# Music written in all major or minor keys

There is a long tradition in classical music of writing music in sets of pieces that cover all the major and minor keys of the chromatic scale. These sets typically consist of 24 pieces, one for each of the major and minor keys (sets that comprise all the enharmonic variants include 30 pieces).
Examples include Johann Sebastian Bach's The Well-Tempered Clavier and Frédéric Chopin's 24 Preludes, Op. 28. Such sets are often organized as preludes and fugues or designated as preludes or études. Some composers have restricted their sets to cover only the 12 major keys or the 12 minor keys; or only the flat keys (Franz Liszt's Transcendental Études) or the sharp keys (Sergei Lyapunov's Op. 11 set). In yet another type, a single piece may progressively modulate through a set of tonalities, as occurs in Ludwig van Beethoven's Two Preludes through all twelve major keys, Op. 39.
The bulk of works of this type have been written for piano solo, but there also exist sets for piano 4-hands; two pianos; organ; guitar; two guitars; flute; recorder; oboe; violin solo; violin and piano; cello solo; cello and piano; voice and piano; and string quartet. There are examples of attempts to write full sets that, for one reason or another, were never completed (Josef Rheinberger's organ sonatas, Dmitri Shostakovich's string quartets, César Franck's L'Organiste).

## Notable sets that cover all 24 keys

* Johann Sebastian Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier, Books I and II (1722 and 1742) – two separate sets of 24 preludes and fugues, together known as "the 48".
* Frédéric Chopin: 24 Preludes, Op. 28 (1835–39)
* Franz Liszt: Transcendental Études, S. 139 (1826–52) cover only the keys in flats. Liszt did not realize his original intention to write the full suite of 24 études in all keys.
** In 1897–1905, Sergei Lyapunov wrote his 12 Études d'exécution transcendante, Op. 11, which cover the remaining keys, in sharps, and are dedicated to Liszt's memory.
* Charles-Valentin Alkan: 25 Preludes, Op. 31 (1847); 24 études in all the major and minor keys, Opp. 35, 39 (1848 and 1857)
* Alexander Scriabin: 24 Preludes, Op. 11 (1893–95) – Scriabin wrote a total of 90 preludes for piano (50 in major keys, 31 in minor keys, and 9 in indeterminate keys). These contained only one complete set of preludes in all 24 major and minor keys.
* Sergei Rachmaninoff: 24 Preludes, Opp. 3/2, 23, and 32 (1892, 1901–03, and 1910)
* Paul Hindemith: Ludus Tonalis (1942) – 12 fugues and 12 interludes covering all twelve keys, where the major/minor distinction does not apply, book-ended by a praeludium and a postludium.
* Dmitry Kabalevsky: Preludes, Op. 38 (1943–44) – each in a different key and each based on a folksong
* Dmitri Shostakovich: 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87 (1950–51) – Shostakovich also wrote a separate set of 24 Preludes, Op. 34 in 1933.

### Composers who wrote multiple sets

A number of composers have written multiple sets of works covering all the keys of the scale.
* 14 sets: Niels Viggo Bentzon (1919–2000) wrote 14 complete sets of 24 Preludes and Fugues, a total of 336 pieces in this genre alone. The contemporary composer Roberto Novegno (b. 1981) has also written 14 complete sets of preludes so far, each using a different sequence of keys.
* 8 sets: Carl Czerny
* 5 sets: Charles-Valentin Alkan, Joachim Andersen
* 4 sets: Richard Hofmann, Franciszek Zachara
* 3 sets: Adolf von Henselt, Charles Koechlin, Christian Heinrich Rinck
* 2 sets: Lera Auerbach, David Cope, Johann Baptist Cramer, Ferdinand David, Hans Gál, Stefano Golinelli, Johann Nepomuk Hummel, Aaron Andrew Hunt, Friedrich Kalkbrenner, Nikolai Kapustin, Joseph Christoph Kessler, Craig Sellar Lang, Trygve Madsen, Désiré Magnus, Ignaz Moscheles, Rob Peters, Jaan Rääts, Igor Rekhin, Dmitri Shostakovich (he also left unfinished a set of string quartets in all keys), Sir Charles Villiers Stanford, Sulkhan Tsintsadze, Louis Vierne, Vsevolod Zaderatsky
* other: Franz Liszt wrote only one set of his own, but he also transcribed for piano solo a set for violin and piano by Ferdinand David. Josef Rheinberger wrote one full set, and died before completing a further set of organ sonatas.
Full details are shown in the tables below.

## Variants
### Single pieces that modulate through many keys

Ludwig van Beethoven wrote 2 Preludes through all 12 Major Keys, Op. 39 for piano (1789). These two preludes each progressively traverse the 12 major keys. In Prelude No. 1, each key occupies from 2 to 26 bars. The keys of C# and D♭, which are enharmonically equivalent, are both represented. C major both opens and closes the set. In Prelude No. 2, the cycle of keys appears twice; in the first cycle, the number of bars per key ranges from 1 to 8; in the second half, after C every new key signature lasts for only one bar; the cycle concludes with 15 bars of C major. There is no evidence that Beethoven intended to write similar sets in the 12 minor keys.
Giovanni Battista Vitali (1632–1692) included in Artificii musicali, Op. 13 (1689) a passacaglia which modulates through eight major keys (out of twelve) from E♭ major to E major through the cycle of fifths.
Fugue No. 8 from Anton Reicha's Trente six Fugues pour le Piano-Forté composées d'après un nouveau systême (subtitled Cercle harmonique) modulates through all keys.
The rondo theme of Darius Milhaud's Le bœuf sur le toit is played fifteen times in all 12 major keys (twice in A major and three times in the tonic, C major). It also passes through every minor key except E minor and B minor.

### Works covering all eight church modes

Around 1704, Johann Pachelbel completed his 95 Magnificat Fugues, which covered all eight of the church modes.
Charles-Valentin Alkan composed Petits préludes sur les huit gammes du plain-chant, for organ (1859, no opus number), a sequence of eight organ preludes covering each of the church modes.
In the music of the Eastern Orthodox Church, the doxasticon for Vespers of the Dormition is notable as a single hymn that includes passages in all eight tones of the Byzantine Octoechos.

