Preludes, Op. 23 (Rachmaninoff)

Ten Preludes, Op. 23, is a set of ten preludes for solo piano, composed by Sergei Rachmaninoff in 1901 and 1903. This set includes the famous Prelude in G minor.

Together with the Prelude in C-sharp minor, Op. 3/2 and the 13 Preludes, Op. 32, this set is part of a full suite of 24 preludes in all the major and minor keys.

Op. 23 is composed of ten preludes, ranging from two to five minutes in length. Combined, the pieces take around thirty minutes to perform. They are:

Rachmaninoff completed Prelude No. 5 in 1901. The remaining preludes were completed after Rachmaninoff's marriage to his cousin Natalia Satina: Nos. 1, 4, and 10 premiered in Moscow on February 10, 1903, and the remaining seven were completed soon thereafter. 1900-1903 were difficult years for Rachmaninoff and his motivation for writing the Preludes was predominantly financial. Rachmaninoff composed the works in the Hotel America, financially dependent on his cousin Alexander Siloti, to whom the Preludes are dedicated.

Rachmaninoff's Ten Preludes abandon the traditional short prelude form delineated by composers such as Bach, Scriabin, and Chopin. Unlike Chopin's, some half-page musical fragments, Rachmaninoff's Ten Preludes last for several minutes each, expanding into complex polyphonic forms with musically independent sections. The pieces perhaps represent a culmination of the Romantic idiom. The set reflects Rachmaninoff's experience as a virtuoso pianist and master composer, testing the "...technical, tonal, harmonic, rhythmic, lyrical, and percussive capabilities of the piano."

The popular Prelude in C-sharp minor, Op. 3, No. 2 perhaps unfairly eclipses the Op. 23 Preludes. Rachmaninoff remarked, "...I think the Preludes of Op. 23 are far better music than my first Prelude, but the public has shown no disposition to share in my belief...." The composer never played all of the Preludes in one sitting, preferring to cycle through a rotating mix of his favorites. Nonetheless, certain characteristics of the work, such as the recurrence of stepwise motion, common chords between adjacent preludes, and the bookended relationship between the first and last preludes (both marked Largo, with the latter in the parallel major of the former) suggest that the works could be played as a set. Together with Op. 32 and Op. 3, Rachmaninoff's Preludes represent all twenty-four major and minor keys.

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