24 Preludes and Fugues (Shostakovich)
Encyclopedia
The 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87 by Dmitri Shostakovich
is a set of 24 piano pieces, one in each of the major
and minor
keys of the chromatic scale
. While the musical style and ideas are Shostakovich's own, it follows the form of Frederic Chopin's Op. 28 preludes.
Each piece is in two parts: a prelude
; and a fugue
woven from a musical idea taken from the prelude. The pieces vary in pace, length and complexity (for example, Fugue No. 13 in F-sharp major is in five voices, but Fugue No. 9 in E major is in only two voices). Unlike Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier, in which the pieces are arranged in parallel major/minor
pairs ascending the chromatic scale
(C major, C minor, C sharp major, C sharp minor etc.), Shostakovich's set proceeds in relative major/minor
pairs around the circle of fifths
: first C major, then A minor, G major, E minor, D major, B minor, and so on, ending with D minor. (Frédéric Chopin
's set of 24 Preludes, Op. 28, is organised in the same way, as are the earlier sets of preludes by Joseph Christoph Kessler
and Johann Nepomuk Hummel
.)
References to and quotations
from Bach's cycle appear in many of the later pieces. There are also many references and musical ideas taken from Shostakovich's own work. The complete work takes about two and a half hours to play.
, Dmitri Shostakovich
was Russia's most prominent composer. Although out of favour with the Soviet Communist Party
, he was still sent abroad as a cultural ambassador. One such trip was to Leipzig
in 1950 for a music festival marking the bicentennial of J. S. Bach
's death.
As part of the festival, Shostakovich was asked to sit on the judging panel for the first International Johann Sebastian Bach Competition
. One of the entrants in the competition was the 26-year-old Tatiana Nikolayeva
from Moscow
. Though not required by competition regulations, she had come prepared to play any of the 48 preludes and fugues of The Well-Tempered Clavier
on request. She won the gold medal.
Inspired by the competition and impressed by Nikolayeva's playing, Shostakovich returned to Moscow and started composing his own cycle of 24 preludes and fugues. Shostakovich worked fairly quickly, taking only three days on average to write each piece. As each was completed he would ask Nikolayeva to come and visit him in his Moscow apartment where he would play her the latest piece.
The complete work was written between 10 October 1950 and 25 February 1951. Once finished, Shostakovich dedicated the work to Nikolayeva, who undertook the public premiere in Leningrad
on 23 December 1952. Shostakovich wrote out all the pieces without many corrections except the B-flat minor prelude, which he was dissatisfied with and replaced what he had begun initially.
in the bass and a lyrical melody in the soprano. There is a consistent legato
/half-staccato
phrasing throughout the prelude in which Shostakovich attempts to imitate Baroque
period phrasing.
Following the prelude, Shostakovich proceeds directly to the fugue without pause. The fugue is a double fugue in four voices with two distinct subjects developed in separate expositions. The first subject is a slow stepwise melody consisting mostly of half note
s and quarter note
s, while the second subject is a partial diminution
or variation on the first subject (eighth notes instead of quarter notes). About two-thirds into the fugue, Shostakovich brings back the original subject in the bass combined with the second subject in the soprano. The E Minor Fugue is one of progressive complexity. The composition begins rather humbly with a quiet, conservative exposition, but it ends triumphantly with nearly every possible fugal device (invertible counterpoint, stretto
, double stretto, diminution, augmentation
, retrograde
) exploited in the final bars.
The following fugue starts with a short introduction. It then continues in a gentle weaving fashion (much like the C sharp minor fugue from Book one of Bach's 48). Much of the piece uses a counter melody against the fugal entries.
that almost could have come from Bach’s quill
. Amazingly, the fugue contains no vertical dissonances whatsoever, instead creating harmonic motion by sporadically touching on unrelated keys such as B flat major, D flat major, and C major. While there is little in the way of thematic or textural development, the piece oozes charm, and the final cadence
comes all too soon.
