Blogtrek

April: Chopin's Prelude in B-flat Major

Chopin's Prelude in B-flat Major, Opus 28, Number 21, is dominated by patterns in which two notes in unison or close to each other move farther and farther apart from each other, usually in the bass. It seems like this prelude is continually opening up throughout. When I hear those chords, I imagine a flower blooming in fast motion. So this is the Opening Up Prelude. I call it "April" because "April" means opening up; it is similar to the Spanish word abrir, meaning to open. The prelude is not too hard to play although there are some stretches here and there.

To me this prelude symbolizes the never-ending quest for truth and meaning, the fourth principle of my religious group, Unitarian Universalism. It starts with the opening up portions in the bass. To me this symbolizes Discovery, the things we find out about our existence that we have not known before. It is a never ending quest of constant opening up. Occasionally a discovery comes that is so dramatic that it seems that we found The Answer. This appears in the prelude as the booming, blaring middle part in the key of G-flat. It sounds like the Ultimate Trumpet above saying "This is The Answer!!". It is so perfect in harmony and its chords are so loud and clear that we feel that we have found the answer for everything. But look again. This passage is almost all on black keys. It seems that we have ignored a lot. At best it is only a partial answer. So we look at it again and get doubts about it. In the prelude this comes out as the G-flat 7 part, which comes in like a question mark. That F-flat makes the chord unsettled. It is not even the usual type of flat. People think of flats as being black keys, but this one is a white key, the one normally called E. It makes us wonder. Do we have the answer? We begin to have doubts. The revelation begins to lose some of its sparkle. Then the prelude reverts back to the April part where everything opens up. It concludes with the opening-ups still continuing. To me these musical blooms remind me of a part of The Truth opening up to us. Sometimes they strike us like a G-flat thunderbolt, only to have a 7th note take the wind out of the bolt. So what do we do with these blooms? Treasure them while they last. Take advantage of each one, but remember that there is more to life than just these few blooms.