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Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
prelude
noun
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Also, it is considered by many as an anachronism, mere prelude to a party on the river for Hooray Henrys.
▪ Computer simulations are only mechanical extensions of this verbal power, which manipulates signs and symbols as a prelude to manipulating things.
▪ Could this be a prelude to a trade war even more destructive of world prosperity than a military war?
▪ The search for the seat of divinity in man and nature is only a prelude to the aspiration for transcendence.
▪ The squall was a prelude to a fully-fledged gale, heralded well in advance by warnings from the meteorologists.
▪ This identification was emphasized in 1483 when Gloucester took the precaution of arresting lord Stanley as a prelude to his usurpation.
▪ This outing was a prelude to many more.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Prelude

Prelude \Pre*lude"\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Preluded; p. pr. & vb. n. Preluding.] [L. praeludere, praelusum; prae before + ludere to play: cf. F. pr['e]luder. See Ludicrous.] To play an introduction or prelude; to give a prefatory performance; to serve as prelude.

The musicians preluded on their instruments.
--Sir. W. Scott.

We are preluding too largely, and must come at once to the point.
--Jeffrey.

Prelude

Prelude \Pre*lude"\, v. t.

  1. To introduce with a previous performance; to play or perform a prelude to; as, to prelude a concert with a lively air.

  2. To serve as prelude to; to precede as introductory.

    [Music] preluding some great tragedy.
    --Longfellow

Prelude

Prelude \Pre"lude\, n. [F. pr['e]lude (cf. It. preludio, LL. praeludium), fr. L. prae before + ludus play. See Prelude, v. t.] An introductory performance, preceding and preparing for the principal matter; a preliminary part, movement, strain, etc.; especially (Mus.), a strain introducing the theme or chief subject; a movement introductory to a fugue, yet independent; -- with recent composers often synonymous with overture.

The last Georgic was a good prelude to the [AE]nis
--Addison.

The cause is more than the prelude, the effect is more than the sequel, of the fact.
--Whewell.

Syn: Preface; introduction; preliminary; preamble; forerunner; harbinger; precursor.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
prelude

1560s, from Middle French prélude "notes sung or played to test the voice or instrument" (1530s), from Medieval Latin preludium "prelude, preliminary," from Latin praeludere "to play beforehand for practice, preface," from prae- "before" (see pre-) + ludere "to play" (see ludicrous). Purely musical sense first attested in English 1650s. Related: Prelusion.

Wiktionary
prelude

n. 1 An introductory or preliminary performance or event; a preface. 2 (context music English) A short piece of music that acts as an introduction to a longer piece. vb. 1 To introduce something, as a prelude. 2 To play an introduction or prelude; to give a prefatory performance.

WordNet
prelude
  1. n. something that serves as a preceding event or introduces what follows; "training is a necessary preliminary to employment"; "drinks were the overture to dinner" [syn: preliminary, overture]

  2. music that precedes a fugue or introduces an act in an opera

  3. v. serve as a prelude or opening to

  4. play as a prelude

Wikipedia
Prelude (music)

A prelude (Germ. Präludium or Vorspiel; Lat. praeludium; Fr. prélude; It. preludio"; Pt. "prelúdio) is a short piece of music, the form of which may vary from piece to piece. The prelude may be thought of as a preface. While, during the Baroque era, for example, it may have served as an introduction to succeeding movements of a work that were usually longer and more complex, it may also have been a standalone piece of work during the Romantic era. It generally features a small number of rhythmic and melodic motifs that recur through the piece. Stylistically, the prelude is improvisatory in nature. The prelude also may refer to an overture, particularly to those seen in an opera or an oratorio.

Prelude

A Prelude (music) is a musical form.

Prelude may also refer to:

Prelude (band)

Prelude are an English based vocal harmony group, who in their most famous line-up consisted of Brian Hume ( vocals, guitar), his wife Irene Hume (vocals) and Ian Vardy (guitars, vocals). They formed in their native Gateshead in 1970.

