In the latter Bach sometimes exhibits all the
objectivity of the study or toccata, and often wears his heart in
full view. Chopin's Preludes--the only preludes to be compared to
Bach's--are largely personal, subjective, and intimate. This
first one is not Bach-ian, yet it could have been written by no
one but a devout Bach student. The pulsating, passionate,
agitated, feverish, hasty qualities of the piece are modern; so
is the changeful modulation. It is a beautiful composition,
rising to no dramatic heights, but questioning and full of life.
Klindworth writes in triplet groups, Kullak in quintolets.
Breitkopf & Hartel do not. Dr. Hugo Riemann, who has edited a few
of the Preludes, phrases the first bars thus:
Desperate and exasperating to the nerves is the second prelude in
A minor. It is an asymmetric tune. Chopin seldom wrote ugly
music, but is this not ugly, forlorn, despairing, almost
grotesque, and discordant? It indicates the deepest depression in
its sluggish, snake-like progression. Willeby finds a resemblance
to the theme of the first nocturne.
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