Prelude, Chorale and Fugue for solo

Solo (music)

In music, a solo is a piece or a section of a piece played or sung by a single performer...

 piano

Piano

The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...

 is a work written in 1884 by the Belgian composer César Franck

César Franck

César-Auguste-Jean-Guillaume-Hubert Franck was a composer, pianist, organist, and music teacher who worked in Paris during his adult life....

.

As the name implies, it comprises three movements: a prelude

Prelude (music)

A prelude is a short piece of music, the form of which may vary from piece to piece. The prelude can be thought of as a preface. It may stand on its own or introduce another work...

, a chorale

Chorale

A chorale was originally a hymn sung by a Christian congregation. In certain modern usage, this term may also include classical settings of such hymns and works of a similar character....

 and a fugue

Fugue

In music, a fugue is a compositional technique in two or more voices, built on a subject that is introduced at the beginning in imitation and recurs frequently in the course of the composition....

. The interconnectedness and thematic relationships (particularly the cyclic

Cyclic form

Cyclic form is a technique of musical construction, involving multiple sections or movements, in which a theme, melody, or thematic material occurs in more than one movement as a unifying device. Sometimes a theme may occur at the beginning and end Cyclic form is a technique of musical...

 recall of the prelude and chorale in the fugue) make this an unorthodox example of double-function form

Double-Function Form

Double-function form is a musical construction that allows for a collection of movements to be viewed as elements of a single larger musical form. The most famous example of this is Franz Liszt’s Piano Sonata in B minor . The sonata is composed as a single movement with about a half an hour’s...

.

This work is an exemplar of Franck's distinctive use of cyclic form.

External links

• Performance by Alfred Cortot
  Alfred Cortot
  Alfred Denis Cortot was a Franco-Swiss pianist and conductor. He is one of the most renowned 20th-century classical musicians, especially valued for his poetic insight in Romantic period piano works, particularly those of Chopin and Schumann.-Early life and education:Born in Nyon, Vaud, in the...
  
   recorded in 1932 and now in the public domain.
• Performance by Jiyang Chen