Prelude, Op. 28, No. 4 (Chopin)
Encyclopedia
The Prelude Op. 28, No. 4, by Frédéric Chopin
, is considered by many to be one of the most famous of the Chopin preludes. By Chopin's request, the piece was played at his own funeral, along with Mozart's Requiem
.
called the prelude "suffocation", due to its sense of despair. In fact, Chopin's last dynamic marking in the piece is smorzando, which means "dying away". But the prelude may have once been given a title. According to George Sand
's daughter Solange, who stayed with the composer at the monastery in Majorca when the preludes were written, “My mother gave a title to each of Chopin’s wonderful Preludes; these titles have been preserved on a score he gave to us.” That titled score is lost. But Solange did record the names of the preludes, apparently without assigning the names to the prelude numbers. It is believed that the title “Quelle larmes au fond du cloître humide?” ("What tears [are shed] from the depths of the damp monastery?") corresponds to Prelude No. 4.
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"....
, is considered by many to be one of the most famous of the Chopin preludes. By Chopin's request, the piece was played at his own funeral, along with Mozart's Requiem
Requiem (Mozart)
The Requiem Mass in D minor by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was composed in Vienna in 1791 and left unfinished at the composer's death. A completion by Franz Xaver Süssmayr was delivered to Count Franz von Walsegg, who had anonymously commissioned the piece for a requiem Mass to commemorate the...
.
Name
Hans von BülowHans von Bülow
Hans Guido Freiherr von Bülow was a German conductor, virtuoso pianist, and composer of the Romantic era. He was one of the most famous conductors of the 19th century, and his activity was critical for establishing the successes of several major composers of the time, including Richard...
called the prelude "suffocation", due to its sense of despair. In fact, Chopin's last dynamic marking in the piece is smorzando, which means "dying away". But the prelude may have once been given a title. According to George Sand
George Sand
Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin, later Baroness Dudevant , best known by her pseudonym George Sand , was a French novelist and memoirist.-Life:...
's daughter Solange, who stayed with the composer at the monastery in Majorca when the preludes were written, “My mother gave a title to each of Chopin’s wonderful Preludes; these titles have been preserved on a score he gave to us.” That titled score is lost. But Solange did record the names of the preludes, apparently without assigning the names to the prelude numbers. It is believed that the title “Quelle larmes au fond du cloître humide?” ("What tears [are shed] from the depths of the damp monastery?") corresponds to Prelude No. 4.
Cultural legacy
- Serge GainsbourgSerge GainsbourgSerge Gainsbourg, born Lucien Ginsburg was a French singer-songwriter, actor and director. Gainsbourg's extremely varied musical style and individuality make him difficult to categorize...
based his 1969 song Jane B on the Prelude No. 4. - Jack NicholsonJack NicholsonJohn Joseph "Jack" Nicholson is an American actor, film director, producer and writer. He is renowned for his often dark portrayals of neurotic characters. Nicholson has been nominated for an Academy Award twelve times, and has won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice: for One Flew Over the...
's character plays the Prelude No. 4 in its entirety in the 1970 film Five Easy PiecesFive Easy PiecesFive Easy Pieces is a 1970 American drama film written by Carole Eastman and Bob Rafelson, and directed by Rafelson. The film stars Jack Nicholson, Karen Black, and Susan Anspach. The cast also includes Billy 'Green' Bush, Fannie Flagg, Ralph Waite, Sally Struthers, Lois Smith, Toni Basil, and...
. - The soundtrack to the 1996 Australian film ShineShine (film)Shine is a 1996 Australian film based on the life of pianist David Helfgott, who suffered a mental breakdown and spent years in institutions. It stars Geoffrey Rush, Lynn Redgrave, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Noah Taylor, John Gielgud, Googie Withers, Justin Braine, Sonia Todd, Nicholas Bell, Chris...
