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Chopin Yin and Yang Preludes


caters

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I consider the E minor and B minor preludes to be like Chopin's Yin and Yang within his Preludes, kind of like how Beethoven's Fifth and Sixth symphonies also form a Yin and Yang. They are opposite in almost every way I can think of, and yet they are based around the same thing, pedal points. It's like one is the mirror of the other, literally.

Yin: E minor Prelude

This is what I notice in it:

  • Bass is in the Left Hand and Melody is in the Right Hand
  • Left Hand is Chromatic and Right Hand is mostly Diatonic
  • Tempo is on the slower side
  • Chromatic progression(which all of Chopin's Preludes have that chromatic vs diatonic contrast in them) always wants to go down, like a bottomless pit, when Chopin makes it rise, it's like a person hitting a ledge, it breaks the fall, but doesn't really bring it back up
  • Melody is very Minimalistic
  • Melody wants to go down
  • Pedal point in the Left Hand
  • Chords start in first inversion

All of these things are opposite in the B minor Prelude except the last one.

Yang: B minor Prelude

 

This is what I notice in the B minor Prelude:

  • Bass is in the Right Hand and Melody is in the Left Hand
  • Right Hand is Chromatic and Left Hand is mostly Diatonic
  • Tempo is on the faster side
  • Chromatic progression always wants to go up, like a balloon rising in the sky
  • Melody is not Minimalistic at all
  • Melody wants to go up
  • Pedal point in the Right Hand
  • Chords start in first inversion

It's like Chopin mirrored the E minor Prelude in almost every way and got the B minor Prelude. I'm sure that's not what Chopin was thinking, the mirroring, but it is what resulted.

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