Despite the common view today that Chopin's 24 Preludes Op.28 form an inviolable cycle, Chopin himself often played varying selections mixed with other works.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Chopin, unlike other Romantic composers, fundamentally opposed programmatic or 'illustrative' references in music, which he emphasized through the neutral titles of his works.
Compositional Technique
Chopin's 24 Preludes Op.28 are notable for their unprecedented brevity, prophetic subversion of traditional tonality, and wide range of pianistic colors and emotions.
Compositional Technique
Chopin's Berceuse Op.57 is built on a one-bar harmonic-melodic figure in the left hand, repeated 54 times, over a sustained D flat in the bass repeated 67 times.
Cultural Impact
Chopin's Barcarolle Op.60 has had a pervasive influence, shaping composers like Brahms, Ravel (whose harmonic vocabulary is prefigured here), and Debussy, whose L'Isle joyeuse might not have been written without it.
Composition History
Chopin's Variations brillantes Op.12, dating from 1833, were plainly made to entertain during his first year as a darling of the Parisian salons.
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