### Other sets of 24 pieces

Not all sets of 24 pieces belong in this category. For example, there was no intention in Niccolò Paganini's 24 Caprices for solo violin, Claude Debussy's 24 Préludes for piano, or Pavel Zemek Novak's 24 Preludes and Fugues for piano to cover all the keys. (Paganini may not have been aware of Pierre Rode's 24 Caprices for violin, which did span the 24 keys and were written almost at the same time as Paganini's.)
Chopin's 24 Études, Opp. 10 & 25 might have originally been planned to be in all 24 keys. In fact, apart from Nos. 7 and 8, the first series (Op. 10) is made of couples of études in a major key and its relative minor (the major key either preceding the minor key or following it) with none of the tonalities occurring twice (except for C major, which appears in No. 1 and then in the only couple which is not major-minor, i.e. Nos. 7 and 8). But in the second series (Op. 25) this tonal scheme gets more and more loose. It is still possible to see connections on a tonal basis between the couples of études in Op. 25, but they are not based on one principle (e.g. Nos. 3 and 4 in F major – A minor, two tonalities which Chopin likes to put together very often, as in his second Ballade). One might suppose that Chopin considered writing the études in all the tonalities but eventually came to the conclusion that it wasn't practical, and turned back to it later, for the 24 Preludes, Op. 28. The fact that the first étude of Op. 10 is made of arpeggios in C major draws a connection to Bach's first book of The Well-Tempered Clavier and makes it clear that Chopin had the tradition on his mind.

## Keys

There are 12 notes in the octave, and each of them can be the tonic of one major and one minor key. This gives 24 possible keys, but each note can be represented by several enharmonic note names (note names which designate the same actual note in the 12 note octave such as G# and A♭) and so each key can be represented by several enharmonic key names (e.g. G# minor and A♭ minor).
In practice, the choice of key name is restricted to the 30 keys whose signatures have no double flats or double sharps. (Such key signatures are used for so-called theoretical keys which are almost never encountered outside music-theoretical exercises.) Keys with 6 flats and 6 sharps, with 7 flats and 5 sharps and with 5 flats and 7 sharps are enharmonic to one another. Composers will, in most (though not all) cases, choose only one key from each enharmonic pair. But there are also cases of sets covering all 30 keys, which, in other words, include all enharmonic variants.
The table below outlines the choices made in the various collections listed here. The keys are in the order that J.S. Bach used.
| | Key | Key signature | Comments |
| 1 | C major | No sharps or flats | |
| 2 | C minor | 3 flats | |
| 3 | Either C# major | 7 sharps | Bach and Alkan chose C# major, but most composers have preferred D♭ major |
| 3 | or D♭ major | 5 flats | Bach and Alkan chose C# major, but most composers have preferred D♭ major |
| 4 | C# minor | 4 sharps | |
| 5 | D major | 2 sharps | |
| 6 | D minor | 1 flat | |
| 7 | E♭ major | 3 flats | |
| 8 | Either D# minor | 6 sharps | Most composers of sets of 24 pieces have preferred E♭ minor over D# minor. Bach, Lyapunov and Ponce are among the few who have used D#. The first use of D# minor was in Bach's The Well-Tempered Clavier, in Fugue No. 8 from Book 1 (although its corresponding Prelude was written in E♭ minor), while D# minor was used for both the Prelude and the Fugue in Book 2. Another is in Lyapunov's Étude d'execution transcendante No. 2, subtitled "Ronde des Fantômes" |
| 8 | or E♭ minor | 6 flats | Most composers of sets of 24 pieces have preferred E♭ minor over D# minor. Bach, Lyapunov and Ponce are among the few who have used D#. The first use of D# minor was in Bach's The Well-Tempered Clavier, in Fugue No. 8 from Book 1 (although its corresponding Prelude was written in E♭ minor), while D# minor was used for both the Prelude and the Fugue in Book 2. Another is in Lyapunov's Étude d'execution transcendante No. 2, subtitled "Ronde des Fantômes" |
| 9 | E major | 4 sharps | |
| 10 | E minor | 1 sharp | |
| 11 | F major | 1 flat | |
| 12 | F minor | 4 flats | |
| 13 | Either F# major | 6 sharps | F# major was the choice of Bach, Hummel, Chopin, Heller, Busoni, Lyapunov, Arensky, Blumenfeld, Ponce, Shostakovich, Cui and Glière. G♭ major was preferred by Alkan, Rachmaninoff, Scriabin, Shchedrin, Bowen, Stanford and Winding. |
| 13 | or G♭ major | 6 flats | F# major was the choice of Bach, Hummel, Chopin, Heller, Busoni, Lyapunov, Arensky, Blumenfeld, Ponce, Shostakovich, Cui and Glière. G♭ major was preferred by Alkan, Rachmaninoff, Scriabin, Shchedrin, Bowen, Stanford and Winding. |
| 14 | F# minor | 3 sharps | |
| 15 | G major | 1 sharp | |
| 16 | G minor | 2 flats | |
| 17 | A♭ major | 4 flats | |
| 18 | Either G# minor | 5 sharps | Alkan wrote a piece in A♭ minor, and Brahms a fugue in this key, but most composers have preferred G# minor. |
| 18 | or A♭ minor | 7 flats | Alkan wrote a piece in A♭ minor, and Brahms a fugue in this key, but most composers have preferred G# minor. |
| 19 | A major | 3 sharps | |
| 20 | A minor | No sharps or flats | |
| 21 | B♭ major | 2 flats | |
| 22 | Either B♭ minor | 5 flats | No well-known sets of 24 pieces include A# minor. Two examples are from Bartolomeo Campagnoli's 30 Preludes for violin, and Christian Heinrich Rinck's 30 Préludes from his Practical Organ School, Op. 55, published before 1821. |
| 22 | or A# minor | 7 sharps | No well-known sets of 24 pieces include A# minor. Two examples are from Bartolomeo Campagnoli's 30 Preludes for violin, and Christian Heinrich Rinck's 30 Préludes from his Practical Organ School, Op. 55, published before 1821. |
| 23 | Either B major | 5 sharps | No well-known sets of 24 pieces include C♭ major. While this key is sometimes used in compositions (particularly for the harp, which is especially suited to this key), it is not generally considered one of the standard keys because it is enharmonically equivalent to B major. With its tonic note being a white key on the piano, and its parallel minor (relative to E♭♭ major) having 10 flats, its usage is generally undesirable. C♭ major does appear in Campagnoli's and Rinck's works mentioned below, along with A# minor, but those collections include both members of all six enharmonically equivalent pairs. |
| 23 | or C♭ major | 7 flats | No well-known sets of 24 pieces include C♭ major. While this key is sometimes used in compositions (particularly for the harp, which is especially suited to this key), it is not generally considered one of the standard keys because it is enharmonically equivalent to B major. With its tonic note being a white key on the piano, and its parallel minor (relative to E♭♭ major) having 10 flats, its usage is generally undesirable. C♭ major does appear in Campagnoli's and Rinck's works mentioned below, along with A# minor, but those collections include both members of all six enharmonically equivalent pairs. |
| 24 | B minor | 2 sharps | |

