Frederic Chopin, Who Is Often Called "The

Frederic Chopin, who is often called "the poet of the piano," does not falter with Prelude Op. 28, No. 4, which is in the key of E minor. The Prelude Op. 28, No. 4 is homophonic and one of twenty-four preludes written for piano within Op. 28, and each piece corresponds to one of the twenty-four keys. This is one of Chopin's more famous pieces and contains a dark tone (in part due to the piece being in a minor key) (Nicholas 2007).

Perhaps this is why he chose this song along with Mozart's Requiem played at his funeral (Niecks 1888). In addition to the minor key evoking a feeling of sadness and despair, Chopin was well-known for using dissonance which is very prevalent in a majority of the lower toned chords in No. 4 (Sheppard 2006). Though no certain titles exist for Chopin's preludes, his lover's daughter Solange, stated that her mother (who was famous literary figure George Sand) had given each of the preludes a title on a score which has since been lost.

However, Solange did record the names of the preludes separately without the corresponding prelude numbers. It is commonly believed that the title, Quelle larmes au fond du cloitre humide? which means, "What tears [are shed] from the depths of the damp monastery?" was intended for No. 4 (Eigeldinger 1986). Chopin masters the use of tempo in this piece as well. The tempo throughout the piece is a moderately slow one but changes often.

This is best observed by listening to the supporting chords of the melody, which either drags the piece to a muddling pace or creates a sense of urgency. Although the twenty-four preludes do not seem to exhibit thematic elements, motifs appear throughout. Scholar Jeffrey Kresky put it best when he said, "As we note or sense at the start of each piece the various connections to and changes from the previous one, we then feel free to involve ourselves...only with the.