Blogtrek

Moonlight: Chopin's Prelude in E Minor

Chopin's Prelude Opus 28 Number 4 has a haunting mood and slow changes in harmony that make it seem like the light from a fire or the light from shimmering sources, such as moonlight on a lake. Hence I call this one "Moonlight". The melody of this piece isn't much; it goes back and forth between two notes and then it descends. Then like a flute player trying to catch his breath, it pauses, then starts its plaintive melody again. This time it goes through a different string of harmonies. It then soars to a climax and descends into the three-chord ending. At each stage of the harmony, one or two notes change at a time, changing the chord: E minor, F-sharp diminished, F7, F minor 7, and so forth. Of course different notes could have been changed. In fact, this piece can be computerized. I once wrote a program to write a Chopin Prelude in E Minor Opus 28 Number 4 Variant by selecting random notes in the downward descents, which you can play by clicking the name. I only computerized the first half of the prelude; this MIDI file concludes with the original second half. The computer variant sounds pretty much OK but was more discordant and so had a more macabre feel. The computer could have chosen one of millions of Preludes, and in fact Chopin chose one of them and called it his Prelude in E Minor. It is fairly easy to play, but what is tricky is to get the emotion into it because it drags out a sense of melancholy in you and you feel it as you play the tune. It is a good piece to play on a soft summer night.