Description & Musical Analysis
Composed in 1892, Rachmaninoff’s C-sharp Minor Prelude sets tolling piano chords against a flowing middle section before the opening returns. Explore the complete MIDI alongside its four-part score.
How to Play & Trivia
A tolling motif at the heart of the piece
Sergei Rachmaninoff composed the Prelude in C-sharp minor, Op. 3 No. 2, in 1892. Its weighty opening chords give way to a more flowing middle section, then the opening idea returns. The contrast between those textures gives the short work its dramatic shape.
Listen and follow the score
This piano MIDI runs for about 2 minutes and 44 seconds and contains 1,725 note events across four piano tracks. The score is in C-sharp minor and marks changes of tempo, so the performance moves through more than one pulse. Practice the lower notes and upper lines separately, then bring them together while following the transition into the central passage.
Score and source
The MIDI matches Mutopia Project’s complete four-page piano score. Its page dates the composition to 1892 and lists Bosworth & Co. (1896) and Universal Edition (1910) as source editions. The contribution is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0. [View the score and MIDI source](https://www.mutopiaproject.org/cgibin/piece-info.cgi?id=2033) · [Read the CC BY-SA 4.0 license](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).
Available Instruments: Piano (Grand, Upright, Electric), Synthesizer, Organ, Guitar, 12-String Guitar, Viola Caipira, Ukulele, Bass (4 and 5 strings), Violin, Viola, Cello, Harp, Kalimba, Marimba, Xylophone, Vibraphone, Glockenspiel, Recorder, Flute, Ocarina, Saxophone, Clarinet, and Trumpet.
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