Listening to the raindrops land on the glass window like a steady, light percussion, I seated myself at the piano.
With deft hands I flipped open a collection of Chopin's works. A page is bookmarked. Prelude, Op. 28, No. 15, it read. I scanned the sheet music with curiosity-and it dawned on me that this was one of the maestro's most famous works-but the more conventional name was simply "Raindrop Prelude".
Besides being one of Chopin's most famous works, there are a few other characteristics that sets this prelude apart from other pieces-it is quite long for a Chopin-esque prelude piece, and has a repeating note of A flat, observed by many listeners as resembling the sound of raindrops.
Raindrop Prelude was written during Chopin's stay in a monastery at Mallorca, in 1838. According to his then-lover, George Sand, Chopin had a dream during a terrible rainstorm outside of the monastery, where "He saw himself drowned in a lake. Heavy drops of icy water fell in a regular rhythm on his breast, and when I made him listen to the sound of the drops of water indeed falling in rhythm on the roof, he denied having heard it."
There is also much to be noted about the general layout of this famous prelude- opens with a "serene" theme in Dâ™. It then changes to a "lugubrious interlude" in C♯ minor.
Following this, the prelude ends with a repetition of the original theme.
A linked performance can be found here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OFHXmiZP38