Meaning of PRELUDE in music
If you like music eventually you will find the word prelude, especially in the field of classical music. It is a short musical composition which serves as an introductory form to the main piece and which was used mostly between the 15th and 17th centuries. In order for you to better understand this type of classical composition, which is so important, in this lesson from a TEACHER we will talk about the meaning of prelude in music. Take note!
Great stories and plays need a introduction Before entering the subject, in the same way this happens in the musical field. A prelude is a piece, a short musical composition that does not necessarily have a certain shape and that serves as an introduction to another more complex musical work.
In classical music it used to be used frequently before musical forms such as the fugue and the sonata. We must also know that there are exceptions and that during the 15th to 17th century preludes were created that they did not have any connection with another larger work, but were simply small musical pieces in Yes.
The prelude started as a form of improvisation of the musical interpreters with their own instruments since in such a way they made sure they had the correct tuning and they prepared for the work of greater importance. This was especially the case for lute players, who took advantage of this preamble to prepare their fingers for interpretation.
As for the public, we can say that in such a way they are prepared by listening to something in relation to the work they were about to listen to. Perhaps the oldest evidence of preludes that are physically evidenced were organ pieces in the church, which They were written in the year 1448.
As we mentioned earlier, the first feature is brevity. In length and complexity, the prelude is not a very long or complicated composition. Many times it has a ostinato (the repetition of some rhythmic or melodic figure) as a texture. There are also preludes in improvisation mode.
Being an introduction, another word for the prelude can be "overture", when we refer to theatrical musical forms such as opera and ballet.
As in many other areas of music, one of the most influential composers in history for creating preludes was Johann Sebastian Bach. During the 18th century, Bach created a compilation of works for organ and harpsichord that today is considered a musical treasure, called "The Well-Tempered Clavier." In this compilation the musical form of the fuga (a musical work that plays with polyphony and counterpoint) with many pieces, for which Bach composed preludes.
Thanks to this modality, the concept became tremendously popular as a German form of "Prelude and Fugue". In the case of Bach, the preludes did not have a strict form to follow but did use a rhythmic or melodic motif with which played to create inversion, modulation, or reverse variations, techniques often used in forms of music baroque.
From this point more preludes were composed and eventually it would take its own direction as an independent form of fugue, especially in the era of romanticism, where the piano It came as a replacement for the key.
A good example of this is the works of Frédéric Chopin, with 24 preludes (opus 28). Other composers who composed preludes under this concept were Sergei Rachmaninov Y Claude Debussy, who made two books of "impressionist" preludes for piano, with descriptive titles.
Despite the possible independence of the prelude, this musical form maintains its initial objective many times, this can be observed for example in some operas by Richard Wagner, Le tombeau de Couperin by Maurice Ravel, Piano Suite Op. 25 by Arnold Schoenberg and there are also variations such as by example the prelude of Franz Liszt in one of the "Transcendental Studies", where he combines the concept of the modern prelude with the old.
Currently the prelude in popular music it has fallen into disuse, It is not surprising since, in general, the works or songs that we listen to are brief in themselves. Even so, there are cases in the classical sphere where preludes are still composed, or are performed in recitals or symphonic music concerts.
Image: Ancient Music