### Order of keys in published works

The circle of fifths, whereby each major key is followed by its relative minor key, and the sequence proceeds in fifths (C, a, G, e, D, b ...) is a commonly used schema. Angelo Michele Bartolotti used this approach as early as 1640, and it was also adopted by such later composers as Rode, Hummel, Chopin, Heller, Busoni, Scriabin, Shostakovich, Kabalevsky and Kapustin.
In J.S. Bach's The Well-Tempered Clavier and some other earlier sets, major keys were followed by their parallel minor keys, and the sequence ascends chromatically (C, c, C#/D♭, c#, D, d, ...). The Bach order was adopted by Arensky, Glière, York Bowen and others.
Other composers derived their own schemas based on certain logical rationales. For example, in Alkan’s 25 Preludes, Op. 31, the sequence of keys moves alternately up a fourth and down a third: the major keys take the odd-numbered positions in the cycle, proceeding chromatically upwards from C to C again, and each major key is followed by its subdominant minor.
Yet others used no systematic ordering. Palmgren, Rachmaninoff and Castelnuovo-Tedesco's works are examples of this.

## History
### Bach and his precursors

Johann Sebastian Bach's The Well-Tempered Clavier, two complete sets of 24 Preludes and Fugues written for keyboard in 1722 and 1742, and often known as "the 48", is generally considered the greatest example of music traversing all 24 keys. Many later composers clearly modelled their sets on Bach's, including the order of the keys.
It was long believed that Bach had taken the title The Well-Tempered Clavier from a similarly named set of 24 Preludes and Fugues in all the keys, for which a manuscript dated 1689 was found in the library of the Brussels Conservatoire. It was later shown that this was the work of a composer who was not even born by 1689: Bernhard Christian Weber (1712–1758). In fact, the work was written in 1745–50 in imitation of Bach's example. While Bach can safely claim the title The Well-Tempered Clavier, he was not the earliest composer to write sets of pieces in all the keys:
As early as 1567, Giacomo Gorzanis [it; de; ca; fr] (c.1520–c.1577) composed twelve settings of the passamezzo antico and passamezzo moderno, each followed by a saltarello, in all 24 keys. In 1584, Vincenzo Galilei, father of Galileo Galilei, wrote a Codex of pieces illustrating the use of all 24 major and minor keys.
In 1640, Angelo Michele Bartolotti wrote Libro primo di chitarra spagnola, a cycle of passacaglias that moves through all 24 major and minor keys according to the circle of fifths. Also in 1640, Antonio Carbonchi wrote Sonate di chitarra spagnola con intavolatura franzese for guitar.
In 1702, Johann Caspar Ferdinand Fischer wrote a cycle of 20 organ pieces all in different keys in his Ariadne musica. These included E major as well as E in Phrygian mode and again in Dorian mode, but not E minor per se. They also excluded C#/D♭ major, D#/E♭ minor, F#/G♭ major, G#/A♭ minor, and A#/B♭ minor. Bach modelled the sequence of his 48 Preludes on Fischer's example.
In 1735, between Bach's two sets, Johann Christian Schickhardt wrote his L'alphabet de la musique, Op. 30, which contained 24 sonatas for flute, violin, or recorder in all keys. In 1749, the year before Bach's death, Johann Gottlieb Goldberg, the inspiration for J.S. Bach's Goldberg Variations, wrote his own 24 polonaises for keyboard, one in each of the major and minor keys. Other examples include works by John Wilson (1595–1674), Daniel Croner (1682), Christoph Graupner (1718), Johann Mattheson (1719), Friedrich Suppig (1722), and Johann David Heinichen (1683–1729).

### After Bach

The following is an incomplete list of works of this type that have been written since the death of J.S. Bach.
Legend: AC = ascending chromatic; C5 = circle of fifths, major followed by relative minor; C5* = circle of fifths, major followed by parallel minor

