When the Berlin magazine "Signale für die Musikalische Welt" announced a piano work contest in 1909, Szymanowski submitted a combination of an old fugue he had composed back in 1905 with a short, purpose-written Prelude.
It was actually by chance that Prelude and Fugue in C sharp minor for piano came into being. When the Berlin magazine Signale für die Musikalische Welt announced a piano work contest in 1909, Szymanowski, most likely enticed by the high, 1,000 mark award, submitted a combination of an old fugue he had composed back in 1905 while a student under Zygmunt Noskowski with a short, purpose-written Prelude. Ten out of 874 submitted works were announced winners on 8th December 1909, with Szymanowski's Prelude and Fugue in C sharp minor receiving one of the six 5th awards of 100 marks each. The piece was subsequently included in the Signale für die Musikalische Welt's publication entitled 10 Preiskompositionen für Pianoforte (Berlin 1910).
Typical of Szymanowski's early works, the piece is characterized by chromatic harmony, dense texture and prevalence of technique over expression. While rarely performed, it has been recorded several times as one of the compositions of Szymanowski's complete piano music, the pianists including Andrzej Stefański, Jerzy Godziszewski, Martin Jones, Martin Roscoe and, most recently, Korea's Sinae Lee (2006).
Author: Anna Iwanicka-Nijakowska, September 2007.