The Prelude Op. 28, No. 16, the "Hades"
prelude, by
Frédéric Chopin, is considered by many to be the most difficult of the
Chopin preludes.
Hans von Bülow
Freiherr Hans Guido von Bülow (8 January 1830 – 12 February 1894) was a German conductor, virtuoso pianist, and composer of the Romantic era. As one of the most distinguished conductors of the 19th century, his activity was critical for es ...
dubbed this prelude "Hades." It was composed between 1836 and 1839, published in 1839 and dedicated to
Camille Pleyel
Joseph Étienne Camille Pleyel (December 18, 1788 – May 4, 1855) was a French virtuoso pianist, publisher, and owner of Pleyel et Cie. He also ran a concert hall, the Salle Pleyel, where Frédéric Chopin played the first and last of his ...
who commissioned the opus 28 preludes for 2,000 francs.
["Chopin in Paris" by Tad Szulc, Da Capo Press 2000, pg 32. ]
The prelude opens with six heavily accented chords before progressing to an
impromptu
An impromptu (, , loosely meaning "offhand") is a free-form musical composition with the character of an ''ex tempore'' improvisation as if prompted by the spirit of the moment, usually for a solo instrument, such as piano. According to ''Allgeme ...
-like passage in the right hand. While the right hand must cover some four to six pages (depending on the edition) of
sixteenth note
Figure 1. A 16th note with stem facing up, a 16th note with stem facing down, and a 16th rest.
Figure 2. Four 16th notes beamed together.
In music, a 1/16, sixteenth note (American) or semiquaver ( British) is a note played for half the du ...
s in around a minute at a ''
presto con fuoco'' tempo, most pianists find the prime difficulty of the prelude to be the rapid follow-through motion of the three-note left-hand chord groups.
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See also
*Preludes (Chopin)
Frédéric Chopin wrote a number of preludes for piano solo. His cycle of 24 Preludes, Op. 28, covers all major and minor keys. In addition, Chopin wrote three other preludes: a prelude in C minor, Op. 45; a piece in A major from 1834; and an ...
References
External links
Prelude No. 16
on YouTube, performed by Martha Argerich
Martha Argerich (; Eastern Catalan: ™É¾Ê’əˈɾik born 5 June 1941) is an Argentine classical concert pianist. She is widely considered to be one of the greatest pianists of all time.
Early life and education
Argerich was born in Buenos A ...
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Compositions by Frédéric Chopin
Compositions for solo piano
1839 compositions
Chopin
Compositions in B-flat minor