, about the life of pianist David HelfgottDavid HelfgottDavid Helfgott is an Australian concert pianist. He is as well known for having schizoaffective disorder as he is for his piano playing. Helfgott's life inspired the Oscar-winning film Shine, in which he was played by Geoffrey Rush....
, features this piece. - This piece is featured in The West Wing Episode HanHan (The West Wing)- Plot :A renowned North Korean pianist is greeted at the White House for a solo performance, but the formalities change when the musician slips a message to the President stating that he wants to defect. Despite C. J.'s passionate argument, others counsel Bartlet that granting the defection...
, and is used as the embodiment of HanHan (cultural)Han is a concept in Korean culture attributed as a national cultural trait. Han denotes a collective feeling of oppression and isolation in the face of overwhelming odds...
, for which "There is no literal English translation. It's a state of mind. Of soul, really. A sadness. A sadness so deep no tears will come. And yet still there's hope." - The 2002 film The PianistThe Pianist (2002 film)The Pianist is a 2002 biographical war film directed by Roman Polanski, starring Adrien Brody. It is an adaptation of the autobiography of the same name by Jewish-Polish musician Władysław Szpilman...
has this composition on its soundtrack. - The Prelude No. 4 is included on the soundtrack to the 2004 film The NotebookThe Notebook (film)The Notebook is a 2004 romance film directed by Nick Cassavetes, based on the novel of the same name by Nicholas Sparks. The film stars Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams as a young couple who fall in love during the early 1940s...
. - British alternative rockAlternative rockAlternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...
band RadioheadRadioheadRadiohead are an English rock band from Abingdon, Oxfordshire, formed in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke , Jonny Greenwood , Ed O'Brien , Colin Greenwood and Phil Selway .Radiohead released their debut single "Creep" in 1992...
drew inspiration from the Prelude No. 4 while writing their song Exit Music (For a Film)Exit Music (For a Film)"Exit Music " is a song by Radiohead, written specifically for the ending credits of the 1996 film William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet. Although not included on either of the two soundtrack albums at the request of Thom Yorke, the song appears on the band's highly acclaimed third album, OK...
, which was written for the Baz LuhrmannBaz LuhrmannMark Anthony "Baz" Luhrmann is an Australian film director, screenwriter, and producer best known for The Red Curtain Trilogy, which includes his films Strictly Ballroom, William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet and Moulin Rouge!...
film Romeo + Juliet, and which featured on the band's critically acclaimed album OK ComputerOK ComputerOK Computer is the third studio album by the English alternative rock band Radiohead, released on 16 June 1997 on Parlophone in the UK and 1 July 1997 by Capitol Records in the US. It marks a deliberate attempt by the band to move away from the introspective guitar-oriented sound of their previous...
. - This piece is featured in the 1961 British thriller Taste of FearTaste of FearTaste of Fear is a 1961 British thriller film directed by Seth Holt, shot in black-and-white by Douglas Slocombe, and released by Hammer Films...
(US title: Scream of Fear). - Musician Rob DouganRob DouganRob Dougan, also known as Rob D , is a genre-blending music composer. Mixing elements of orchestral music, trip hop, and bluesy vocals, his work is tangentially relatable to electronic music. He was known primarily for his breakthrough 1995 single "Clubbed to Death ", further popularised by 1999's...
composed and recorded "Clubbed To Death 2," a song which uses Prelude No. 4 for most of its musical structure. - It is also used in the soundtrack to the motion picture, Death Wish II (1982), although the composition itself is credited to Jimmy Page.
- In The film Street Scene (1931), halfway through the film you can hear Prelude no. 4 faintly being played in one of the apartments, as a beautiful duet with the piano playing chords and the violin playing main notes.
- The french rap band Suprême NTMSuprême NTMSuprême NTM is a French hip hop group formed in 1989 in the Seine-Saint-Denis département. The group comprises rappers Joey Starr and Kool Shen...
sampled it for their famous song called "That's My People".
External links
- Prelude No. 4 on YouTube, performed by Serhan Özhan.