24 Preludes and Fugues
Encyclopedia
In classical music
, many composers have written a set of preludes and fugues in most or all of the 24 major and minor key
s. The use of this format is generally inspired by Johann Sebastian Bach
's two books of prelude
s and fugue
s—The Well-Tempered Clavier
—completed in 1722 and 1744 respectively. Bach, however, was not the first to compose such a set: Johann Caspar Ferdinand Fischer
wrote a 20-key cycle in his 1702 work Ariadne musica
.
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
, many composers have written a set of preludes and fugues in most or all of the 24 major and minor key
Key (music)
In music theory, the term key is used in many different and sometimes contradictory ways. A common use is to speak of music as being "in" a specific key, such as in the key of C major or in the key of F-sharp. Sometimes the terms "major" or "minor" are appended, as in the key of A minor or in the...
s. The use of this format is generally inspired by Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...
's two books of prelude
Prelude (music)
A prelude is a short piece of music, the form of which may vary from piece to piece. The prelude can be thought of as a preface. It may stand on its own or introduce another work...
s and fugue
Fugue
In music, a fugue is a compositional technique in two or more voices, built on a subject that is introduced at the beginning in imitation and recurs frequently in the course of the composition....
s—The Well-Tempered Clavier
The Well-Tempered Clavier
The Well-Tempered Clavier , BWV 846–893, is a collection of solo keyboard music composed by Johann Sebastian Bach...
—completed in 1722 and 1744 respectively. Bach, however, was not the first to compose such a set: Johann Caspar Ferdinand Fischer
Johann Caspar Ferdinand Fischer
Johann Caspar Ferdinand Fischer was a German Baroque composer...
wrote a 20-key cycle in his 1702 work Ariadne musica
Ariadne musica
Ariadne musica is a collection of organ music by Johann Caspar Ferdinand Fischer, first published in 1702. The main part of the collection is a cycle of 20 preludes and fugues in different keys, so Ariadne musica is considered an important precursor to Johann Sebastian Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier,...
.
Works
The following works employ, sometimes loosely, the prelude-and-fugue format.- The Well-Tempered ClavierThe Well-Tempered ClavierThe Well-Tempered Clavier , BWV 846–893, is a collection of solo keyboard music composed by Johann Sebastian Bach...
, Bach - Prelude and Fugue in A minor, BWV 543Prelude and Fugue in A minor, BWV 543"The Great" Prelude and Fugue in A minor, BWV 543 is a piece of organ music written by Johann Sebastian Bach sometime around his years as court organist to the Duke of Saxe-Weimar . It is the final incarnation of Bach's harpsichord Fugue in A minor, BWV 944, written in 1708...
, Bach - Prelude (Toccata) and Fugue in E major, BWV 566Prelude (Toccata) and fugue in E major, BWV 566Prelude and Fugue in E major, BWV 566 is an organ work written by Johann Sebastian Bach in 1708. It comprises four sections and is an earlywork of Bach's....
, Bach - 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 8724 Preludes and Fugues (Shostakovich)The 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87 by Dmitri Shostakovich is a set of 24 piano pieces, one in each of the major and minor keys of the chromatic scale. While the musical style and ideas are Shostakovich's own, it follows the form of Frederic Chopin's Op. 28 preludes.Each piece is in two parts: a...
, Shostakovich - Ariadne musicaAriadne musicaAriadne musica is a collection of organ music by Johann Caspar Ferdinand Fischer, first published in 1702. The main part of the collection is a cycle of 20 preludes and fugues in different keys, so Ariadne musica is considered an important precursor to Johann Sebastian Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier,...
, Fischer - Eight Short Preludes and FuguesEight Short Preludes and FuguesThe Eight Short Preludes and Fugues are a collection of works for keyboard and pedal, originally attributed to Johann Sebastian Bach. They were believed for a long time to have been composed by one of Bach's pupils, Johann Tobias Krebs, based on certain unusual characteristics of the music when...
, composer uncertain - Fantasy and Fugue on the chorale Ad nos ad salutarem undamFantasy and Fugue on the chorale Ad nos ad salutarem undamThe Fantasy and Fugue on the chorale "Ad nos, ad salutarem undam", S.259, is a piece of organ music composed by Franz Liszt in the winter of 1850 when he was in Weimar...
, Liszt - Fantasy and Fugue on the Theme B-A-C-HFantasy and Fugue on the Theme B-A-C-HFantasie und Fuge über das Thema B-A-C-H Fantasie und Fuge über das Thema B-A-C-H (also in the first version known as Präludium und Fuge über das Motiv B-A-C-H, title in English: Fantasy and Fugue on the Theme B-A-C-H) Fantasie und Fuge über das Thema B-A-C-H (also in the first version known as...
