his head that they might be in danger. Just as he realises he is deluding himself, they return, and now the rain means nothing to him: he takes no notice of it anymore. He finishes his composition happy that he can be with them again.
That is the story I envisage when I play this piece. I remember reading that he composed this piece when he was on the island (malaga maybe?) that he was sent to to help with his breathing difficulties (can't remember the illness he was diagnosed with), and the island had a lot of rainy weather, not sunny at all which is what he thought it would be like.
So back to the topic title and question: what does the raindrop prelude convey to you? Henrah Henrah
just have a little problem understanding the 3rd bar with the long quads. do you play the left hand fingering 1,1, with the thumb of the left hand? or one with the left and one with the right. do the writers of the music write like this to show you that you play notes in the treble and notes in the bass keeping with the left hand. sorry if this is an ambiguous question. these note structures are a little confusing, common sense should tell me since they are in the bass clef but i just want to check. if i knew how to post the music i would show you what i mean but someone will know what i am asking thanks.
Hi everyone. This is my second post here (I think ). I started piano last december, and began my weekly lessons in januari. I have been playing guitar for 9-something years and also have some drumming experience. Through coincidence my love for classical music fired up only a couple of months before starting the piano. I always enjoyed it (my sister studied among other things piano at a conservatory) but never really actively listened to it myself. I always thought the piano was a superiour instrument for playing classical considering the amount that was composed for it compared to classical guitar (only my humble opnion). So I finally started playing the instrument that I've been hearing my sis' play for many years. My teacher pushes my quite a bit regarding the level I'm at, and the level of the pieces he gives me. So after a couple of pieces I started the raindrop prelude. I've been playing it for some weeks now still improving, because there is still so much I can improve on in this piece. Anyways this is the progress I made so far. I know I still need to work on getting it cleaner and more lyrical a lot, but I would really like to hear some opnions and tips/criticism of the people here. Also I have no experience recording and it makes quite nervous (even when recording guitar I sometimes still do!) which I can really tell (short memory lapses, uncertainty in my playing). I hope I didn't butcher it for you . Hope hearing some replies!
Im just having a look through the Raindrop prelude, and Iv think Im up for giving it a try. Iv previously done preludes 4, 6 and 20, and have 9 and 7 work in progress.
Although its quite a bit longer than these others, nothing is phasing me yet. However, Im a little unsure about the fingering in the opening them. Is it meant that the RH plays just the melody, with the LH taking care of the rest?
Assistence would be much appreciated at this point, as Im think Im playing this in an unnecessarily tricky way!
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Frédéric Chopin - Preludes :
Piano score: PS Urtext (83 kB) 
Prelude (Raindrop) Op. 28 No. 15 - FREE SAMPLE (mp3 file) 
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