ABSTRACT
Chopin, as every music lover knows, never wrote a programmatic work. In the meantime, substantive bonds between Lamartine's Les Preludes and Chopin's Preludes can indeed be identified as much more factual and consequential. Exploring these bonds reveals a trove of valuable information. One of the more important bonds between Lamartine's poem and Opus 28 is structural. A strong rationale can be adduced for bringing together two preludes in relative keys. In Russian music theory this modal pattern is known as the, which can be translated as the relative major minor fluctuating mode. Chopin indulged, albeit rarely, in using covert symbolic codes. These textbooks teach melodic permutations on the basis of relatively short melodic segments. The inversion and retrograde examples from these textbooks are based on melodic patterns that are effectively modal. This interaction between melody and harmony largely determines melodic individuality and, consequently, expressivity.