, Liszt - Ludus TonalisLudus TonalisLudus Tonalis , subtitled Kontrapunktische, tonal, und Klaviertechnische Übungen , is a piano work by Paul Hindemith that was composed in 1942 during his stay in the United States.The piece starts with a three-part Praeludium in C resembling Bach's toccatas, and ends with a Postludium...
, Hindemith - Prelude, Chorale and FuguePrelude, Chorale and Fugue (Franck)Prelude, Chorale and Fugue for solo piano is a work written in 1884 by the Belgian composer César Franck.As the name implies, it comprises three movements: a prelude, a chorale and a fugue...
, Franck - Prelude, Fugue, and RiffsPrelude, Fugue, and RiffsPrelude, Fugue and Riffs is a "written-out" jazz-in-concert hall composition written by Leonard Bernstein for a jazz ensemble, which features a solo clarinet....
, Bernstein
Composers of
The composers listed below, who lived and composed in the 19th and 20th centuries, employed this format.- Mark AlburgerMark AlburgerMark Alburger is a San Francisco Bay Area composer and conductor. He is the founder and music director of the San Francisco Composers Chamber Orchestra, as well as the music director of the San Francisco Cabaret Opera...
, 12 Topical Preludes and Fugues - Algernon AshtonAlgernon AshtonAlgernon Bennet Langton Ashton was a British composer and Professor of piano at the Royal College of Music 1884–1910....
- Mario Castelnuovo-TedescoMario Castelnuovo-TedescoMario Castelnuovo-Tedesco was an Italian composer. He was known as one of the foremost guitar composers in the twentieth century with almost one hundred compositions for that instrument. In 1939 he migrated to the United States and became a film composer for some 200 Hollywood movies for the next...
- David CopeDavid CopeDavid Cope is an American author, composer, scientist, and professor emeritus of music at the University of California, Santa Cruz...
, 48 Preludes and Fugues - David DiamondDavid Diamond (composer)David Leo Diamond was an American composer of classical music.-Life and career:He was born in Rochester, New York and studied at the Cleveland Institute of Music and the Eastman School of Music under Bernard Rogers, also receiving lessons from Roger Sessions in New York City and Nadia Boulanger in...
, 52 Preludes and Fugues - Hiroshi Hara
- Hans HuberHans Huber (composer)Hans Huber was a composer from Switzerland.He was born in Eppenberg-Wöschnau . The son of an amateur musician, Huber became a chorister and showed an early talent for the piano. In 1870 he entered Leipzig Conservatory...
- Alexander Iakovtchouk
- David Johnson, 12 Preludes and Fugues
- Nikolai KapustinNikolai KapustinNikolai Girshevich Kapustin is a Ukrainian Russian composer and pianist....
, 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 82 - A. A. Klengel
- Trygve Madsen
- Henry Martin
- Felix MendelssohnFelix MendelssohnJakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Barthóldy , use the form 'Mendelssohn' and not 'Mendelssohn Bartholdy'. The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians gives ' Felix Mendelssohn' as the entry, with 'Mendelssohn' used in the body text...
- Bruce Cameron Munson
- Frank Tveor Nordensten
- Igor Rekhin
- Camille Saint-SaënsCamille Saint-SaënsCharles-Camille Saint-Saëns was a French Late-Romantic composer, organist, conductor, and pianist. He is known especially for The Carnival of the Animals, Danse macabre, Samson and Delilah, Piano Concerto No. 2, Cello Concerto No. 1, Havanaise, Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso, and his Symphony...
, 3 Preludes and Fugues, Opp. 99 & 109 - Rodion ShchedrinRodion ShchedrinRodion Konstantinovich Shchedrin is a Russian composer. He was one оf the leading Soviet composers, and was the chairman of the Union of Russian Composers from 1973 until 1990.-Life and Works:...
- Dmitri ShostakovichDmitri ShostakovichDmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich was a Soviet Russian composer and one of the most celebrated composers of the 20th century....
, 24 Preludes and Fugues24 Preludes and Fugues (Shostakovich)The 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87 by Dmitri Shostakovich is a set of 24 piano pieces, one in each of the major and minor keys of the chromatic scale. While the musical style and ideas are Shostakovich's own, it follows the form of Frederic Chopin's Op. 28 preludes.Each piece is in two parts: a...
, Op. 87 - Sergei SlonimskySergei SlonimskySergei Mikhailovich Slonimsky is a Russian and Soviet composer, pianist and musicologist.-Biography:He is a son of Soviet writer Mikhail Slonimsky and a nephew of the Russian-American composer Nicolas Slonimsky. He studied at the Musical College in Moscow from 1943 until 1950. From 1950 Slonimsky...