About ten years after the appearance of Frédéric Chopin Préludes Op. 28, Alkan published
his 25 Préludes in 1847, with the peculiar double destination “for piano or organ”. Church
organist and piano virtuoso himself, Alkan explored with these pieces diverse sound
worlds while expanding a genre that had moved with Chopin quickly away from the free-
improvisatory-introductory short piece to a well-thought character piece. In the 25 July
1847 edition of the Revue et Gazette musicale Paris, Joseph Fétis advised that virtuosity
won’t be found in Alkan’s Op.31, being he a man of “thought and sentiment”. According to
Fétis, "His Préludes are reveries, that conceal a very well thought-out and accomplished
art form under the appearance of carelessness.”
This description can be well applied to the later Debussy Préludes, where the (apparent) extemporaneity of their conception is underlined both by the suggested characters of the
music - creatures of the magic world, personifications of natural elements, impressions on
the verge of realistic happenings - and by the proposed titles, printed only at the end of
each piece. Between 1898 and 1913, Mélanie Bonis, fellow student with Claude Debussy
at the Paris Conservatoire, wrote several pieces, collected now under the title Femmes de
Légende . These character-pieces -some of them could be well called “Préludes”, are inspired by female figures of history and legends. The link between Bonis' works and
Debussy’s appears to be self-evident while a red thread with Alkan and the Romantic
French Prélude will be suggested by the unfolding of the music.
Performed by CCHK guest artist Stefania Neonato, we invite you to join us on Wednesday, November 13th, 2024, at 7:30 p.m. at Barnes Hall. All events are free and open to the public.
