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Rachmaninoff Preludes

21 of the 24 preludes, free to read, hear and print, in the composer's own order.

Every score here is public domain, free to read, print and keep.

Like Chopin and Bach before him, Rachmaninoff wrote a prelude in every major and minor key, but over twenty years: the C sharp minor in 1892, which made him famous at nineteen, ten more as Op. 23 in 1903, and thirteen as Op. 32 in 1910. Together they are some of the richest piano writing there is, all bells and big chords and long Russian melodies.

They are numbered here as one set of twenty-four. Most ask for large hands and strong technique, but a few, Op. 23 No. 4 in D major and Op. 32 No. 10 among them, reward a slow, careful learner, and the reader plays every one back at whatever speed you need.

About the pieces

Prelude in C-sharp minor, Op. 3 No. 2

Rachmaninoff was nineteen when he played this prelude in public for the first time in 1892, and it made him famous almost overnight; audiences called for 'the Prelude' at his concerts for the rest of his life. Three solemn bell-like notes open it, a fierce Agitato rushes through the middle, and the return of the bells is so massive that Rachmaninoff wrote it on four staves; here those are set on two.

Prelude in F-sharp minor, Op. 23 No. 1

The first of the ten Preludes, Op. 23 is a slow Largo, dark and quiet.

Prelude in B-flat major, Op. 23 No. 2

The second of Rachmaninoff's ten Preludes, Op. 23, written in 1903.

Prelude in D minor, Op. 23 No. 3

The third of Rachmaninoff's ten Op. 23 preludes is marked Tempo di minuetto and has the formal step of an old dance.

Prelude op. 23 no. 4 in D major (with

A prelude was once what you played to warm up before something else, until composers began writing preludes that are the whole piece. Rachmaninoff had famously large hands and wrote for them, then left Russia in 1917 and spent the rest of his life as a touring pianist.

Prelude in G minor, Op. 23 No. 5

The most often played of Rachmaninoff's ten Op. 23 preludes.

Prelude in E-flat major, Op. 23 No. 6

The sixth of Rachmaninoff's ten preludes, Op. 23, a quiet and lyrical Andante.

Prelude in A flat major, Op. 23 No. 8

From Rachmaninoff's ten Op. 23 preludes.

Prelude in E flat minor, Op. 23 No. 9

The ninth of the Op. 23 preludes is a fast study in double notes, marked Presto, with the right hand playing continuous pairs of notes almost from start to finish.

Prelude in G flat major, Op. 23 No. 10

The last of the ten preludes in Rachmaninoff's Op. 23; with the famous C sharp minor prelude and the thirteen of Op.

Prelude in C major, Op. 32 No. 1

The first of Rachmaninoff's thirteen Op. 32 preludes, written in 1910, is short and fierce: a rush up from the very bottom of the piano, then a whirl of quick triplet chords over a stern bass line, ending in a bright flourish.