Prelude? Prelude to what?

[wynnbear]

Probably a dumb question but this has always sort of bothered me.

Why are some stand-alone pieces titled, "Prelude?"  They are obviously not introductions to any other piece, not overtures, not...

The only common characteristics I can determine on these stand-alone preludes is that they are all short or relatively short, and usually mono-thematic, i.e. typically no A-B-A structure.

So how did this name come into usage? 

[Brian Healey]

Technically, a prelude IS supposed to be an introduction to another piece, as you said. Or at least an introduction to something. I think preludes are derived from church music, where the organist would play a chorale piece as a prelude to the choir (chorale preludes). Some other examples are Bach preludes and fugues (the WTC for example). These preludes were not stand alone pieces. The preludes in the WTC are introductions to the fugues. I guess as composers like Chopin began writing stand-alone preludes, their introductory purpose sort of fell by the wayside.


I like your sleeves,
Bri

[bernhard]

The place is Denmark, the Royal Palace in Rosenborg. The year is 1629. King Christian IV is eager to show that Denmark is not the barbarian backwater that the French and the English believe it to be. And the way to do this is through Musick. Hence he has put together a most fine orchestra by systematically bringing to Denmark the best musicians from France, Holland, England and Italy. Tonight they are going to play.

The musicians as usual will come from the servants quarters through hidden corridors and take their places in the farther area of the Winter room. Their entrance is not seen and their presence is not acknowledged. They are servants after all, more or less on the same hierarchical level as the kitchen personel and janitors.

The place as usual is freezing cold. They put their instruments together and tune them. The King has not arrived yet, but an assortment of nobleman are mingling and talking. Tonight they will be playing a set of Galliards in honour of the successful hunting trip the King recently undertook. Now there is little to do except await patiently the arrival of the King who, sometimes, has been known to come as much as three hours late.

So while the audience grows and the noise of their conversation increases, the musicians start to play a few scales and arpeggios. Soon they are improvising on the scales and arpeggios, and being the finest musicians in Europe, they cannot help but produce a pleasant, unstructured tune. They keep playing. Some of these free form compositions are quite short, others a bit longer. They all have scales, arpeggios and tonal figurations they may use later in the actual performance. Some of the nobleman have stopped talking and are paying attention to the music. The musicians are now playing in great harmony – and even though improvised and free-form there is structure and beauty in the music they are playing. They are doing what their fathers and grandfathers and great-grandfathers have been doing for centuries as servants of the nobility: warming-up, enjoying music making and giving free rein to their imagination while they await their sovereign.

Later, after the performance, the English lute player will jot down on a piece of music paper, from memory, some of the improvisations they did. On another occasion they may play it again from a score rather than improvise. In fact, this very night some of the pieces they played as a prelude to the King’s arrival and the main performance were previous improvisations that had been written down and polished to the point where they are now proper compositions.

But now, they interrupt abruptly their performance, stand up and curtsey, heads low: King Christian has arrived.


Does that answer your question?

Best wishes,
Bernhard.

[galonia]

Hahahaha... great story, Bernhard!

When I was little, I was also taught that "a Prelude is a piece that comes before something"

Then I was told, "You're grown up now, that definition is for children.  A prelude is a composition of an improvisatory nature.  Derived from the improvisation played before other pieces as a mechanism for ensemble members to tune up, or played by the organist so the choir and/or congregation could determine the key.  Eventually, some composers wrote down their improvisations, and these were just called Preludes."

[betricia]

Isn't Bernhard wonderful?
Patricia
 

[wynnbear]

Thanks, Bernhard.  You're incredible! 

[bernhard]

 

[invisible]

(Thanks, Bernhard,  I love it  )

[Nordlys]

Great story!

The practice of playing preludes for warm up continued well into the romantic era, though. The pianist, who often played at a privat party, a musical salon, would first check out the piano, and warm up his fingers. So he improvised or played a small simple piece he knew in an appropriate key. Some say that the Chopin preludes were meant for this; thats why there is one for each key.

Also the pianist could improvise a transition and modulate to the key of the next piece he was going to play. I have read about a Busoni recording where he plays two Chopin Etudes, and he plays a transition like this between the pieces to get to the new key. I don't think many pianists would dare to do that today!