We prepare so that we can be ready for what comes next.
- By failing to prepare, you’re preparing to fail. [variously phrased, by several people]
- He who is best prepared can best serve his moment of inspiration. [attributed to Samuel Taylor Coleridge]
Medical doctors may spend a decade in medical school, residency, and fellowship before beginning practice in their field of specialty. Opera singers may train for as long to attain the skills to perform in lead roles at top opera houses. Most teachers attend college for four years, plus a year or two in a Master’s program. A tradesperson may spend several years in apprenticeship before becoming a journeyman.
More proximately, actors may rehearse for weeks or months before performing before an audience. Orchestras and solo musicians rehearse. Sports teams practice and strategize.
Couples considering a long-term relationship may spend years developing their relationship before committing to each other. In many fields of endeavor, people prepare, if they are wise.
Real
True Narratives
Technical and Analytical Readings
Photographs
Documentary and Educational Films
Imaginary
Fictional Narratives
Poetry
Music: Composers, artists, and major works
Franz Liszt, Les préludes (The Beginnings) (Poème symphonique No. 3), S. 97 (1863) (approx. 16-18’) (list of recorded performances) – Liszt wrote this preface in the 1856 score: “What else is life but a series of preludes to that unknown song, the first and solemn note of which is sounded by Death? Love is the enchanted dawn of all life; but what fate is there whose first delights of happiness are not interrupted by some storm, whose fine illusions are not dissipated by some mortal blast, consuming its altar as though by a stroke of lightning?”
The All-Night Vigil (Всенощное бдение) is a staple in Russian Orthodox music. It “is a service that sets before us the turning point in time between the day now passing and the day now coming.”
- Sergei Rachmaninoff, All-Night Vigil, Op. 37 (1915) (approx. 54-63’) (list of recorded performances)
- Pavel Chesnokov, All-Night Vigil, Op. 44 (1915) (approx. 49’) (list of recorded performances)
- Alexander Grechaninov, All-Night Vigil, Op. 59 (1912) (approx. 47’)
- Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, All-Night Vigil, Op. 52, TH 77 (1882) (approx. 49-67’)
- Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, All-Night Vigil (1881) (approx. 60’)
- John Tavener, Orthodox Vigil Service (1984) (approx. 97’)
- Einojuhani Rautavaara, “Vigilia” (1972, rev. 1986) (approx. 71’) (list of recorded performances)
Operatic Overtures:
- Ludwig van Beethoven, Coriolan Overture, Op. 62 (1807) (approx. 8-10’) (list of recorded performances)
- Beethoven, Leonore Overture No. 3, Op. 72b (1805) (approx. 14-16’) (list of recorded performances)
- Beethoven, Fidelio Overture, Op. 72c (1805) (approx. 7’) (list of recorded performances)
- Beethoven, Egmont Overture, Op. 84 (1810) (approx. 8-10’) (list of recorded performances)
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Le Nozze di Figaro Overture, K. 492 (1786) (approx. 4-5’) (list of recorded performances)
- Mozart, Die Zauberflöte Overture, K. 620 (1791) (approx. 6’) (list of recorded performances)
- Mozart, Don Giovanni Overture, K. 527 (1787) (approx. 6’) (list of recorded performances)
- Richard Wagner, Der fliegende Holländer Overture (1840) (approx. 10-12’) (list of recorded performances)
- Wagner, Tannhäuser Overture (1845) (approx. 14-16’) (list of recorded performances)
- Gioachino Rossini, Il Barbiere di Siviglia Overture (1816) (approx. 7’) (list of recorded performances)
- Rossini, La Gazza Ladra Overture (1817) (approx. 10’) (list of recorded performances)
- Rossini, La Cenerentola Overture (1817) (approx. 8’) (list of recorded performances)
- Rossini, Guillaume Tell Overture (1829) (approx. 12’) (list of recorded performances)
- Rossini, L’Italiana in Algeri Overture (1813) (approx. 7’) (list of recorded performances)