The three-voice fugue begins with a statement of the main theme, or subject, in the soprano
voice. While fugal subjects usually use stepwise motion, this subject uses only the notes of the A major triad
. This subject is then stated a fourth below in the alto
, as would be expected in a Baroque
fugue. After a brief interplay between the soprano and alto, the bass
is introduced with a statement of the subject, completing the exposition. The modulatory section begins in the minor key; a brief return to the tonic
key provides a breath of calm before an increasingly frenzied series of modulations. These lead to a climax in A major, signalled by a dominant pedal, but this lasts just four bars before the music plunges into C major. The music then settles down, gently leading to the recapitulation
, where a single statement of the subject in the tonic key brings the piece to a close.
.
in some of the fugues. They also objected to the fugue in Soviet music because it was considered too Western
and archaic.
Music critic Alex Ross considers this work as produced by the ‘other Shostakovich’. According to the writer, the composer used chamber forms in the period to channel his most personal compositions, those that would not be suitable for use or approval by the Soviet Government. This piece is included in that group along with several string quartets.
Dmitri Shostakovich
Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich was a Soviet Russian composer and one of the most celebrated composers of the 20th century....
is a set of 24 piano pieces, one in each of the major
Major scale
In music theory, the major scale or Ionian scale is one of the diatonic scales. It is made up of seven distinct notes, plus an eighth which duplicates the first an octave higher. In solfege these notes correspond to the syllables "Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Ti/Si, ", the "Do" in the parenthesis at...
and minor
Minor scale
A minor scale in Western music theory includes any scale that contains, in its tonic triad, at least three essential scale degrees: 1) the tonic , 2) a minor-third, or an interval of a minor third above the tonic, and 3) a perfect-fifth, or an interval of a perfect fifth above the tonic, altogether...
keys of the chromatic scale
Chromatic scale
The chromatic scale is a musical scale with twelve pitches, each a semitone apart. On a modern piano or other equal-tempered instrument, all the half steps are the same size...
. While the musical style and ideas are Shostakovich's own, it follows the form of Frederic Chopin's Op. 28 preludes.
Each piece is in two parts: 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...
; 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....
woven from a musical idea taken from the prelude. The pieces vary in pace, length and complexity (for example, Fugue No. 13 in F-sharp major is in five voices, but Fugue No. 9 in E major is in only two voices). Unlike Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier, in which the pieces are arranged in parallel major/minor
Parallel key
In music, parallel keys are the major and minor scales that have the same tonic. A major and minor scale sharing the same tonic are said to be in a parallel relationship...
pairs ascending the chromatic scale
Chromatic scale
The chromatic scale is a musical scale with twelve pitches, each a semitone apart. On a modern piano or other equal-tempered instrument, all the half steps are the same size...
(C major, C minor, C sharp major, C sharp minor etc.), Shostakovich's set proceeds in relative major/minor
Relative key
In music, relative keys are the major and minor scales that have the same key signatures. A major and minor scale sharing the same key signature are said to be in a relative relationship...
pairs around the circle of fifths
Circle of fifths
In music theory, the circle of fifths shows the relationships among the 12 tones of the chromatic scale, their corresponding key signatures, and the associated major and minor keys...
: first C major, then A minor, G major, E minor, D major, B minor, and so on, ending with D minor. (Frédéric Chopin
Frédéric Chopin
Frédéric François Chopin was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist. He is considered one of the great masters of Romantic music and has been called "the poet of the piano"....
's set of 24 Preludes, Op. 28, is organised in the same way, as are the earlier sets of preludes by Joseph Christoph Kessler
Joseph Christoph Kessler
Joseph Christoph Kessler , also seen as Kötzler, was a German pianist and composer who was active mostly in the Austrian Empire. His études, nocturnes, variations, preludes and bagatelles were praised by such people as Franz Liszt, Sigismond Thalberg, Ignaz Moscheles and Friedrich Kalkbrenner, and...
and Johann Nepomuk Hummel
Johann Nepomuk Hummel
Johann Nepomuk Hummel or Jan Nepomuk Hummel was an Austrian composer and virtuoso pianist. His music reflects the transition from the Classical to the Romantic musical era.- Life :...
