prelude

1 something that serves as a preceding event or introduces what follows; "training is a necessary preliminary to employment"; "drinks were the overture to dinner" [syn: preliminary, overture]

2 music that precedes a fugue or introduces an act in an opera

1 serve as a prelude or opening to

2 play as a prelude

English

Pronunciation

Noun

1. an introductory or preliminary performance or event; a preface
2. a short piece of music that acts as an introduction to a longer piece

Translations

Verb

1. to introduce something, as a prelude

A Prelude ("before play") is something that serves as a preceding event or introduces what follows after it. It may also refer to:

• Prelude (music), a musical form
• The Prelude, a poem by William Wordsworth
• Preludes, a poem by T. S. Eliot
• "Prelude" (short story), a short story by New Zealand author Katherine Mansfield
• Honda Prelude, an automobile manufactured by Honda
• Prelude-IDS, open source hybrid IDS framework

Music

• Preludes (Chopin), a set of 24 piano pieces by Frédéric Chopin, written between 1835 and 1839
• Prelude in C-sharp minor (Rachmaninoff), a piano piece by Sergei Rachmaninoff, written in 1892
• Preludes (Debussy), two sets of piano pieces by Claude Debussy, written between 1909 and 1913
• Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune, an orchestral piece by Debussy
• Prelude Records (record label), a former New York-based dance independent record label
• Prelude Records, a specialist classical music CD shop in Norwich, England
• Prelude (band), a British rock band
• Marionette -prelude-, a prelude to Ayumi Hamasaki's 2007/2008 song Marionette from her 9th studio album, Guilty
• Prelude is the title of a funk/jazz fusion album by native Brazilian keyboarder Eumir Deodato, released in 1973 and famous for the jazzy/funky arrangement of Richard Strauss' Also Sprach Zarathustra
• "Prelude", a song by Hawkwind from their 1980 album Levitation
• "Prelude (The Family Trip)", a song by the band Marilyn Manson from their 1994 debut album Portrait of an American Family
• "Prelude", a song by Symphony X from their 2000 album V-The New Mythology Suite
• "Prelude", a song by LL Cool J from his 1995 album Mr. Smith
• "Prelude", a song by Camper Van Beethoven from their album New Roman Times
• "Prelude 12/21" is a single off of Decemberunderground from AFI
• "Prelude", a song commonly used in the intro of the Final Fantasy Game series
• "Prelude" a song by the musician Yanni Chrysomallis, a World Music band/orchestra performance piece
• "The Prelude", a song from Kingdom Come, the 2007 album from Jay-Z
• "Prelude 3.0", a song by Slipknot from their 2004 album Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses)
• Preludes - Rare and Unreleased Recordings, an album by Warren Zevon
• "Prelude", a guitar solo by Yngwie Malmsteen, from the Album Rising Force

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