#### 18th and 19th centuries
##### 1750–1850

| Composer | Work | Instrument | Date | Order | Comments |
| Adam Falckenhagen (d. 1761) | Preludio nel quale sono contenuti tutti i tuoni musicali (Prelude which contains all the musical tones) | lute | ? | | Random order |
| Tommaso Giordani | 14 Preludes and 8 Cadenzas, Op. 33 | harpsichord or pianoforte | 1773 | | Originally published as "Preludes for the Harpsichord or Piano-Forte in All the Keys Flat and Sharp" |
| Étienne Ozi | Nouvelle méthode de basson | bassoon | 1787 | | Also, for two bassoons; or bassoon and cello or double bass |
| Ludwig van Beethoven | 2 Preludes through all 12 Major Keys, Op. 39 | piano | 1789 | | Prelude No. 1 includes both C# and D♭. |
| Ludwig van Beethoven | 2 Preludes through all 12 Major Keys, Op. 39 | piano | 1789 | | Prelude No. 2 excludes C#, but cycles through the other keys twice. |
| Pierre Gaviniès (d. 1800) | 24 Matinées | violin | ? | | These include only 16 unique keys. |
| Johann Christian Kittel (d. 1809) | 16 Preludes in all the keys | organ | ? | | These preludes span C to G, major and minor. Kittel evidently intended to write 24 preludes, in honour of his teacher J.S. Bach, but the work was left unfinished. |
| Joseph Aloys Schmittbaur | 24 Vor- und Nachspiele für die Orgel | organ | 1809 | | 15 Preludes and 9 Postludes, in ascending chromatic order covering 15 unique keys; the E♭ prelude is described in the score as D#. |
| Lev Gurilyov | 24 Préludes et une Fugue | piano | pub. 1810 | | First mentioned in a MA thesis by Matthew J. Roy, 2012. Further comment on style and importance in an article by Wendelin Bitzan. |
| Muzio Clementi | Préludes et exercices dans tous les tons majeurs et mineurs, Op. 43 | piano | 1811 | | These were appended to the 5th edition of Clementi's Introduction to the Art of Playing on the Piano Forte. There is one prelude and exercise for each key, and the set concludes with a "Grande Exercice" that progressively modulates through all the keys but in a somewhat different order than the foregoing; further, the "Grande Exercice" uses G♭ major where the individual pieces use F# major. |
| Philip Seydler (1765–1819) | XXIV grands Caprices pour une Flûte | flute | 1810–12 | C5 | |
| Johann Nepomuk Hummel | 24 Preludes, Op. 67 | piano | 1815 | C5 | The first such collection for keyboard in which the preludes are neither paired with fugues nor serve as an introduction to a suite. Some preludes are as short as five bars and unsuitable for concert performance. |
| Pierre Rode | 24 Caprices en forme d'études | violin | pub. 1815 | C5 | |
| Friedrich Kalkbrenner | 24 Etüden durch alle Tonarten, Op. 20 | piano | 1816 | AC | |
| Charles Chaulieu | 24 petits préludes: dans les tons majeurs et mineurs, Op. 9 | piano | 1820 | | |
| Christian Heinrich Rinck | 30 Préludes dans tous les tons majeurs et mineurs, Op. 55/37–66 | organ | before 1821 | | The 30 Préludes for organ are part of Rinck's Practical Organ School, Op. 55, a collection of 117 pieces. They contain both members of all six enharmonically-equivalent key pairs, including the extremely rare keys of A# minor and C♭ major |
| Christian Heinrich Rinck | Exercices à deux parties dans tous les tons, Op. 67 | piano | 1821 | | |
| Ignaz Moscheles | Studien für das Pianoforte, zur höhern Vollendung bereits ausgebildeter Clavierspieler, bestehend aus 24 characteristischen Tonstücken, Op. 70 | piano | 1825–26 | | The A♭ minor étude is notated with a 4-flat key signature (ostensibly A♭ major) and uses accidentals to achieve the correct tonality. |
| Bartolomeo Campagnoli (d. 1827) | 30 Preludes in 30 different keys | violin | ? | | These cover all 30 keys that use up to 7 sharps or 7 flats |
| Friedrich Kalkbrenner | 24 Preludes, Op. 88 | piano | 1827 | AC | |
| Joseph Christoph Kessler | 24 Études, Op. 20 | piano | 1827 | | The 24 Études were dedicated to Hummel. |
| Carl Czerny | 48 Etudes in the Form of Preludes, Op.161 | piano | 1829 | | In 2 books of 24 each; the first piece in Book 2 is written in C major in the RH and B major in the LH |
| Joseph Christoph Kessler | 24 Preludes, Op. 31 | piano | c. 1829 | | The 24 Preludes were published in 1835 and dedicated to Chopin, who a decade later, dedicated the German edition of his 24 Preludes, Op. 28 to Kessler. |
| Henri Herz | Exercices et préludes, Op. 21 | piano | c. 1830 | | Dedicated to Hummel |
| Ignaz Moscheles | 50 Preludes, Op. 73 | piano | c. 1830 | | This set includes only one enharmonic pair: G♭/F# major. The keys of C# major, A# minor, D# minor, A♭ minor and C♭ major are not represented. |
| Johann Nepomuk Hummel | 24 Études, Op. 125 | piano | c. 1834 | C5* | |
| Johann Heinrich Luft (1813–68) | 24 Etudes | oboe or saxophone | 1835 | | |
| Carl Czerny | Grand Exercise in All the Keys, major & minor, Op. 152 | piano | ? | | |
| Carl Czerny | 24 Grandes études caractéristiques, Op.692 | piano | 1836 | | These include only 15 unique keys |
| Carl Czerny | Grand Exercise in 3rds in all the 24 Keys, Op. 380 | piano | 1836 | | |
| Ernest Krähmer (d. 1837) | 24 Solo Pieces in all major and minor keys | oboe, recorder, or other treble instruments | ? | | |
| Carl Czerny | The School of Fugue Playing, Op. 400 | piano | 1837 | | 12 Fugues in different selected major and minor keys, in random order. Not included are C#/c#, E♭, F, F#/f#, A♭/a♭, A/a or B. |
| Louise Farrenc | 30 Études dans tous les tons majeurs et mineurs, Op. 26 | piano | 1837–38 | C5 | No. 18 starts in D♭ but changes to f#; No. 22 starts in f but changes to D♭; No. 24 changes from E♭ to e♭. This set, despite including 30 pieces, includes no enharmonic pairs at all. The versions of the six keys which have enharmonic pairs used are B major, G# minor, F# major, E♭ minor, D♭ major, and B♭ minor. The thirty pieces are filled out by duplicating six keys with fewer sharps or flats. |
| Adolf von Henselt | 12 Etudes caractéristiques, Op. 2 | piano | 1838 | | These two sets collectively cover all 24 major and minor keys |
| Adolf von Henselt | 12 Etudes de salon, Op. 5 | piano | 1838 | | These two sets collectively cover all 24 major and minor keys |
| Christian Heinrich Rinck | 24 fugirte Orgelstücke, Op. 120 | organ | 1838 | | |
| Frédéric Chopin | 24 Preludes, Op. 28 | piano | 1835–39 | C5 | Dedicated to Camille Pleyel (French edition) and Kessler (German edition) |
| Johann Baptist Cramer | Pensièri musicali: 24 preludes melodiques, ou, cadences, improvisations, et caprices, Op. 91 | piano | 1839 | | Only 22 different keys are covered in the original 24 preludes; in a later edition a further 12 preludes were added, for a total of 36. |
| Edouard Wolff | 24 Études en forme de Préludes, Op. 20 | piano | 1839 | | |
| Ferdinand David | Bunte Reihe, Op. 30 | violin and piano | c. 1840 | AC | Published in 1851. The set was arranged by Franz Liszt for solo piano in 1850 (S. 484) |
| Alessandro Rolla (d. 1841) | 24 Intonazioni | violin | ? | | |
| Johann Baptist Cramer | 24 Préludes D'Utilité Générale et surtout à l'usage des Jeunes Eléves, Op. 96 | piano | 1841 | | These include only 15 unique keys |
| Pierre Baillot | 24 Préludes dans tous les tons | violin | 1842 | | |
| Stefano Golinelli | 24 Preludes, Op. 23 | piano | 1845 | C5 | |
| Caspar Kummer | 24 Études mélodiques, Op. 110 | flute | 1846 | C5 | Étude No. 13 is shown in 2 versions, F# major and G♭ major; No. 14 as D# minor and E♭ minor |
| Charles-Valentin Alkan | 25 Preludes in all major and minor keys, Op. 31 | piano | 1847 | | Major keys ascending chromatically from C alternate with minor keys ascending chromatically from f. There is a final 25th Prayer in C major. |
| Peregrin Feigerl (1803–1877) | 24 Etudes or Caprices | 2 violins | 1847 | C5 | |
| Charles-Valentin Alkan | 12 Études in all the major keys, Op. 35 | piano | 1848 | | These were complemented by the 12 minor key études, Op. 39 (1857) |