.)
References to and quotations
Musical quotation
Musical quotation is the practice of directly quoting another work in a new composition. The quotation may be from the same composer's work , or from a different composer's work ....
from Bach's cycle appear in many of the later pieces. There are also many references and musical ideas taken from Shostakovich's own work. The complete work takes about two and a half hours to play.
History
After the Second World WarWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Dmitri Shostakovich
Dmitri Shostakovich
Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich was a Soviet Russian composer and one of the most celebrated composers of the 20th century....
was Russia's most prominent composer. Although out of favour with the Soviet Communist Party
Communist Party of the Soviet Union
The Communist Party of the Soviet Union was the only legal, ruling political party in the Soviet Union and one of the largest communist organizations in the world...
, he was still sent abroad as a cultural ambassador. One such trip was to Leipzig
Leipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
in 1950 for a music festival marking the bicentennial of J. S. Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...
's death.
As part of the festival, Shostakovich was asked to sit on the judging panel for the first International Johann Sebastian Bach Competition
International Johann Sebastian Bach Competition
The International Johann Sebastian Bach Competition is a music competition in Leipzig, Germany, held by the Bach-Archiv Leipzig. It was founded in 1950 and was held every four years from 1964 to 1996 with five subjects and is now held every two years with three changing subjects...
. One of the entrants in the competition was the 26-year-old Tatiana Nikolayeva
Tatiana Nikolayeva
Tatiana Petrovna Nikolayeva was a Russian Soviet pianist, composer and teacher.-Early life:Nikolayeva was born in Bezhitsa in the Bryansk district on May 4, 1924...
from Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
. Though not required by competition regulations, she had come prepared to play any of the 48 preludes and fugues of The Well-Tempered Clavier
The Well-Tempered Clavier
The Well-Tempered Clavier , BWV 846–893, is a collection of solo keyboard music composed by Johann Sebastian Bach...
on request. She won the gold medal.
Inspired by the competition and impressed by Nikolayeva's playing, Shostakovich returned to Moscow and started composing his own cycle of 24 preludes and fugues. Shostakovich worked fairly quickly, taking only three days on average to write each piece. As each was completed he would ask Nikolayeva to come and visit him in his Moscow apartment where he would play her the latest piece.
The complete work was written between 10 October 1950 and 25 February 1951. Once finished, Shostakovich dedicated the work to Nikolayeva, who undertook the public premiere in Leningrad
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
on 23 December 1952. Shostakovich wrote out all the pieces without many corrections except the B-flat minor prelude, which he was dissatisfied with and replaced what he had begun initially.
Prelude and Fugue No. 1 in C major
In unbroken chords and a haunting melody Shostakovich nevertheless evokes the immortal first Prelude of the 48. The tone is wistful, mostly pianissimo and the harmonic language is very much Shostakovich's own, though not a note is out of place. The tone continues in the Fugue; whereas Bach begins with a scaled 4th, Shostakovich has a bleak bare 5th. In contrast to the characteristic harmonic complexity of the prelude, the fugue is written in the purest C major, without a single accidental.Prelude and Fugue No. 2 in A minor
The prelude is a toccata mostly for one voice, with semiquavers running through in the style of a perpetuum mobile. It is followed by a three-part fugue with a characteristic theme of sevenths and acciaccaturas.Prelude and Fugue No. 3 in G major
The Prelude in G is composed of a juxtaposition of a pesante theme and a lighter quicker theme. The following fugue is the only one set in 6/8 time, although this meter is also shared by the F-sharp Major Prelude.Prelude and Fugue No. 4 in E minor
The prelude begins with an eighth-note appoggiatura figuration phrased in pairs between a sustained cantus firmusCantus firmus
In music, a cantus firmus is a pre-existing melody forming the basis of a polyphonic composition.The plural of this Latin term is , though the corrupt form canti firmi is also attested...
in the bass and a lyrical melody in the soprano. There is a consistent legato
Legato
In musical notation the Italian word legato indicates that musical notes are played or sung smoothly and connected. That is, in transitioning from note to note, there should be no intervening silence...
