At Lloyd Arriola's concert, which I mentioned two entries back, an audience member asked me a very good question. She was wondering about the exact meanings of some of the titles on the program, "Rhapsody" and "Prelude" in particular.
These titles for short piano pieces came into frequent usage during the Romantic period. My first response was that these were short free forms, but that doesn't explain how to differentiate the two. I've done a bit of research, and here's what I came up with.
"Rhapsody" often connotes one of the following:
1. having the character of an epic tale - this idea has its roots in the Greek origins of the word "rhapsody"
2. having a national or regional character, as in the Hungarian Rhapsodies of Brahms
3. being episodic in structure
Preludes
In earlier periods, preludes were exactly what the term sounds like - pieces to preceed other pieces. These pieces were for the purpose of establishing the key of the piece that would follow, and they were often improvised.
In Romantic era preludes, the improvisatory mood is maintained. Also, it seems that an individual prelude usually presents a small number of ideas and has very little time for development. Thus, preludes still serve an introductory function. That is, they introduce a musical idea as opposed to developing it over an extended period of time.
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