##### 1851–1900

| Composer | Work | Instrument | Date | Order | Comments |
| Anton Bernhard Fürstenau (d. 1852) | 26 Uebungen (Exercises), Op.107 | flute | ? | | |
| Franz Liszt | 12 Transcendental Études, S. 139 | piano | 1826–52 | | These covered the neutral and flat keys only. Liszt originally planned to write the full suite of 24 études but apparently abandoned this plan. See Sergei Lyapunov below. |
| Carl Czerny | 160 Kurze Übungen, Op. 821 | piano | 1852 | | |
| Stefano Golinelli | 24 Preludes, Op. 69 | piano | 1852 | C5 | |
| Casimir Ney | 24 Preludes, Op. 22 | viola | 1849-53 | C5 | |
| William Sterndale Bennett | 30 Preludes and Lessons, Op. 33 | piano | 1851–53 | | Includes major and minor keys with 7 sharps or flats: C# major, A# minor, C♭ major, A♭ minor. |
| Stephen Heller | 24 Preludes, Op. 81 | piano | 1853 | C5 | |
| Carl Czerny | Nouveau Gradus ad Parnassum, 46 studies, Op. 822 | piano | 1853–54 | | These cover only 20 unique keys. Some studies consist of a prelude and fugue, usually in the same keys, except No. 4 (E and a), No. 14 (f and F), No. 17 (d and D), and No. 37 (B♭ and b♭). The final study is in the form of a theme and 34 variations. |
| Ferdinand Hiller | 24 Esquisses et études rhythmiques, Op.56 | piano | 1854 | | |
| August Alexander Klengel | Les Avant-coureurs, 24 canons | piano | pub. posth. 1854 | AC | This was either "patterned after Bach" or "a kind of preparation" for Bach's 48. After Klengel's death, Hauptmann edited and published Klengel's 48 Canons and Fugues, writing "he expressed his own thoughts in the way in which Bach would have done had he lived at the present day" |
| William Vincent Wallace | 24 Preludes and Scales | piano | 1855 | C5* | |
| Charles-Valentin Alkan | 12 Études in all the minor keys, Op. 39 | piano | 1857 | | These complete the sequence that was started with the 12 Études in all the major keys, Op. 35. Études 4–7 comprise the Symphony for Solo Piano, and Études 8–10 make up the Concerto for Solo Piano. |
| Carl Czerny | The Pianist in the Classical Style, 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 856 | piano | 1857 | | |
| Stanislas Verroust | 24 Études mélodiques, Op. 65 | oboe | 1857 | | Covers 17 unique keys |
| Giuseppe Concone (1801–61) | 24 Preludes, Op. 37 | piano | ? | | |
| Heinrich Wilhelm Stolze (1801–1868) | Die Wohltemperierte Orgel, 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 58 | organ | 1861 | AC | The collection was published as part 4 of his organ method and is entitled The Well-Tempered Organ in reference to Bach. |
| Charles-Valentin Alkan | Esquisses, Op. 63, Books I & II | piano | 1861 | | Covers all the major and minor keys twice, but in a different sequence, and ends with a final Laus Deo in C major. |
| Charles-Valentin Alkan | Esquisses, Op. 63, Books III & IV | piano | 1861 | | Covers all the major and minor keys twice, but in a different sequence, and ends with a final Laus Deo in C major. |
| Vladimir Morkov (1801–1864) | Preludes in all 24 Major and Minor Tones | guitar | ?? | C5 | |
| Jean-Delphin Alard | 24 Études-Caprices, Op. 41 | violin | 1865 | C5 | |
| Adolf Jensen | 25 Études, Op. 32 | piano | 1866 | C5 + 1 | This set employs the circle of fifths for the first 24 preludes, and concludes with an additional prelude in C major |
| Simon Sechter (d. 1867) | 24 Preludes, Op. 26 | piano | ? | | |
| Charles-Valentin Alkan | 11 Grands préludes et 1 transcription du Messie de Hændel, Op.66 | piano | 1867 | | The set of 12 was not completed, an extraneous piece being inserted by the publishers, chosen for its key of e♭. |
| Paul Barbot (1828–1913) | L'art de préluder au piano: 72 préludes mélodiques dans tous les tons, Op. 94 | piano | 1868 | C5 | There are three preludes in each key, making 72 in all |
| Ferdinand David | Dur und Moll: 25 Etüden, Capricen und Charakterstücke in allen Tonarten, Op. 39 | violin solo, or violin and piano | ? | AC | |
| Désiré Magnus | 24 Études de genre, Opp.161–162 | piano | 1874 | | |
| Carl Reinecke | 24 Études, Op. 121 | piano | 1874 | | These include only 17 unique keys. |
| Désiré Magnus | 24 Études mélodiques et de vélocité, Opp. 189–190 | piano | 1876 | | |
| Ferruccio Busoni | 24 Preludes, Op. 37, BV. 181 | piano | May 1881 | C5 | Busoni had just turned 15 when he wrote this work. It has been recorded by Daniele Petralia, Geoffrey Douglas Madge, Holger Groschopp and Trevor Barnard. |
| Adolf von Henselt | Préambules dans tous les tons | piano | 1884 | | |
| Joachim Andersen | 24 Etudes for flute, Op. 15 | flute | 1885 | C5 | No. 14 changes from d# to e♭. |
| Sebastian Lee | 30 Präludien in allen Tonarten, Op. 122 | cello | 1885 | | There are 2 preludes for each key, except G and E♭ (3 each) and C (4), for a total of 30 preludes. Each of the 26 different keys is preceded by a scale. |
| Joachim Andersen | 24 Etudes for flute, Op. 21 | flute | 1886 | C5 | |
| Richard Hofmann | 32 Special-Etüden, Op. 52 | piano | 1886 | | |
| Joachim Andersen | 24 Etudes for Flute, Op. 30 | flute | 1888 | C5 | |
| Joachim Andersen | 24 Etudes for Flute, Op. 33 | flute | 1888 | C5 | |
| César Franck | L'Organiste, Vol. I, 63 pieces in 18 keys | harmonium or organ | 1890 (pub. posth. 1896) | | 59 pieces were originally published, with a further 4 being added in a later edition. Those 4 had remained in manuscript due to Franck's death while working on the composition. (A second set of 30 early pieces, L'Organiste, Vol. II was published in 1900, but these were collected from various unrelated manuscripts and do not cover the range of keys.) |
| Ignatius de Orellana | 24 Melodic Studies | piano | 1890 | | |
| Felix Blumenfeld | 24 Preludes, Op. 17 | piano | 1892 | C5 | Modelled on Chopin's Op. 28 set. Philip Thomson made the world premiere recording in 1999 |
| Emil Krause (1840–1916) | 24 Praeludien und Cadenzen, Op. 71 | piano | 1892 | C5 | |
| José Antonio Santesteban | 24 Preludes, Op. 84 | piano | 1892 | | |
| Johan Adam Krygell | Moll und Dur, 24 preludes and fugues | organ | 1893 | | All minors then all majors; majors are in C5 order; minors are the respective parallel minor keys. |
| Anton Arensky | 24 Morceaux caractéristiques, Op. 36 | piano | 1894 | | |
| Alexander Scriabin | 24 Preludes, Op. 11 | piano | 1893–95 | C5 | Scriabin chose G♭ over F#. He seems to have set out to write a further set of 24 preludes, and the 23 preludes of Opp. 13, 15, 16 and 17 (containing 6, 5, 5 and 7 preludes respectively) contain evidence of this, but he obviously moved away from his original idea as the key sequence breaks down. |
| Joachim Andersen | School of Virtuosity, 24 etudes, Op. 60 | flute | 1895 | C5 | |
| Max Reger | 111 Canons in all major and minor tonalities: Book I: Two-Part Canons (63) | piano | 1895 | [be] [109] | Book I: There are 2 successive canons for each key, except B and b (3 each), and f# (4). Also, e♭ appears in different places in the sequence, for a total of 4 canons. |
| Max Reger | 111 Canons in all major and minor tonalities: Book II: Three-Part Canons (48) | piano | 1895 | [bf] [109] | Book II: There are 2 successive canons for each key, except b♭, e♭, a♭, D♭, F#, G♭, C# and C♭ (1 each); and c and D (3 each). Also the order of g# and b is reversed between Books I and II. |
| Nikolay Tereshchenko (fl. 1898–1902) | 24 Preludes, Op. 26 | piano | c. 1898 | C5 | |
| August Winding (d. 1899) | Preludes in all the keys: A Cycle, Op. 26 | piano | ? | | The work is in 25 parts: 24 preludes, ordered by ascending fourths (increasing flats, decreasing sharps), and a final Postludium in C major. It is dedicated to Isidor Seiss. |
| Richard Hofmann | 50 leichte, melodische Studien in der ersten Lage u. in allen Tonarten, Op. 107 | piano | 1899 | | |
| Richard Hofmann | 40 melodische Studien in allen Lagen u. Tonarten, Op. 108 | piano | 1899 | | |