/half-staccato
Staccato
Staccato is a form of musical articulation. In modern notation it signifies a note of shortened duration and separated from the note that may follow by silence...
phrasing throughout the prelude in which Shostakovich attempts to imitate Baroque
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
period phrasing.
Following the prelude, Shostakovich proceeds directly to the fugue without pause. The fugue is a double fugue in four voices with two distinct subjects developed in separate expositions. The first subject is a slow stepwise melody consisting mostly of half note
Half note
In music, a half note or minim is a note played for half the duration of a whole note and twice the duration of a quarter note...
s and quarter note
Quarter note
A quarter note or crotchet is a note played for one quarter of the duration of a whole note . Often people will say that a crotchet is one beat, however, this is not always correct, as the beat is indicated by the time signature of the music; a quarter note may or may not be the beat...
s, while the second subject is a partial diminution
Diminution
In Western music and music theory, diminution has four distinct meanings. Diminution may be a form of embellishment in which a long note is divided into a series of shorter, usually melodic, values...
or variation on the first subject (eighth notes instead of quarter notes). About two-thirds into the fugue, Shostakovich brings back the original subject in the bass combined with the second subject in the soprano. The E Minor Fugue is one of progressive complexity. The composition begins rather humbly with a quiet, conservative exposition, but it ends triumphantly with nearly every possible fugal device (invertible counterpoint, stretto
Stretto
The term stretto comes from the Italian past participle of stringere, and means "narrow", "tight", or "close".In music the Italian term stretto has two distinct meanings:...
, double stretto, diminution, augmentation
Augmentation (music)
In Western music and music theory, the word augmentation has three distinct meanings. Augmentation is a compositional device where a melody, theme or motif is presented in longer note-values than were previously used...
, retrograde
Retrograde (music)
A musical line which is the reverse of a previously or simultaneously stated line is said to be its retrograde or cancrizans. An exact retrograde includes both the pitches and rhythms in reverse. An even more exact retrograde reverses the physical contour of the notes themselves, though this is...
) exploited in the final bars.
Prelude and Fugue No. 6 in B minor
Beginning much like a French overture (dotted rhythms) this prelude remains very tonal throughout. The bass plays has much of the melodic content - again a device used by Bach in his 48 preludes and fugues.The following fugue starts with a short introduction. It then continues in a gentle weaving fashion (much like the C sharp minor fugue from Book one of Bach's 48). Much of the piece uses a counter melody against the fugal entries.
Prelude and Fugue No. 7 in A major
The A major prelude is a two-part invention that begins with a tonic pedal and a cheerful, delicate motifMotif (music)
In music, a motif or motive is a short musical idea, a salient recurring figure, musical fragment or succession of notes that has some special importance in or is characteristic of a composition....
that almost could have come from Bach’s quill
Quill
A quill pen is a writing implement made from a flight feather of a large bird. Quills were used for writing with ink before the invention of the dip pen, metal-nibbed pens, the fountain pen, and, eventually, the ballpoint pen...
. Amazingly, the fugue contains no vertical dissonances whatsoever, instead creating harmonic motion by sporadically touching on unrelated keys such as B flat major, D flat major, and C major. While there is little in the way of thematic or textural development, the piece oozes charm, and the final cadence
Cadence (music)
In Western musical theory, a cadence is, "a melodic or harmonic configuration that creates a sense of repose or resolution [finality or pause]." A harmonic cadence is a progression of two chords that concludes a phrase, section, or piece of music...
comes all too soon.
