Prelude and fugue
In classical music, the combination of prelude and fugue is one with a long history. Many composers have written one or, usually, several such works. The use of this format is generally inspired by Johann Sebastian Bach's two books of preludes and fugues — The Well-Tempered Clavier — completed in 1722 and 1742 respectively. Bach, however, was not the first to compose such a set: Johann Caspar Ferdinand Fischer wrote a 20-key cycle in his 1702 work Ariadne musica.
A number of composers wrote sets of pieces covering all 24 major and minor keys. Many of these have been sets of 24 preludes and fugues, or 24 preludes.
Works
The following works employ, sometimes loosely, the prelude-and-fugue format.
- The Well-Tempered Clavier, Bach
- Prelude and Fugue in A minor, BWV 543, Bach
- Prelude (Toccata) and Fugue in E major, BWV 566, Bach
- 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87, Shostakovich
- Ariadne musica, Fischer
- Eight Short Preludes and Fugues, composer uncertain
- Fantasy and Fugue on the chorale Ad nos ad salutarem undam, Liszt
- Fantasy and Fugue on the Theme B-A-C-H, Liszt
- Ludus Tonalis, Hindemith
- Prelude, Chorale and Fugue, Franck
- Prelude, Fugue, and Riffs, Bernstein
Composers of
The composers listed below, who lived and composed in the 19th and 20th centuries, employed this format.
- Mark Alburger, 12 Topical Preludes and Fugues
- Algernon Ashton
- Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco
- David Cope, 48 Preludes and Fugues
- David Diamond, 52 Preludes and Fugues
- Hiroshi Hara
- Hans Huber
- Alexander Iakovtchouk
- David Johnson, 12 Preludes and Fugues
- A. A. Klengel
- Trygve Madsen, 24 Preludes and Fugues for piano, Op. 101
- Henry Martin
- Felix Mendelssohn
- Bruce Cameron Munson
- Frank Tveor Nordensten
- Camille Saint-Saëns, 3 Preludes and Fugues, Opp. 99 & 109
- Dmitri Shostakovich, 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87, 1950–51
- Dmitri Kabalevsky, 6 Preludes and Fugues for piano, Op. 61, 1958–59
- Rodion Shchedrin, 24 Preludes and Fugues for piano, composed in 1964 and 1970
- Igor Rekhin (b. 1941 in Tambov, Russia), 24 Preludes and Fugues for solo Guitar, 1990
- Sergei Slonimsky, 24 Preludes and Fugues for piano, 1994
- Nikolai Kapustin, 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 82, 1997