In music generally, a title for a piece which precedes another piece, as in J.S. Bach’s Preludes to his Fugues. It has also come to be used as a title for short, self-contained works that might be appropriate to introduce some other more important piece in a concert programme. In opera, it refers to orchestral music at the opening of an opera or Act, that leads into the music of the first Scene. See also Vorspiel.
