Preludes, Op. 28 (Chopin)
Movements
i Agitato ii Lento iii Vivace iv Largo v Molto allegro vi Lento assai vii Andantino viii Molto agitato ix Largo x Molto allegro xi Vivace xii Presto xiii Lento xiv Allegro xv Sostenuto xvi Presto con fuoco xvii Allegretto xviii Molto allegro xix Vivace xx Largo xxi Cantabile xxii Molto agitato xxiii Moderato xxiv Allegro appassionato
Notes
Frederic Chopin (1810 – 1849) Chopin’s 24 Preludes, Op. 28, are a set of short pieces for the piano, one in each of the twenty-four keys, originally published in 1839. Chopin wrote them between 1835 and 1839, partly at Valldemossa, Mallorca, where he spent the winter of 1838–39 and where he had fled with George Sand and her children to escape the damp Paris weather. In Majorca, Chopin had a copy of Bach’s The Well-Tempered Clavier, and as in each of Bach’s two sets of preludes and fugues, his Op. 28 set comprises a complete cycle of the major and minor keys, albeit with a different ordering.
The manuscript, which Chopin carefully prepared for publication, carries a dedication to the German pianist and composer Joseph Christoph Kessler. The French and English editions (Catelin, Wessel) were dedicated to the piano-maker and publisher Camille Pleyel, the German edition (Breitkopf & Härtel) was dedicated to Kessler, who ten years earlier had dedicated his own set of 24 Preludes, Op. 31, to Chopin.
