Preludes

Historical context

Frédéric Chopin composed his Preludes, Op. 28, during a difficult winter stay in the Carthusian house ‘Waldemosa’ in Majorca, though he also worked on them at the Maison Pleyel. George Sand, who was with him in Majorca, recalled that he modestly entitled these short but beautiful pieces ‘Preludes,’ and that melodies were called forth from his soul by sounds like children’s laughter, distant guitar strains, bird twitters, or the sight of roses in the cloister garden, while many pieces were also full of gloom and sadness. She recounted that Prelude No. 6 in B minor was composed one evening in Majorca while Chopin was in despair, believing she and her son were dead due to a severe storm. He had a vision of being drowned, feeling cold drops falling on his breast, which he later maintained was not the sound of rain, conceiving these drops as ‘tears falling from heaven on his heart.’

Chopin played his ‘last new work, the ‘Preludes’,’ for Moscheles at a concert for King Louis Philippe in November 1839, as Moscheles noted that year. George Sand believed that some preludes create vivid impressions of ‘solemn and gloomy funereal pomp,’ while others are ‘full of charm and melancholy glowing with the sparkling fire of enthusiasm, breathing with the hope of restored health.’ She also felt that Chopin’s works, including the Preludes, were not generally appreciated and that musical taste needed to progress for them to become popular. Wagner, quoted by Finck, stated that he found a perfect correspondence between Chopin’s piano and some of his Preludes, though he did not care for ‘the Ladies’ Chopin’. Later, during Chopin’s funeral ceremony, Lefebure-Wely played the E and B minor Preludes on the organ, as noted in the book.

Drawn from Huneker, James, 1857-1921, Chopin : the man and his music (1905); Karasowski, Maurycy, 1823-1892, Frederic Chopin : his life and letters (1906) — public domain, archive.org.