Frédéric Chopin

The numbering of many Chopin works is misleading, the most prominent example being that of the two piano concertos, the E minor First actually having been written after the F minor Second. Among his solo piano works, this A flat major Prelude may be the most egregious case of misnumbering: it was not the final of the twenty-six preludes but the very first. Having been published last, however, it was appended posthumously as No. 26, following the 24 Preludes of Op. 28 (1836-39) and No. 25, the C sharp minor Prelude (1841).



The A flat major Prelude is short like most in the Op. 28 set, lasting just under a minute. It is buoyant and sunlit, the music effervescing from the start, the notes skimming gracefully across the keyboard. Chopin weaves one of those rapid, somewhat hazy themes, whose energy and ascending contour impart an ecstatic sense to the proceedings so that when the music runs its brief course the listener is left breathless but wishing the piece had gone on. Chopin was a master of keyboard color and this piece owes its success entirely to his harmonic subtleties and deft thematic turns, both aspects emerging from what might seem most unpromising material.