Academic literature on the topic 'Prelude (Music)'

The Prelude, Chorale and Fantasy is a tonally conceived work for orchestra with a duration of approximately twenty minutes which uses as its inspiration the final chapter of Ecclesiastes. It is constructed from a relatively small number of germinal elements which function throughout the work as connecting forces and icons. In it can be found musical ideas used to represent the Trinity, the most significant of which are the quotations of the hymn "How Brightly Shines the Morning Star" which appear throughout.<br>A greater understanding of the work can be gained by approaching it first on a philosophical level, making connections between the Biblical text and the music and extrapolating from those connections. Following this, a step by step analysis will show the microscopic structure of the work and its relationship to the larger form.

<p>This essay in musicology is combined with a CD-recording of piano improvisations. Its purpose is, on the one hand, to examine some of the ideas permeating piano improvisation during the first part of the nineteenth century, and, on the other, to find ways to apply these nineteenth century ideas of improvising to modern piano playing. The artistic part of the work is as important as the theoretical, and the two strands are supporting and reinforcing each other.</p><p>The first section of the text focuses on preluding – that is, a <em>genre</em> <em>of improvisation</em>. The second section investigates some aspects of the improvising of Franz Liszt – that is, different types of <em>improvisation as practised by an important nineteenth century musician.</em> The instructional music literature written by Carl Czerny is the basic source of reference in both portions.</p><p>The text and the recordings of my piano improvisations aim to show that monothematic strategies are simple and useful tools for improvising, regardless of tonal language used.</p><p>Half of the recordings consist of improvisations of separate pieces in a contemporary musical language. The other half are preludes, interludes and a cadenza improvised in the context of compositions by Liszt, Chopin, Mozart, Mendelssohn and Grieg.</p>

The set of preludes containing twenty-four preludes is an important compositional form used throughout the Common Practice Period. The twenty-four prelude set generally includes preludes written in each key and mode. Early sets include preludes or fantasies composed in each mode. Composers exploited and advocated the advent of equal-temperament tuning (at the turn of the eighteenth century) by organizing preludes in each major and minor key. Since then, the number of prelude sets has increased greatly, particularly during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Although music today has moved beyond the confines or parameters of major and minor tonalities, composers continue to use the twenty-four prelude set to collect preludes, including some atonal sets. The twenty-four prelude set model extends to sets of twenty-five preludes that begin and end in the same key and twenty-four preludes without keys. Composers use different methods of tonal organization in their sets of preludes: two principal methods are progression through the chromatic scale and progression through the circle of fifths. Within those two methods are variations. Other composers use unique forms of organization, and some do not attempt a systematic method of organization. Several types of prelude sets appear, including preludes of virtuosity, preludes for pedagogical purposes, preludes as improvisatory warm-ups, preludes paired with fugues, and prelude sets that are performed as a whole. One must weigh various considerations when performing a set or smaller grouping of preludes. Over forty sets of preludes are surveyed, and four sets are examined in detail representing different methods of tonal organization, different types of prelude sets, and different historical periods: Fischer's Ariadne Musica, Hummel's Twenty-Four Preludes op. 67, Alkan's Twenty-Five Preludes op. 31, and Duckworth's The Time Curve Preludes.

This thesis focuses on a group of keyboard pieces composed in the first half of the twentieth century entitled ‘prelude’, and explores the issue of genre, investigating the significance in the application of this generic title, and the development of the piano prelude in this period. The application of a generic title often invokes the expectation of its generic features its conventional and formal characteristics. Though the prelude is one of the oldest genres in the history of keyboard music, it has relatively few conventions, and hence, with the abandonment of its primary function the prefatory role in the nineteenth century, it has been considered an indeterminate genre. Rachmaninoff, however, asserted that a generic title should carry with it appropriate generic manifestations, which parallelled similar generic concepts in literature. This expectation of generic traits is like setting up a ‘generic contract’, offering an invitation to either conform or reform, and thus affecting its course of development. A survey of the prelude’s historical development points to six rather consistent generic conventional and formal characteristics: (i) tonality, (ii) pianistic/technical figuration, (iii) thematic treatment and formal structure, (iv) improvisatory style, (v) mood content, and (vi) brevity. Though these general characteristics may overlap with other genres, it is their collective characteristics that have contributed to the genre’s unique identity. These features form the basis for an exploration of the conformity to, or further evolution of, these characteristics in the preludes of the early twentieth century. From the substantial number of piano preludes composed in this period, selected sets, representative of the various stylistic manifestations of the period, are analysed in relation to the identified generic characteristics. The examination reveals that these preludes, though apparently diversified in style and outlook, exhibit affinity in one form or another to the generic characteristics. Each example exhibits different treatments of the generic characteristics reflective of twentieth-century developments, whilst retaining its generic identity. The prelude is thus an amalgamation of a tonal, technical and affective piece, which may be considered a combination of a tonal essay, a study/toccata, and a character piece; and collectively, a sequence of tonalities, a collection of pianistic technical studies, and a compendium of musical styles/genres in miniature.

Throughout centuries of great classical music, many viola compositions have been crafted from a wealth of literature for instruments of similar range. Clarinet, violin, and cello concerti and ensemble literature often adapt into challenging literature for the viola. In November 2009, Oxford Music Publishing gave me permission to transcribe and perform the Prelude, Allegro, and Pastorale by Rebecca Clarke in New York's famed Carnegie Hall - Weill Recital Hall. This dissertation explains the process by which I transcribed the Prelude, Allegro, and Pastorale from an original Bb-clarinet/viola duo, to a new arrangement for two violas (approved by Oxford Music Press arrangement license #7007940), and discusses challenges faced throughout the transcription process.