needed a map to get through some very difficult stretch of land;
and the Chopin preludes are not obscure in this sense. But we find
such guides also for works such as the plays of Shakespeare. Here,
we discover that blend of analysis (however construed or styled),
opinion (ideally representing a generally informed, educated turn
of mind, and not some idiosyncratic or overly personal opinion--
although a certain personal approach may be helpful in the guid-
ing process), and--for lack of any better term for it--"musings,"
that may accompany the great, complex works of literature and be
the looked-for "companion" to the reading experience, the experi-
ence of remembering and integrating the work.

Thus, although considerable analysis in the quite usual pitch-
specific sense will occur in most of the discussions of these little
pieces, commentary of other sorts will also be found: aesthetic,
historical--in short, just those things that would seem to make up
the kind of sophisticated "music appreciation" that perhaps is the
best equivalent in music to the intellectually oriented critical
enterprise as it is known and respected in literature.

Such a companion to the Chopin preludes has a variety of
intended uses. Like its presumed counterparts in literature, it can
be read by the academically inclined music lover--though the
heavy amount of technical information required to follow the ana-
lytic descriptions and arguments would call for a well-remem-
bered college study of music theory through most of its stages. But
as a direct adjunct to college-level or graduate school study, the
book might easily fit into courses or seminars in analysis, in piano
literature, or in the period study of the nineteenth century. Isolated
chapters could well serve for adjunct analytic work in upper-level
theory courses.

Finally, in mentioning the obvious corequisite to this book--
namely a good copy of the score to the music--I come to a crucial
difference between companions or guides to music and those to
literature. The work of literature and the guide to it exist in the
same medium. Not so, of course, for music. Returning to the
phrase "listener's guide" may suggest that one needs only a
recorded performance to complement this work of commentary;
while a "reader's guide" might imply, once again, the score. Obvi-
ously, the listening experience and appreciation of the preludes is
what is aimed at here. But, as implied earlier, the printed score is

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