Prelude, Fugue and Riffs

(
1949
)
Composer: Leonard Bernstein
Ensemble de jazz

Prelude, Fugue and Riffs is a "written-out" jazz-in-concert-hall composition composed by Leonard Bernstein for a jazz ensemble.

The title points to the union of classical music and jazz: Prelude (first movement) and Fugue(second movement) – both baroque forms – are followed immediately without a pause by a series of "riffs" (third movement), a jazz term for a repeated and short melodic figure.