Prelude facts for kids

A prelude is a short piece of music. It is usually played on a musical instrument like a piano. The word "prelude" means "to play before something else." It comes from Latin words: pre (meaning "before") and ludere (meaning "to play").

History of Preludes

Early Preludes: Renaissance Period

Preludes first appeared during the Renaissance period. This was a time from about 1400 to 1600. Back then, musicians who played the lute (called lutenists) would often improvise a short piece. To "improvise" means to make up music as you play it.

They played these short pieces before a concert. It helped them check if their instrument was in tune. It also helped their fingers warm up!

By the 16th century, composers started writing down these pieces. They would call them "preludes." These early preludes were often for instruments like the lute, guitar, or cittern.

Baroque Preludes: Bach's Influence

In the early 18th century, during the Baroque period, preludes changed. They often became the first part of a two-part piece. The second part was usually a fugue. A fugue is a complex piece where different musical lines chase each other.

Johann Sebastian Bach wrote many famous "Preludes and Fugues." Most of these were for keyboard instruments. These included the harpsichord or the organ.

Bach's most famous collection is The Well-Tempered Clavier. It has 48 preludes and fugues. There are two sets, each with 24 pieces. Each piece is written in a different major or minor key signature.

The first prelude in this collection, in C major, is very well-known. It sounds like a gentle improvisation. It uses broken chords, which are notes of a chord played one after another. This is similar to how a lutenist might play. (A composer named Charles Gounod later used this prelude for his famous song Ave Maria.)

Preludes were also sometimes followed by a series of dance movements. This collection of dances was called a "suite."

Preludes in the Classical and Romantic Periods

During the Classical period, fewer composers wrote preludes. But they became popular again in the 19th century. This was the time of Romanticism.

The Polish composer Frédéric Chopin wrote a very famous collection. It has 24 short piano pieces called "Preludes." Like Bach's collection, Chopin wrote a prelude for every major and minor key.

However, Chopin's preludes are different from Bach's. They are not meant to be followed by another piece. They are standalone pieces of music. They are often played together as a set. Some of them are easy to play, but others are very difficult. Playing difficult pieces well is called being a "virtuoso."

Many composers after Chopin were inspired by his preludes. These included Alexander Scriabin, Karol Szymanowski, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Claude Debussy, and Olivier Messiaen. Other composers who wrote preludes were Felix Mendelssohn, Franz Liszt, and Max Reger.

Some composers were also inspired by Bach's "Preludes and Fugues." For example, Dmitri Shostakovich wrote his own collection of Preludes and Fugues for piano. Just like Bach and Chopin, he wrote them in all the major and minor keys.

Orchestral Preludes

In the 19th century, some composers also wrote short pieces for a full orchestra. They called these "Preludes." Sometimes, a short orchestral introduction to an opera was called a Prelude. The German word for this was "Vorspiel." This was instead of the more common word "overture."

Related pages

• Chorale prelude