Chopin Preludes

Chopin Preludes Op. 28

Chopin Preludes Op. 28 are among his finest compositions. They range widely in difficulty. The following levels are from Jane Magrath's The Pianist's Guide to Standard Teaching and Performance Literature.

Level	Prelude	Key	Tempo	Nickname
1
2
3
4
5
6	4 6 7	E minor B minor A major	Largo Lento assai Andantino
7	20	C minor	Largo
8	9	E major	Largo
9	15	D flat major	Sostenuto	“Raindrop”
10	The remaining preludes are level 10 or beyond.

Chopin Preludes Op. 28, Durand Edition

Nicknames given by the pianists Alfred-Denis Cortot and Hans von Bulow:

No. 1 in C Major (Cortot: “Feverish anticipation of loved ones”; Bulow: “Reunion”)
No. 2 in A Minor (Cortot: “Painful meditation, the distant deserted sea”; Bulow: “Presentiment of Death”)
No. 3 in G Major (Cortot: “The singing of the sea”; Bulow: “Thou art so like a flower”)
No. 4 in E Minor (Cortot: “Above a grave”; Bulow: “Suffocation”)
No. 5 in D Major (Cortot: “Tree full of songs”; Bulow: “Uncertainty”)
No. 6 in B Minor (Cortot: “Homesickness”; Bulow: “Tolling Bells”)
No. 7 in A Major (Cortot: “Sensational memories float like perfume through my mind”; Bulow: The Polish dancer”)
No. 8 F-sharp Minor (Cortot: “The snow falls, the wind screams, and the storm rages; yet in my sad heart, the tempest is the worst to behold”; Bulow: “Desperation”)
No. 9 in E Major (Cortot: “Prophetic voices”; Bulow: “Vision”)
No. 10 in C-sharp Minor (Cortot: “Rockets that fall back down to earth”; Bulow: “The night moth”)
No. 11 in B Major (Cortot: “Desire of a young girl”; Bulow: “The dragonfly”)
No. 12 in G-sharp Minor (Cortot: “Night ride”; Bulow: “The duel”)
No. 13 in F-sharp Major (Cortot: “On foreign soil, under a night of stars, thinking of my beloved faraway”; Bulow: “Loss”)
No. 14 in E-flat Minor (Cortot: “Fear”; Bulow: “Stormy sea”)
no. 15 in D-flat Major, (Cortot: “But death is here, in the shadows”; Bulow: “Raindrop”)
No. 16 in B-flat Minor (Cortot: “Descent into the abyss”; Bulow: “Hades”)
No. 17 in A-flat Major (Cortot: “She told me, ‘I love you’”; Bulow: “A scene on the Place de Notre-Dame de Paris”)
No. 18 in F Minor (Cortot: “Divine curses”; Bulow: “Suicide”)
No. 19 in E-flat Major (Cortot: “Wings, wings, that I may flee to you, o my beloved”; Bulow: “Heartfelt happiness”)
No. 20 in C Minor (Cortot: “Funerals”; Bulow: “Funeral march”)
No. 21 in B-flat Major (Cortot: “Solitary return, to the place of confession”; Bulow: “Sunday”)
No. 22 in G Minor (Cortot: “Rebellion”; Bulow: “Impatience”)
No. 23 in F Major (Cortot: “Playing water faeries”; Bulow: “A pleasure boat”)
No. 24 in D Minor (Cortot: “Of blood, of earthly pleasure, of death”; Bulow: “The storm”)