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 Ralph Vaughan Williams’s Prelude and Fugue in C minor, IRV 65, occupies a unique place in his output as one of the few concert works directly modeled on Baroque forms. Originally conceived in 1921 as an organ study and later arranged for orchestra (published 1930), it demonstrates his lifelong engagement with contrapuntal technique amid his broader pastoral idiom.

Since its publication, this orchestral Prelude and Fugue has been championed by conductors seeking a concise concert opener that bridges the Baroque and modern eras. Although less frequently performed than his symphonies, it remains valued for its clarity of design, its deft reimagining of organ textures in an orchestral setting, and its foreshadowing of the more expansive contrapuntal experiments in Vaughan Williams’s later works.