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A Survey Of The Keyboard Prelude, Bonnie Fansler Mcarthur

Masters Theses

A study of the prelude, the oldest form of idiomatic music for keyboard instruments, offers insight into the heart of piano music. This thesis, a survey of the genre, traces the evolution of the prelude from its roots in the organ improvisations of the fifteenth century to the present century. Although the paper deals exclusively with piano preludes in the chapters after "Preludes of J. S. Bach," the chapters devoted to the organ and harpsichord preludes reveal crucial information necessary to enlightened appreciation of the development of the genre.

Originally a purely functional piece, the prelude allowed the performer to …