The three-voice fugue begins with a statement of the main theme, or subject, in the soprano
Soprano
A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...
voice. While fugal subjects usually use stepwise motion, this subject uses only the notes of the A major triad
Triad (music)
In music and music theory, a triad is a three-note chord that can be stacked in thirds. Its members, when actually stacked in thirds, from lowest pitched tone to highest, are called:* the Root...
. This subject is then stated a fourth below in the alto
Alto
Alto is a musical term, derived from the Latin word altus, meaning "high" in Italian, that has several possible interpretations.When designating instruments, "alto" frequently refers to a member of an instrumental family that has the second highest range, below that of the treble or soprano. Hence,...
, as would be expected in a Baroque
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
fugue. After a brief interplay between the soprano and alto, the bass
Bass (voice type)
A bass is a type of male singing voice and possesses the lowest vocal range of all voice types. According to The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, a bass is typically classified as having a range extending from around the second E below middle C to the E above middle C...
is introduced with a statement of the subject, completing the exposition. The modulatory section begins in the minor key; a brief return to the tonic
Tonic (music)
In music, the tonic is the first scale degree of the diatonic scale and the tonal center or final resolution tone. The triad formed on the tonic note, the tonic chord, is thus the most significant chord...
key provides a breath of calm before an increasingly frenzied series of modulations. These lead to a climax in A major, signalled by a dominant pedal, but this lasts just four bars before the music plunges into C major. The music then settles down, gently leading to the recapitulation
Recapitulation (music)
In music theory, the recapitulation is one of the sections of a movement written in sonata form. The recapitulation occurs after the movement's development section, and typically presents once more the musical themes from the movement's exposition...
, where a single statement of the subject in the tonic key brings the piece to a close.
Prelude and Fugue No. 8 in F-sharp minor
Short piece, very agitated in nature. Staccato and chromatics add to the chilling nature of the melody.Prelude and Fugue No. 15 in D-flat major
The prelude is a brusque waltz typical of Shostakovich. The opening theme resembles "We Wish You a Merry Christmas". The date of the composition (20 December) may explain this. The fugue is a tour de force of chromatic writing. The subject contains 11 of the 12 semitones available.Prelude and Fugue No. 24 in D minor
This double fugue shares a key signature and several features with the last fugue from Bach's The Art of FugueThe Art of Fugue
The Art of Fugue , BWV 1080, is an incomplete work by Johann Sebastian Bach . It was most likely started at the beginning of the 1740s, if not earlier. The first known surviving version, which contained 12 fugues and 2 canons, was copied by the composer in 1745...
.
Reception
The pieces were not well received by the Soviet critics when Shostakovich first played the Preludes and Fugues at a special meeting for the Union of Composers in May 1951. The critics expressed great displeasure at the dissonanceConsonance and dissonance
In music, a consonance is a harmony, chord, or interval considered stable, as opposed to a dissonance , which is considered to be unstable...
in some of the fugues. They also objected to the fugue in Soviet music because it was considered too Western
Western Europe
Western Europe is a loose term for the collection of countries in the western most region of the European continents, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a geographic entity—the region lying in the...
and archaic.
Music critic Alex Ross considers this work as produced by the ‘other Shostakovich’. According to the writer, the composer used chamber forms in the period to channel his most personal compositions, those that would not be suitable for use or approval by the Soviet Government. This piece is included in that group along with several string quartets.
External links
- Earsense.org Analysis of each piece.
- denisplutalov.com Free MP3 download of the 2005 live performance of Shostakovich's Twenty-Four Preludes and Fugues.
- http://www.kleep.com/Music/Preludio-Y-Fuga-Para-Piano-En-D-dimitri-Shostakovich-Marco-A-Gil---Piano.894301