The "Preludi per pianoforte" – four volumes with twelve pieces each – were composed several years after the Venetian composer Renato de Grandis decided in 1987, shortly after his 60th birthday, to stop composing. He then moved back to Italy after having lived in Germany for twenty years and in Brussels for ten years. At that point, he had been a successful composer for many years, when he ranked among the major composers in Europe's avant-garde music scene. During his retreat de Grandis dedicated himself to his philosophical interests; he wrote both prose and poetry, painted, taught and traveled while also immersing himself in Buddhism, the Kabbalah, and theosophy.
