Prelude, Op. 28 No. 15

1. 0:00
   Repeated A♭, opening bars

   The right hand plays a sustained melody in D♭ major over repeated A♭ quavers. The chords change around the repeated note. Chopin marks the piece Sostenuto.

2. 1:00
   George Sand’s account, Valldemossa

   At Valldemossa, George Sand returned from Palma through heavy rain and found Chopin distraught at the piano. In her memoir, Histoire de ma vie, she wrote that he had dreamt of drowning, with icy drops falling on his chest. When she pointed to the rain on the roof, he angrily rejected the comparison.

3. 1:26
   Change to C♯ minor

   The A♭ is now written G♯, on the same piano key. The right hand repeats it while the left hand plays the melody in low chords. D♭ major has moved to C♯ minor, and Chopin marks the new passage sotto voce, under the breath.

4. 3:30
   Return of the opening melody

   The opening melody returns at bar 76, beginning on F above D♭, with the original key signature restored. The repeated A♭ sounds beneath the tune again. This return is brief and leads to a shortened close.

5. 4:06
   Unaccompanied melody before the close

   Near the end, the left hand stops for two bars, and the melody descends alone in crotchets. The repeated A♭ returns beneath the closing chords. The prelude ends on a D♭ major chord.

Joins

1. 1:26
   A♭ becomes G♯

   The opening melody stops, and A♭ continues alone in quavers. At bars 27–⁠28 the key signature changes to C♯ minor, and the right hand writes the same sounding note as G♯. Low C♯ and G♯ begin the left-hand phrase, and E♮ soon adds the minor third. Chopin marks the passage sotto voce.

2. 3:30
   Return of the opening melody

   The last hushed chords rest on a low G♯ in the bass. In the linking half-bar G♯ is respelt as A♭, and the left hand moves through F, G♭ and E♭. A D♭ bass then brings back the opening melody on F, marked piano, with the repeated quavers again beneath the tune.