What constitutes a prelude?

Hi everyone,

I'm planning a new work which I'd like to call "Twelve Major Preludes for Two Pianos", using all the major keys kind of in the vein of Chopin and Rachmaninoff's Preludes, but I've been having trouble finding out just what makes a prelude a prelude. I read someone on this forum saying that a prelude was a miniature, but some of Rachmaninoff's preludes are over five minutes, so can I call practically anything a prelude? Thanks for your help,

Jackson

There's nothing that really makes a prelude a prelude, they don't really have a set form.

Often they're based on a single motive- this could be a rhythm or a set of intervals, whatever. Bach's Prelude in C Major from the first book of the Well-Tempered Clavier is a good example of that kind of thing. Other than that, there aren't any set guidelines as far as I know.

I assume they are usually miniatures as the piece after the prelude is the main work. But good luck with work, although I think having 12 major preludes set before writing them may be a little restricting.

Prelude is not only a musical term.

That should help you.

Feel free to read our article and see if it helps - I spruced it up with what I know and could dig up, but more knowledgeable fellows are encouraged to add on to it. Prelude - YC Wiki

Written preludes were at the beginning nothing more than written improvisations, but as time went on they ended up being a lot more than that, embracing a wide variety of experimental forms/styles of music. Compare for example Debussy's preludes to Chopin's, or Couperin's preludes to Liszt's.

It was considered, for obvious reasons, one of the baroque "free forms," like fantasias and in some cases toccatas. So, really, do whatever you want~

Thanks for the replies everyone, they've been helpful. :)

Jackson