Prelude XXI in B flat major

Today I present the next prelude from my 24 preludes and fugues project. I composed it during the last few weeks as the „sketch“ for the current YCF Summer Competition „From Nothing, to Something“.

Edited (Oct., 05th 2026): Here is the link to the "orchestrated" version of this prelude (for a quintet consisting of piano, accordion, trumpet, guitar and cello) as I officially submitted to the YCF Summer Competition „From Nothing, to Something“: Summer – A Song of Beauty and Melancholy.

For those who are not familiar with that competition (yet), the task is „to take the text from Paul Verlaine’s summer poem “Donc, ce sera par un clair jour d'été,” (So, on a bright summer day it shall be) and turn it into a piece!“.

So the major challenge of this competition was not only to move from “nothing” to “something,” but I also tried to find a musical form that could capture this process of “searching”:

When a composer has trouble coming up with a brilliant idea for a new piece, it sometimes takes several attempts, each of which yields different individual ideas.

And there are some pieces that consist of several ideas that have been “glued” together, ultimately resulting in something like a “collage song.” I’m thinking, for example, of “A Day in the Life” by the Beatles or “Band on the Run” by Paul McCartney and Wings.

However, there also exists such a kind of piece in Bach’s Welltempered Clavier, the Prelude VII in E-flat major, BWV 852. That particular prelude starts with a short section with runs of 32th notes, followed by a „more serious“ part in slow motion, that reminds me at a „chorale“. The third and longest part is a fugato with two subjects that further develops the ideas from the first two sections.

With this particular Bach prelude in mind, I had thus found the model for the form and structure of my own prelude:

00:00 (mm. 1-14)

The first section is an „improvisation“ which introduces the warm key of B-flat major.

00:34 (mm. 15-29)

The second Adagio section could be a „chorale“ and is used to set the first stanza of the poem to music.

Since I don’t speak a word of French and have no idea how the syllables are rhythmicized, I looked at Gabriel Fauré’s setting of the poem in his Op. 61, No. 7 to find out which words are pronounced or sung briefly and which are longer. As an interesting fact, I discovered that Fauré had actually chosen the same key, B-flat major, that I had chosen before.

01:31 (mm. 30-90)

The third and longest section is a fugato based on two subjects, interspersed by further stanzas of the poem.

The first subject quotes the first four-note motif of the „improvisation“ section and develops it further, paired with the second subject, thus creating a joyful and dance-like mood.

04:22 (mm. 91-114)

The prelude finishes with a coda – or better to say – with a recapitulation of the „improvisation“ from the first section. Now in a more melancholic way, meandering between minor and major.

I hope, you’ll enjoy it. Wieland

Praeludium-XIII-F-sharp-major-with-coversheet.pdf

Praeludium-XXI-B-flat-major-with-coversheet.pdf

Edited 1 hour ago1 hr by Wieland Handke
corrected uploaded files, included link to the orchestrated version

Hi @Wieland Handke!
That sounds great to me.
It captures that feeling of the end of summer—sitting under a tree and reminiscing.
The section around 1:34 is really enjoyable, and I especially like the final part at 4:40.
The melody line is nice, too.
Did you create the thumbnail yourself?
It looks good.
Thank you for sharing!

Best,

Lithl.

Hey @Wieland Handke that was really excellent. I found the music intellectually challenging, so I gave it a couple listens. This music has a great flow, but is also mentally stimulating, just like Bach. I didn’t read your introduction first, and while listening I kept thinking “this sounds like a modern Bach chorale”. Glad to find out I heard what you heard!

You speak the language of modern harmony, but here you speak it with a baroque accent. It works well. There’s just something about jazzy chords that gels so well with baroque rhythm/voicing. Makes me want to hear more of your work.

One idea: it would be fun to hear this with four instruments rather than one. For example, I think this piece could actually be turned into a chorale! Have you ever considered setting this to a poem? I bet a choral rendition of this would slay. There is tons of fun material for 4 singers to play with. Or a string quartet could be nice. Assigning each voice to a separate instrument could really free up those voices, and allow them to shine in a way entirely different than what can be achieved on keyboard.

Nothing wrong with a baroque style keyboard work! Even if you decide not to try it with a quartet, it’s still delightful. Nice work!

On 9/19/2026 at 3:36 PM, Lithl said:

That sounds great to me.
It captures that feeling of the end of summer—sitting under a tree and reminiscing.
The section around 1:34 is really enjoyable, and I especially like the final part at 4:40.
The melody line is nice, too.

Thank you very much. I also particular like the passage (around 1:34) where the trumpet plays the subject of the fugato for the first time. This is for me the depiction of the summer day – while the final part is a bit more melancholic, - perhaps the evening.

On 9/19/2026 at 3:36 PM, Lithl said:

Did you create the thumbnail yourself?
It looks good.

If you’re referring to the “thumbnail” of the YouTube video (as well as the first slide in the video and the title page of my score), then yes: After I finish a piece, I usually do some „artwork“ and give each piece its own color scheme as well as a visual interpretation in the form of a photo or painting (and, of cause, the painting here isn’t mine—it’s by Pierre-Auguste Renoir 😆).

I’ve found that such a “colorful” annotation to the pieces can be very helpful for remembering them—even when I talk to my family about my music, it’s much easier to refer to a particular piece as “the one with the elephant” or “the purple one with the misty forest” rather than as “Prelude in A minor” or “Prelude in G-sharp minor.”

11 hours ago, Seni-G said:

Hey @Wieland Handke that was really excellent. I found the music intellectually challenging, so I gave it a couple listens. This music has a great flow, but is also mentally stimulating, just like Bach. I didn’t read your introduction first, and while listening I kept thinking “this sounds like a modern Bach chorale”. Glad to find out I heard what you heard!

You speak the language of modern harmony, but here you speak it with a baroque accent. It works well. There’s just something about jazzy chords that gels so well with baroque rhythm/voicing.

Thank you very much. I’m glad you’ve noticed the influences on my compositions and my contrapuntal compositional approach: Yes, of course Bach is the great role model, but I don’t want to mimic that particular Baroque style at all; rather, I want to incorporate more contemporary influences, for example in harmony (the use of modes or even some jazz harmonies) or in rhythm and texture (the use of unusual, odd time signatures).

11 hours ago, Seni-G said:

Makes me want to hear more of your work.

My challenging project is two compose 24 preludes and fugues (according to the model of the WTC), where this particular prelude is one of them. Even though they are piano pieces, I have used some of them to create orchestrated versions.

You can find links to the pieces I’ve already featured here on the YCF in my signature below, along with a link to my YouTube channel.

11 hours ago, Seni-G said:

One idea: it would be fun to hear this with four instruments rather than one. For example, I think this piece could actually be turned into a chorale! Have you ever considered setting this to a poem? I bet a choral rendition of this would slay. There is tons of fun material for 4 singers to play with. Or a string quartet could be nice. Assigning each voice to a separate instrument could really free up those voices, and allow them to shine in a way entirely different than what can be achieved on keyboard.

Nothing wrong with a baroque style keyboard work! Even if you decide not to try it with a quartet, it’s still delightful. Nice work!

I’m really appreciated that you suggest the piece to be presented with other instruments than the solo piano only! And – no problem – here is it: My official submission for the above mentioned competition that finished a few days ago: „Summer – A Song of Beauty and Melancholy – Submission to the YCF 2026 Summer Competition“.

And just as I’m wondering why you didn’t discover it on your own, I realize that I forgot to include a link to this “orchestrated” version in my post above. So I’ve added it now.