Frédéric Chopin’s Op. 28 set contains 24 preludes.
Chopin composed the preludes during the 1830s and published them in 1839. The set moves through all 24 major and minor keys, using a tonal scheme based on the circle of fifths. Each prelude is brief, but the pieces differ greatly in mood, texture, and technical demands.
The title may recall the short introductory pieces of earlier keyboard music, especially the preludes of Johann Sebastian Bach. Chopin expanded the idea by treating every prelude as an independent artistic miniature rather than merely an introduction to another piece.
The set is sometimes confused with collections containing a prelude in every key by other composers. Chopin’s Op. 28 is specifically a group of 24 preludes, while his separate Prelude in C-sharp minor, Op. 45, was published independently. The famous “Raindrop” nickname belongs to the D-flat major Prelude, No. 15.