Prelude (short story)

Prelude is a short story by Katherine Mansfield. It was first published by the Hogarth Press in July 1918, and reprinted in Bliss and Other Stories (1920).

Prelude (Jack McDuff album)

Prelude' is an album by organist Jack McDuff recorded in 1963 and released on the Prestige label.

Prelude (The Moody Blues album)

Prelude is a 1987 compilation album by The Moody Blues consisting of non-album singles and rarities.

Tracks 1-5 were previously released on singles in 1967 prior to the release of Days of Future Passed. They are the first Moody Blues releases to feature Justin Hayward and John Lodge.
Track 6, " A Simple Game", was later recorded by the Four Tops and (as "Simple Game"), went to #3 in the UK charts in 1972.
Tracks 7-11 formed the "+5" portion of the 1977 Caught Live + 5 album.
Track 12, " Late Lament," which rounds out the album, is the Graeme Edge poem that appears at the end of Days of Future Passed.
Though many of these tracks have also appeared on other releases, such as the Time Traveller box set and the 2006 SACD album remasters, Prelude is the only release that contains all eleven rarities.

Prelude (Deodato album)

Prelude is the eighth studio album by Brazilian keyboardist Eumir Deodato, released in 1973. With the signature track " Also Sprach Zarathustra (2001)" (an arrangement of the theme from 2001: A Space Odyssey), Prelude would be the biggest hit Deodato and CTI Records ever had. The album features guitarist John Tropea on three tracks, bassists Ron Carter and Stanley Clarke, and Billy Cobham on drums. The funk-influenced version of the "Introduction" from Richard Strauss's Also sprach Zarathustra, entitled "Also Sprach Zarathustra (2001)", won the 1974 Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance and went to number two in the pop charts in the US, number three in Canada, and number seven in the UK. In 1977, the album was re-released as 2001.

Usage examples of "prelude".

Strophes and Antistrophes as in the Prelude, but the Evolutions now leading them from the central Altar to the extreme Right and Left of the Orchestra.

He took a step forward and made a movement that Routh momentarily interpreted as the prelude to an ironical handshake.

As you know, much of the poetry in the Bible, especially of such as was meant for music, is composed in stanzaic form, or in strophe and anti-strophe, with prelude and conclusion, sometimes with a choral refrain.

French and Spanish navies off Cadiz in the prelude to one of the biggest naval battles the world has ever known.

PRELUDE CHAPTER I The fatigue caused by a rough sea journey, and, perhaps, the consciousness that she would have to be dressed before dawn to catch the train for Beni-Mora, prevented Domini Enfilden from sleeping.

The dullest could perceive that such a registration and resettlement within the Six Duchies could easily be a prelude to a wide-scale massacre.

The females of the ancipital species have a one-day flow of menses from the uterus as a prelude to the oestral cycle, when they go into rut.

The sermon was to be preached on Sexagesima Sunday, a prelude to the solemn season of Lent.

I experienced the complete cessation of volition, the ineluctable sensation of total disembodiment which all aberrants will recognize as the prelude to a trip.

Mrs Leslie again took her departure, leaving them together, and Lizzie allowed her friend to go, although the last words that Lopez had spoken had been, as he thought, a fair prelude to the words he intended to speak today.

She played Chopin--studies, waltzes, mazurkas, preludes, a polonaise or two.

The mother said that we would settle it after supper, and I made no objection, not liking to tell her that in my house the supper would be more succulent, and a better prelude for the kind of exercise I expected to enjoy.

If I depart here for a brief space from my announced purpose not to analyze the music in the manner of the Wagnerian commentators, it will be only because the themes of the prelude are the most pregnant of those employed in the working out of the drama, because their specific significance in the purpose of the composer is plainly set forth by their association with scenes and words, and because they are most admirably fitted by structure and emotional content to express the things attributed to them.

The prelude is built out of a few themes which are associated with some of the most significant elements of the play.

Simply for the sake of identification hereafter names will be attached to the themes out of which the prelude is constructed and which come from the chief melodic factors of the opera.