- Rossini, Semiramide Overture (1823) (approx. 12-14’) (list of recorded performances)
- Giuseppe Verdi, Aida Overture (1870) (approx. 11’)
- Verdi, La Traviata Overture (1853) (approx. 4’)
- Verdi, Nabucco Overture (1841) (approx. 8’) (list of recorded performances)
- Verdi, Un Ballo in Maschera Overture (1858) (approx. 4’)
- Verdi, Les Vêpres Siciliennes Overture (1855) (approx. 9’)
Organ preludes by Max Reger:
- 52 Chorale Preludes, Op. 67 (1902) (list of recorded performances)
- 13 Chorale Preludes (Choralvorspiele) for Organ, Op. 79b (1901-1903) (list of recorded performances)
- 30 Little Choral Preludes, Op. 135a (list of recorded performances)
Other works:
- Johann Sebastian Bach, Great 18 Chorale Preludes, BWV 651-668 (651-661) (1740-1750) (approx. 85-90’) (list of recorded performances)
- Dmitri Shostakovich, 24 Preludes, Op. 34 (1933) (approx. 30-31’) (list of recorded performances)
- York Bowen, 24 Preludes in All Major and Minor Keys, Op. 102 (1938) (approx. 56’) (list of recorded performances)
- Katherine Hoover, Preludes (1996-2004) (approx. 21’)
- Gabriel Fauré, 9 preludes, Op. 103 (1910) (approx. 22-23’) (list of recorded performances)
- John Adams, Two Fanfares: 1. Tromba Lontana; 2. Short Ride on a Fast Machine. (2005) (approx. 8’)
- Sergei Rachmaninoff, 10 Préludes, Op. 23 (1903) (approx. 34’) (list of recorded performances) (here is an excellent recording of Rachmaninoff’s Préludes, including Opp. 3, 23, and 32)
- Rachmaninoff, 13 Préludes, Op. 32 (1910) (approx. 40’) (list of recorded performances)
- Felix Blumenfeld, 4 Preludes for Piano, Op. 12 (1890) (approx. 8’)
- Healey Willan, Overture to an Unwritten Comedy (1951) (approx. 4’)
- Johann Wilhelm Wilms, Overture in D Major (1829) (approx. 10’)
- Raga Nayaki kanada is a Hindustani classical raag for late evening. Performances are by D.V. Paluskar, Apoorva Gokhale and Mallikarjun Mansur.
- Raga Sohini (Sohni) is a pre-dawn Hindustani classical raag. Performances are by Kishori Amonkar, Ulhas Kashalkar and Nikhil Banerjee.
- Rag Bhupali (Bhoopali): a request for the gods to wake at dawn. Performances are by Ajoy Chakrabarty, Hariprasad Chaurasia, Gajanan Joshi, and a performance on cello by Nancy Lesh.
- Igor Stravinsky, The Wedding (Les noces) (1922) (approx. 23’) (list of recorded performances): a ballet consisting of scenes depicting ritual preparation for a Russian wedding. Top performances are conducted by Stravinsky in 1934, Ančerl in 1964, Bernstein in 1977, Eötvös in 1987 (1923 and 1917 versions), and Craft in 2001. Videos of the ballet by the Mariinsky Theatre Ballet, conducted by Gergiev, and by La Jolla Symphony & Chorus, are on YouTube.
- Hans Gál, 24 Preludes for Piano, Op. 83 (1960)
- Manuel Ponce, 24 Guitar Preludes (1930) (list of recorded performances)
- Anton Rubinstein, 6 Preludes for piano, Op. 24 (1854) (approx. 35’)
- Reinhold Glière, 8 Morceaux (8 Duos for Violin & Cello), Op. 39 (1909) (approx. 18’) (list of recorded performances): “First published by Jurgenson in Moscow in 1909, they comprise a set of short pieces culminating, perhaps counterintuitively, with an Etude. They begin, though, with a Prelude, marked Andante . . .”
Albums:
- Jascha Nemtsov, “Ukrainian Preludes” (2024) (68’): “. . . according to pianist and musicologist Jascha Nemtsov, none of the music of Matvey Gozenpud or Evgeniya Yakhnina—both victims of a wave of Soviet antisemitism that surged in the late 1940s—has ever before been ‘release[d] on any kind of recorded media.’”
Music: songs and other short pieces
- The Temptations, “Get Ready” (lyrics)
- The Fugees, “Ready Or Not” (lyrics)
- Imagine Dragons, “On Top of the World” (lyrics)
Visual Arts
- Victor Borisov-Musatov, Summer Melody (c. 1904)
- Paul Cézanne, The Railway Cutting (c. 1870)
- Ilya Repin, Preparation for the Examination (1864)
- Alexey Venetsianov, In the Fields. Spring. (1827)
- Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin, The Morning Toilet (1741)
