A Suitable Prelude

This chapter examines the virtually universal custom before the mid-decades of the 20th-century of pianists improvising preludes and transitions between pieces, with especial attention to Chopin, Czerny, Liszt, von Bülow, Busoni, and Grainger. Possible reasons for the origin and eventual demise of the custom are suggested.

This chapter examines the virtually universal custom before the mid-decades of the 20th-century of pianists improvising preludes and transitions between pieces, with especial attention to Chopin, Czerny, Liszt, von Bülow, Busoni, and Grainger. Possible reasons for the origin and eventual demise of the custom are suggested.