Blogtrek

Fits and Starts: Chopin's Prelude in D Major

This Prelude, Opus 28, Number 5, seemed like an ordinary enough tune, and I found it difficult to pin a name on it. Recently, though, I tried playing it. Playing this prelude requires coordination between the two hands and a few jumps of an octave or so. It is a continuous piece with an endless-seeming string of sixteenth notes, six to a measure. To me, when I played it and when I listen to it, the piece does not ever seem to get really going. It goes by fits and starts. It starts first of all with a melody oscillating between B and B-flat (Chopin is using blue notes! The blues had yet to be invented.) Then it resolves into D major, or does it? It starts wandering off again into B minor and continues meandering through a series of harmonies until it finally shoots up to a high D and then settles down to a couple of closing chords. It has a happy feel to it, and sounds pleasant, although its sudden turns keeps you alert. So I find that the prelude has a distinctive character after all.