關於蕭邦的作品-Raindrops 一問 。

Preludes (Chopin)


Preludes Op. 28, by Frdric Chopin, are a set of 24 short pieces written for the piano, one in each key, originally published in 1839. Although the term prelude is generally used to describe an introductory piece, Chopin's Preludes stand as self-contained units, each meant to convey a specific idea or emotion.
Chopin's Preludes have been compared to Johann Sebastian Bach's Preludes in the Well-Tempered Clavier. However, each of Bach's preludes leads to a fugue in the same key, and Bach's pieces were arranged chromatically, while Chopin's were arranged in a circle of fifths. Chopin wrote his Preludes between 1835 and 1839, partly at Valldemossa, Majorca where the composer spent the winter of 1838/9 and where he had fled with George Sand and her children to escape the damp Paris weather.
The Preludes
Like Chopin's other works, the Preludes were not named or further described, in contrast to many of Schumann's and Liszt's pieces. Chopin was opposed to program music, but despite his wishes, several lists of names have been proposed by Hans von Blow, Cortot, and others. Although Prelude No. 15 in D-flat major is universally known as the "Raindrop" prelude, the names of the others are rarely used today.


Description, instrumentation and score
Prelude No. 15 in D-flat, nicknamed the "Raindrop" prelude, is the longest and most famous of the 24 preludes, while the main melody, which is repeated three times, is similar to No. 13; it is in a major scale, but melancholy in nature. The middle is much darker; the melody moves to the left hand in the bass and the right hand mostly repeats G sharp, first alone and then in octaves. However, this does not last long as the piece becomes more agitated. The melody returns to the right hand and the piece grows louder, featuring many large chords. A powerful climax takes place before the piece returns to the main melody and from there progresses to the ending.

The story (and I am paraphrasing) goes something like this:
Chopin was anxiously waiting for George Sand (his mistress) who was arriving late. While waiting, it started to rain and Chopin started improving on the piano, imagining that she was dead.
The prelude was written while Chopin and Sand was in Mallorca (an island off the coast of Barcelona, Spain). They lived in a monastery a few miles of Palma de Mallorca, hence the solemn and sacred character of the middle section in the "Raindrops" prelude.
I think this story was only suggested much later in the 20th century. Most likely wasn't true.

To 愛琴海岸
I don't quite agree with Wikipedia about this. I don't think they were really meant as individual units. If one were to study the pedal markings of the first French edition of the preludes (some of which are quite accurately reproduced in the PWM edition), some of the preludes seem to suggest a connection with the next or with another of the set. Besides, as many of the Golden Age pianists have suggested, these could have served as a real preludes to other works (see Tiegermann's recordings).