Prelude in B minor (Op. 28 No. 6)

Background

No. 6 of Chopin's 24 Preludes, Op. 28, is in B minor and marked Lento assai, very slow. Its striking feature is that the melody lies in the left hand, low and dark like a cello, while the right hand keeps up a quiet pulse of repeated notes above it. Chopin loved the cello. His close friend Auguste Franchomme was a cellist, and the last work Chopin published in his lifetime was his Sonata for cello and piano, Op. 65.

Like the E minor prelude, No. 4, this piece was played on the organ at Chopin's funeral in Paris in 1849. It has also been suggested as the prelude George Sand had in mind when she wrote of a piece full of falling raindrops, although that story is now usually attached to No. 15, the Raindrop Prelude. The steady repeated notes of No. 6 make it easy to see why some listeners connect the two.

How to practise it

Begin with the left hand alone, because it carries the tune. Each phrase opens with a quick climb up the B minor chord, then sings on longer notes.

Play the four sixteenths as one gesture, not four separate taps, and arrive gently on the D. Let each long note fade a little before the next one, as a cellist would with the bow.

The right hand plays eighth notes all the way through. In most bars it holds two lower notes for a beat while the top note repeats:

Keep the repeats very light, playing from the fingertip and letting the key rise only partway between notes. They are the accompaniment, so they must always sit underneath the left hand.

Two places need extra attention. In bar 7 the right hand briefly takes over the melody, answering the left hand; let it sing for that moment, then slip back into the background. In bars 12 to 14 the harmony turns unexpectedly to a bright C major, and the left hand sweeps up a wide arpeggio from low C. Practise that sweep slowly and evenly before you join it to the bars around it.

A plan:

1. Left hand alone at 30 beats a minute, one phrase at a time.
2. Right hand alone, as quietly as you can while staying even.
3. Hands together at 30, then 38, then the full 44.
4. Add the pedal, changing it with each new harmony, which is usually once a bar.

Near the end the left-hand tune returns once more and comes to rest on a long, low B. Hold it, let the final chord fade completely, and only then lift your hands.

Separate-hands practice is explained step by step in how to practise piano.