The first keyboard cycle to include all keys, the WTC inspired several later composers to compose cycles of preludes (with or without fugues). Chopin's Preludes (Op. 28) are particularly beloved, and Rachmaninoff eventually published 24 preludes (Op. 3/2, Op. 23, Op. 32). [[Dmitri Shostakovich]] was so taken with the idea that he published a set of 24 preludes early in his career (Op. 34), and then wrote a seperate set of 24 preludes and fugues (Op. 87) in the 1950's, both sets following Chopin's system of progressing through the circle of fifths rather than Bach's half-steps. | The first keyboard cycle to include all keys, the WTC inspired several later composers to compose cycles of preludes (with or without fugues). Chopin's Preludes (Op. 28) are particularly beloved, and Rachmaninoff eventually published 24 preludes (Op. 3/2, Op. 23, Op. 32). [[Dmitri Shostakovich]] was so taken with the idea that he published a set of 24 preludes early in his career (Op. 34), and then wrote a seperate set of 24 preludes and fugues (Op. 87) in the 1950's, both sets following Chopin's system of progressing through the circle of fifths rather than Bach's half-steps. |