Prelude

From Conservapedia

A prelude is “something that goes before”.

In music, the term began to describe pieces, often improvised, designed to test or “warm up” the instrument – and, it is supposed, the performer – before the serious music began; whether a recital or part of a church service. This use of the term goes back to the 15th century.

The prelude composed and designed specifically to be attached to another piece of music – normally a suite of dances or a fugue - developed in the 17th century and reached a peak in the first half of the 18th with the 48 Preludes and Fugues for organ by J. S. Bach. The prelude and fugue for organ or piano has continued as a well-respected form with notable examples by Mendelssohn (piano), Brahms, Max Reger and Camille Saint-Saens (organ) and Shostakovich whose 24 Prelude and Fugues Opus 87 is a central work in the 20th century piano repertoire.

Chopin, following an example set by Johann Nepomuk Hummel, disconnected the form from a companion piece; writing 24 preludes for piano, each a stand-alone composition although inviting the listener to believe that something was to follow. (The perfect miniature form of each denies that premise, and each is beautifully complete within itself. [[1]]) This form has been repeated successfully by Alexander Scriabin, Faure, Rachmaninov, and especially Claude Debussy who, as well as his atmospheric individually named preludes for piano in 2 books (and which contain one of the most popular piano pieces ever written [[2]]), composed the tone picture “Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune” [[3]] for flute and orchestra (which in itself has been considered a prelude to 20th century music.)

The prelude as a preliminary or introductory piece has continued of course, with the form replacing the overture in certain operas - or acts within operas such as some of Wagner’s; or Verdi's "La Traviata" [[4]] and is often the opening movement in suites and other multi-movement works.