Preludes in all the keys

[Albion]

Bach and Shostakovich (Op.87) wrote cycles of preludes and fugues systematically working through the entire key-system, whilst there are sets of preludes in all the keys by Chopin (Op.28), Rachmaninov (spread across various opus numbers), Scriabin (Op.11), Alkan (Op.31) and another set by Shostakovich (Op.34).

York Bowen wrote his 24 Preludes, Op.102 around 1950 and Stanford traversed the entire key scheme twice in his Preludes Opp. 163 (1918) and 179 (1921).

Are there any other examples of this very orderly approach? 

[alberto]

Some examples could be J.N. Hummel op.67, Felix Blumenfeld op.17, Dimitri Kabalevsky 0p.38. Possibly also Nikolai Kapustin op.53.

[Albion]

The cyclic key concept is clearly alive and well, as Russian composer Lera Auerbach (b.1973) produced the following sets in 1999:

24 Preludes for Piano, Op.41
24 Preludes for Violin and Piano, Op.46
24 Preludes for Cello and Piano, Op.47



Away from the piano, there are 24 Preludes for Guitar (c.1929) by Manuel Ponce (1882-1948), of which half remained unpublished until 1981.



Algernon Ashton (1859-1937) clearly had time on his hands, reputedly completing 'cycles' of 24 piano sonatas and 24 string quartets, each covering the entire key scheme (many now unfortunately being lost, along with all his orchestral music).

[eschiss1]

Shostakovich may have been working toward the same with his quartets (though only managed 15) and Rheinberger with his organ sonatas (better innings there).
Agreed, lots of examples.  Guessing that the following are among them - 24 Études en forme de Preludes by Edward Wolff, 24 Exercises et Préludes opus 21 by Henri Herz, 24 Preludes opus 81 by Stephen Heller (Chopinesque sequence of keys). Perhaps? sets besides by Palmgren (rather unusual key sequence for this context) and Kalkbrenner.  (Eg the IMSLP Preludes category has a long sublist of '24 preludes' though it's a question only determinable by observation which of them cover all the keys...)

[Francis Pott]

Hello, I've just happened upon this interesting website and joined up. I've written various notes on Bowen, Dale and others for Hyperion and if I may I'll correct you slightly about the Bowen Preludes: they were only published in 1950 but the compositional part was completed shortly before the outbreak of the Second War. I find them uneven in inspiration but the best of them are excellent - as are the performances they've now received on disc from Messrs Hough and Celis and also from Marie-Catherine Girod.

[TerraEpon]

Gliere and Kabalevsky both did it as well.

[Jonathan]

And Cui as well!

[thalbergmad]

Chasins, Cramer, Czerny, Kalkbrenner, Niemann, Palmgren, Concone, Cummings-Knight, Winding, Tsintsadse, Chaulieu & Sorokin as well, unless I am mistaken.

Thal

[kdjupdal]

Geirr Tveitt:
12 Inventions in 12 different keys. An early work by this composer, and quite nice music. Modal tonality.

spotify:album:1bIyl1xo5pbhcjcKBxB9qX

And of course:
Ludus Tonalis by Hindemith.

[alberto]

If 12 preludes in 12 different keys is inside the topic, there is the controversial Hans Huber (and for four-hands piano).

[Albion]

If 12 preludes in 12 different keys is inside the topic

Yes, any composite work which seeks (for whatever reason) to exploit the full range of the chromatic scale (not necessarily major and minor) should be included. They need not necessarily be Preludes either:

there are complementary sets of Etudes by Alkan - 12 in all the major keys (Op.35) and 12 in all the minor keys (Op.39), whilst Johann Christian Schickhardt (c.1682-c.1762) in his Alphabet de la Musique, Op.30 (c.1735) wrote 24 sonatas in all the keys for flute, violin or recorder.

[Francis Pott]

In his opus 31 Alkan went for 25 Preludes so that he could come round again and end where he began, in C - but there's an idiosyncratic arrangement, with pairs in which the first is always the dominant of the second. There's also the curious 'split-level' entity of the 12 Etudes by Liszt that get only halfway round the key cycle and are finished off much later as an act of homage by Liapunov.

I think Hans Gal wrote 24 Preludes (possibly fugues as well, I don't have them and can't remember).

[eschiss1]

According to the Hans Gal website, 24 Preludes, op.83 (1959-60) probably fits...

[chill319]

Stephen Heller, 24 Preludes, opus 81 (c.1853 based on the B&H plate nos.)

[eschiss1]

re Heller opus 81: according to Hofmeisters Monatsberichte, 1853 is indeed right for the Breitkopf & Härtel issue and probably for the first appearance of the work in print at all too (or use RHUL-Hofmeister to search). Useful resources for determining publication dates within certain ranges (though with caveats as with any other resources, of course). - Eric