Description
Known as the most songlike piece in Op. 23 and often played on its own. Written in 1903, it is the one prelude in a set otherwise full of violence that keeps a gentle expression from beginning to end.
In D major and triple meter, marked Andante cantabile. Broken chords in the left hand make slow waves, and over them a long-drawn melody sings. The melody returns again and again, but with each return the inner voices thicken and the harmonic colour deepens. At the last it climbs to the highest register before sinking quietly away.
An intermediate prelude. There is scarcely any fast figuration; the difficulty is colour and sustain. The accompanying arpeggios must stay reliably softer than the melody, and the melodic line must not break across more than four minutes. Because melody and inner voices have to be separated within the right hand alone, it demands the ability to give each finger its own volume.
A collection of preludes not tied to a specific set, featuring short, evocative works by composers from Bach to more modern voices.
Browse all songs in Preludes →Sheet Music
Sheet music provided by Mutopia Project
About the Composer
Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943)
Sergei Rachmaninoff was a Russian composer and pianist who represents the late Romantic era, later emigrating to Europe and the United States after the Russian Revolution. His music is marked by lush melody, dense harmony, and sonorities evoking Russian church bells, with his Piano Concerto No. 2 among his best-known works. His many Preludes are also cherished masterworks. This site includes nine of the Preludes from Op. 23 along with the C-sharp minor Prelude, Op. 3 No. 2, that made his name.
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