Préludes

Frédéric Chopin's 24 preludes are often compared to the preludes in J. S. Bach's Das Wohltemperierte Klavier: character pieces in each of the 24 keys. Chopin wrote the preludes between 1835 and 1839, partly in Mallorca, where he took refuge from the Paris winter, and where he took with him the '48', and other preludes and fugues by Bach. The Op. 28 set published in 1839 were received with ambivalence by contemporaries. Robert Schumann considered them unfinished sketches, but Liszt thought them contemporary, poetic creations. The 24 preludes were first published by EMB in 1974, and to this day they are one of the first encounters students of the piano have with Chopin, and Romantic music of greater complexity. This publication is recommended for intermediate pianists.