Chopin's Prelude in A Minor is related to recurrent patterns evident in the music and literature of the early nineteenth century. Among these patterns is that of self-quotation and Romantic representations of memory. Thus Shelley in Adonais refers to his own Ode to the West Wind, and Schubert in the String Quartet in A Minor refers to his own music to Rosamunde and to his own setting of Schiller's Die Götter Griechenlands: "Schöne Welt, wo bist du?" (This particular pattern is not, however, evident in the Chopin Prelude.)

Works: Schubert: String Quartet in A Minor (146).

Sources: Schubert: Rosamunde (146), Schöne Welt, wo bist du?, D. 677 (146).

Index Classifications: 1800s

Contributed by: David C. Birchler