Prelude in G minor, Op. 23, No. 5, was a music piece by Sergei Rachmaninoff

Sergei Rachmaninoff

Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninoff was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor. Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, one of the last great representatives of Romanticism in Russian classical music...

, completed in 1901. It was included in his Opus 23

Preludes, Op. 23 (Rachmaninoff)

Ten Preludes, Op. 23, is a set of ten preludes for solo piano, composed by Sergei Rachmaninoff in 1901 and 1903. This set includes the famous Prelude in G minor.- Composition :...

 set of ten preludes despite having been written two years earlier than the other nine. It epitomizes Rachmaninoff's Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

n nationalism

Nationalism

Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...

, being rich, in full chords, and with an evocative theme. Rachmaninoff himself premiered the piece in Moscow

Moscow

Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

 on February 10, 1903, along with Preludes No. 1 and 2 from Op. 23.

Structure

The Prelude's taut structure is in ternary form, consisting of an opening "A" section with punctuated sixteenth-note chords (marked Alla marcia), a more lyrical and melancholy "B" section with sweeping arpeggios in the left hand (marked Poco meno mosso), a transition into the original tempo, and a recapitulation of the initial march.

The Alla marcia section is in itself in ternary ABA form. Within the first three measures of the Prelude, Rachmaninoff introduces the unifying factors of the piece (notwithstanding the Poco meno mosso section). First, the chordal march of measure one; second, the fragment on the second half of the beat in measure two; third, the fragment on the second half of beat two in measure three.



Measures 2 and 3


Measures 1-9 expand on the march theme. Following a cadence in the dominant, the section repeats in measures 10-16 with slight alterations and concludes in a G minor perfect cadence.

The famous "B" subsection of the Alla marcia section (measures 17-24) mirors the rhythm of the first measure, presenting a sequence of related chords beginning with E flat.



Measures 17 and 18


Prior to the lyrical "B" section, in measures 29-35, we see the appearance of Rachmaninoff's "fingerprint": descending chromatic chords over a dominant pedal point.



Measures 29 and 30


In contrast to the Alla marcia, the "B" section introduces a lyrical chordal melody over an extended arpeggiated figure. Beginning in measure 35, a two-measure phrase is repeated and then serially extended in measures 39-41. A counter melody appears at measure 42 in the middle voice, intensifying the passage.



Measure 35




Measure 36




Measure 42


Following the middle section, the Prelude transitions to a recaptulation of the march section by gradual increases in tempo and dynamics. The section becomes particularly intense through the use of chromatically upward moving chords following embellished diminished seventh figures.



Measure 72


Finally, despite the bombast of the main march theme, the piece ends in a highly original way: a short arpeggiated run to a high G, marked pianissimo

Dynamics (music)

In music, dynamics normally refers to the volume of a sound or note, but can also refer to every aspect of the execution of a given piece, either stylistic or functional . The term is also applied to the written or printed musical notation used to indicate dynamics...

.



Measure 84

Analysis

In line with the Prelude's mostly militant march tempo, rhythm, and dynamics is a strong feeling of tonal center. The A section switches firmly between G minor and D major, with embellishments of half-diminished and diminished seventh chords.

Chord progressions track cleanly around the circle of fifths. In measures 17-25, for example, the pattern is: E flat - B flat - (d) - F - C - g - (A) - D- G. Many of the more evocative modulations in the prelude are a result of a rising or falling chromatic pattern, found frequently in Rachmaninoff's composition.

Clever use of rhythm gives the piece its somewhat "un-Rachmaninoff" feel. The march section is held together by off-beat chords, the middle section is bound by the triplet left hand accompaniment, and the syncopated chords from measures 72-77 give the piece a forward momentum. Meter changes in measures 9 and 16 are a masterstroke, delicately altering the overall sense of phrase balance.

Recordings

This prelude can be found performed in a variety of different styles, many of them in contrast to the composer's own recordings.

There is a famous video in which Emil Gilels

Emil Gilels

Emil Grigoryevich Gilels was a Soviet pianist, widely considered one of the greatest pianists of the 20th century.His last name is sometimes transliterated Hilels.-Biography:...

 plays this Prelude at a front in World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, in support for the Soviet military

Military

A military is an organization authorized by its greater society to use lethal force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or perceived threats. The military may have additional functions of use to its greater society, such as advancing a political agenda e.g...

 forces fighting the war. The narrator says (in Russian): "Gilels is playing at the front, to remind us what the war is worth fighting for: Immortal music!"

This Prelude is one of the most performed and recorded pieces of the op. 23 set, displaying the virtuosity

Virtuoso

A virtuoso is an individual who possesses outstanding technical ability in the fine arts, at singing or playing a musical instrument. The plural form is either virtuosi or the Anglicisation, virtuosos, and the feminine form sometimes used is virtuosa...

and musical genius of Rachmaninoff.

External links

• Video of young Valentina Igoshina playing the prelude