#### 20th century
##### 1901–1950

| Composer | Work | Instrument | Date | Order | Comments |
| Alexander Dorn (1833–1901) | 24 Studies in the Different Major and Minor Keys, Op.100 | piano | ?? | C5 | |
| Josef Rheinberger (1839–1901) | 20 sonatas | organ | 1868–1901 | | Opp. 27, 65, 88, 98, 111, 119, 127, 132, 142, 146, 148, 154, 161, 165, 168, 175, 181, 188, 193, 196; Rheinberger set out to write 24 organ sonatas, one in each key. He completed 20 of these before his death in 1901. |
| César Cui | 25 Preludes, Op. 64 | piano | 1903 | | Cui's order of keys is unique in that each major key is followed by the minor of its mediant (e.g. C major to E minor). It includes a 25th prelude in C major. |
| Émile Sauret | 24 Etudes Caprices, Op. 64 | violin | 1903 | | |
| Sergei Lyapunov | 12 Études d'exécution transcendante, Op. 11 | piano | 1897–1905 | | This set complements Franz Liszt's set of 12 Transcendental Études from 1826 to 1852 (which was written in neutral and flat keys only) by employing the remaining sharp keys. It is dedicated to Liszt's memory. |
| Franz Xaver Neruda | Praeludien und Fugen, Op.78 | piano | 1906 | | The set contains 12 pairs of preludes and fugues; 6 preludes in major keys are followed by fugues in their respective parallel minors, and vice-versa, making 24 keys in all |
| Jean-Henri Ravina (d. 1906) | 100 Préludes dans tous les tons majeurs et mineurs, Op. 110 | piano | ? | | |
| Reinhold Glière | 25 Preludes, Op. 30 | piano | 1907 | | |
| Selim Palmgren | 24 Preludes, Op. 17 | piano | 1907 | | |
| Emil Sjögren | Legends: Religious Moods (Swedish: Legender: religiösa stämningar) Op. 46 | organ | 1907 | | Based on fragments of his improvisations in St. John's Church, Stockholm. |
| Theobald Boehm | 24 Etudes, Op. 37 | flute | 1908 | | |
| Richard Hofmann | Elementar-Studien für Violine, op. 129 | violin | 1909 | | |
| Ludvig Schytte | Melodische Vortragsstudien in allen Tonarten, Op. 159 | piano | 1909 | | |
| Hans Sitt | Dur und Moll: 28 leichte melodische Etüden für Violine (erste Lage) zur Befestigung der Intonation in allen Tonarten, Op. 107 | violin | 1909 | | |
| Marco Anzoletti | 32 preludi per violino solo in tutte le tonalità | violin | 1909 | | |
| Sergei Rachmaninoff | 24 Preludes, Opp. 3/2, 23, 32 | piano | 1892–1910 | | The Prelude in C# minor, Op. 3/2, was part of a collection of pieces, and there is no evidence Rachmaninoff had at that stage planned to write 24 preludes traversing all the keys. Between 1901 and 1903, he wrote 10 Preludes, Op. 23, and in 1910, he completed the 24 with his 13 Preludes, Op. 32. |
| Semyon Barmotin | 20 Preludes, Op, 12 | piano | 1910 | | Only 20 pieces were ever completed, covering 20 keys |
| Blas María de Colomer | 24 Préludes mélodiques | piano | 1910 | C5 | |
| Raoul Koczalski | 24 Preludes, Op. 65 | piano | 1910 | C5 | |
| Hans Huber | 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 100 | piano 4-hands | | | Many sources inexplicably say there were only 12 pieces in the set, while at the same time listing 24 |
| Lambert Adriaan van Tetterode (1858–1931) | 24 Preludes, Op. 32 | piano | 1913 | C5 | |
| Louis Vierne | Vingt-quatre Pièces en style libre, Op. 31 | organ | 1913 | AC | |
| Charles Koechlin | 24 Esquisses, Op. 41 | piano | 1905–15 | | These cover only 13 unique keys; Nos. 15 and 22 are in indeterminate keys. |
| Frederick Septimus Kelly | 24 Monographs, Op. 11 | piano | 1914–16 | | |
| Erkki Melartin | 24 Preludes, Op. 85 | piano | 1916 | | |
| Georg Schumann | Durch Dur und Moll, Op. 61 | piano | 1916 | AC | |
| Jan Skrzydlewski (1867–1943) | 24 Preludes | piano | ? 1917 | | No. 16 is written without a key signature. |
| Walter Niemann | 24 Preludes, Op. 55 | piano | 1918 | C5 | |
| Charles Villiers Stanford | 24 Preludes, Set I, Op. 163 | piano | 1918 | AC | Set I has been recorded by Peter Jacobs. |
| Charles Villiers Stanford | 24 Preludes, Set II, Op. 179 | piano | 1920 | AC | Set II was completed in December 1920, not in 1921 as many sources report. |
| Aurelio Giorni | 24 Concert Études | piano | 1923 | C5 | No. 22 in G minor is for right hand alone. |
| Paul Taffanel | 24 Progressive Exercises | flute | 1923 | | Left unfinished by Taffanel; completed and revised by Philippe Gaubert |
| Robert Casadesus | 24 Preludes | piano | 1924 | | |
| Alexander Wunderer | 24 Etüden in allen Tonarten | oboe | pub. 1924 | AC | The 11th Etüde bears a striking similarity to the 11th variation of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's Variations on a Theme of Glinka, for oboe and military band. |
