Prelude: Op. 28, No. 2

Prelude · in A minor · Op. 28 No. 2

Frédéric Chopin 1810–1849
A minor
Key
Prelude
Form
Lento
Tempo
Op. 28 No. 2
Catalogue

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Themes & character
Harmonically bleak·Ambiguous tonality·Slow crawling bass·Strikingly modern

At a glance

Catalogue
Op. 28 No. 2
Key
A minor
Tempo / character
Lento
Form
Prelude

About the piece

The second of Chopin's Preludes, and one of the strangest pieces he ever wrote. A bare, crawling left-hand figure supports a thin fragment of melody, and the harmony wanders so far from any settled key that the piece barely sounds like it is in A minor until its final bars. Its bleakness and tonal ambiguity struck nineteenth century listeners as almost unpleasant, and it now reads as one of the most forward-looking things in the entire set.

The composer

Frédéric Chopin
Frédéric Chopin
1810–1849

Frédéric François Chopin was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist of the early Romantic period who wrote primarily for solo piano. He has maintained worldwide renown as a leading composer of his era whose "poetic genius was based on a professional technique that was without equal in his generation".

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