Written partly during Chopins catastrophic wintertime stay on Majorca, these are some of the composers most mysterious works. Schumann said of them:
"They are sketches, beginnings of études, or, so to speak, ruins, individual eagle pinions, all disorder and wild confusions.
The 24 Preludes are written in all major and minor keys in the order of the circle of fifths. The title (obviously an allusion to Bachs preludes and fugues) can be a misleading one, as they are not introductions to anything, except possibly to the next prelude in the series each piece is perfectly capable of standing on its own, although Op. 28 is often treated as a cycle and given a complete performance.