| Mieczyslaw Surzynski (1866–1924) | 55 Easy Preludes, Op. 20 | piano or organ | ? | | A collection of 55 pieces in all keys, in groups of 2 or 3 in each key; they have titles such as Moderato, Sostenuto, Andante, Allegretto, Lento etc. |
| Gustav Hanns Strümpel (1855–1927) | 24 Preludes, Op. 16 | piano | ? | | |
| Samuel Maykapar | Biriulki (Spillikins), 26 pieces, Op. 28 | piano | 1926 | | Cycle of 26 children pieces (with program titles) in all 24 major and minor keys (including two each in C major and A minor) |
| Louis Vierne | Pièces de fantaisie, 4 books, Opp. 51, 53–55 | organ | 1926–27 | | Random order |
| Abram Chasins | 24 Preludes, 4 Books, Opp. 10–13 | piano | 1927 | C5 | C5 but pairs of keys alternate between major/minor and minor/major |
| Manuel Ponce | 24 Preludes | guitar | c. 1929 | | Twelve of these were published by Andrés Segovia in 1930, but the remainder had to wait for the guitarist Miguel Alcazar to reconstruct them from Ponce's manuscripts before being published in 1981. |
| François Demierre (1893–1976) | 24 Préludes dans tous les tons majeurs et mineurs | piano | 1932 | | Swiss-French organist and teacher; his first wife was the sister of Ernest Ansermet. |
| Alexander Goldenweiser | Contrapuntal Sketches, Op. 12 | piano | 1932 | AC | |
| Dmitri Shostakovich | 24 Preludes, Op. 34 | piano | 1932–33 | C5 | See also 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87 (1950–51). |
| Ivan Wyschnegradsky | 24 Préludes dans tous les tons de l'échelle chromatique diatonisée à 13 sons Op. 22 | 2 pianos in quarter tones | 1934 (revised 1960) | | Ed. Belaieff. In 13-tone diatonicised chromaticism |
| Valery Zhelobinsky | 24 Preludes, Op. 20 | piano | 1934 | AC | Prelude No. 22, although it is effectively in B♭ minor, has a key signature with 6 flats, as if it were written in E♭ minor (like Prelude No. 8). Most C naturals in this prelude are arrived at via the use of accidentals, while C♭, which would have required accidentals had the true key signature with only 5 flats been used, requires no alteration. |
| Vsevolod Zaderatsky | 24 Preludes | piano | 1934 | | |
| Boris Goltz | 24 Preludes, Op. 2 | piano | 1934–35 | C5 | |
| Charles Koechlin | Fifteen Vocalises in all major keys, Op. 152 | voice and piano | Aug–Sep 1935 | | |
| Charles Koechlin | Fifteen Vocalises in all minor keys, Op. 154 | voice and piano | Oct. 1935 | | |
| Viktor Kosenko | Twenty-four Pieces for Children, Op. 25 | Piano | 1936 | C5 | Erroneously published in 1938 as Op. 15, but later corrected by Musichna Ukraina. |
| Algernon Ashton (1859–1937) | 24 string quartets | string quartet | ? | | The set was lost, possibly destroyed in WWII bombing. Ashton also wrote 8 piano sonatas, all in different keys, and it may be that he planned to complete a cycle of 24 of them as well. One source says he wrote 24 Preludes and Fugues, but this is not corroborated. |
| Vsevolod Zaderatsky | 24 Preludes and Fugues | piano | 1937–38 | | |
| Leonid Polovinkin (1894–1949) | 24 Postludes | piano | 1938 | | Increasing flats, decreasing sharps, a/C separated |
| Božidar Širola | 24 Two Part Inventions in all major and minor keys | piano | 1939 | | |
| Roger Sacheverell Coke | 24 Preludes, Op. 33 and Op. 34 | piano | 1938–41 | C5 | Two sets, Op. 33 containing eleven, and Op. 34 thirteen. |
| David Diamond | 52 Preludes and Fugues | piano | 1939–42 | | The first recording that Leonard Bernstein ever made included one pair (the Prelude and Fugue No. 3 in C# major). |
| Joseph Jongen | Vingt-quatre petits préludes pour piano dans tous les tons, Op. 116 | piano | 1941 | | At least some of them exist in a version for organ. |
| Paul Hindemith | Ludus Tonalis, 25 movements | piano | 1942 | | The work consists of a prelude, 11 interludes, and a postlude, each separated by a fugue. The keys are not differentiated into major and minor. |
| Dmitry Kabalevsky | 24 Preludes, Op. 38 | piano | 1943–44 | C5 | |
| Akio Yashiro (1929–76) | 24 Preludes | piano | 1945 | C5 | |
| Julius Weismann | Der Fugenbaum (The Fugue Tree), 24 Preludes and Fugues in all the keys, Op. 150 | piano | 1946 | AC | |
| Matvei Gozenpud (1903–61) | 24 Preludes, Op. 53 | piano | 1947 | C5 | |
| Craig Sellar Lang | A miniature 48; two books of short preludes & fugues in all keys, Op. 64 | piano | 1949 | | |
| York Bowen | 24 Preludes in all Major and Minor Keys, Op.102 | piano | 1938–50 | AC | |

