prelude

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prelude

prelude , musical composition of no universal style, usually for the keyboard. It was originally used to precede a ceremony and later a second, often larger piece. Early preludes represent the first example of idiomatic keyboard music. During the baroque period the prelude formed the first movement of suites and fugues. The most widely known preludes, those written for the piano by Frédéric Chopin, Claude Debussy and Aleksandr Scriabin, are independent works with no introductory function.

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prelude

World Encyclopedia | 2005 | Â© World Encyclopedia 2005, originally published by Oxford University Press 2005. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

prelude In music, a preliminary movement that serves to introduce a work of which it may or may not formally be a part. It was often used as the first movement of a suite. The popularity of Chopin's piano preludes led to its associations with a short piece of an imaginative nature.

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