Sergei Rachmaninoff was one of the most influential musicians of the Romantic period. In addition to being an accomplished and virtuosic pianist, Rachmaninoff also had a passion for composition that proved to be very successful. He wrote many celebrated works throughout his life, some of which include the Prelude in C# Minor, his Second Piano Concerto, Symphony no. 3 in A Minor op. 44, and his Preludes op. 23. One of his most commonly performed works is the fifth prelude of Op. 23. Written two years before the other nine preludes were composed, the fifth prelude highlights much of Rachmaninoff’s sounds through his purposeful use of compositional techniques such as form, music theory, thematic and motivic material, and very intense yet sublime …show more content…
The A section starts with a feeling of a march that ends up being two simple eight measure phrases and continues that through measure sixteen. From measures seventeen through twenty-five, Rachmaninoff introduces the b of the A section, which is in the relative major key of Bb. The melody goes down in a descending line of blocked chords before having a sixteenth note phrase occurring on beat four in every measure. This continues before the phrase climaxes at measure twenty-three with Rachmaninoff writing a quasi-cadenza in measures twenty-three and twenty-four before he returns to the original melody in measure twenty-five. Rachmaninoff continues the main melody before it dissipates into the slower and much more lyrical B section. He gives it a sense of free time that features sweeping arpeggiated lines in the left hand while the right hand plays a beautiful, yet simple lyrical melody. This lyrical melody peaks at the end of measure forty-six going into the beginning of measure forty-seven. Rachmaninoff then writes what could be considered a re-transition from measures fifty through fifty-four, where the tempo starts to slowly accelerando to the original tempo of the Alla