##### 1951–2000

| Composer | Work | Instrument | Date | Order | Comments |
| Dmitri Shostakovich | 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87 | piano | 1950–51 | C5 | See also 24 Preludes, Op. 34 (1932–33). In both these cases, Shostakovich adhered to Chopin's order of keys, although he was greatly influenced by Bach's The Well-Tempered Clavier and even quoted parts of that work in Op. 87. |
| Richard Flury | 24 Preludes | piano | 1952 | | First performance Eugen Huber, 15 March 1956 in Solothurn. |
| Tatiana Nikolayeva | 24 Concert Etudes, Op. 13 | piano | 1951-53 | | Nikolayeva was the dedicatee and first performer of Shostakovich's 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87 of 1950-51 |
| Marcel Dupré | 24 Inventions, Op. 50 | organ | 1956 | | |
| Edvard Baghdasaryan | 24 Preludes | piano | 1951–58 | C5 | aka Eduard Bagdasarian, Baghdasarian; |
| William Gillock | 24 Lyric Preludes in Romantic Style | piano | 1958 | | Short pedagogical pieces |
| Franciszek Zachara | New Well-Tempered Clavicord for the Piano | piano | 1950s | | 24 sets of preludes and fugues in all major and minor keys, with an additional 25th prelude and fugue (on a theme from Ernő Dohnányi) added at the end. |
| Franciszek Zachara | Twenty-Four Etudes in All Keys | piano | 1950s | |
| Franciszek Zachara | Twelve Master Etudes in Minor Keys, Op. 29 | piano | 1950s | |
| Franciszek Zachara | Twenty-Four Variations on the Theme "Happy Birthday" | 2 pianos | 1950s | |
| Hans Gál | 24 Preludes, Op. 83 | piano | 1959–60 | | Major/parallel minor pairs, random order. Written during a fortnight's hospital stay, as a birthday present to himself; FP October 1960, composer, Edinburgh Society of Musicians. |
| Nikolai Rakov | 24 children's pieces in all keys | piano | 1961 | | |
| Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco | Les Guitares bien tempérées (The Well-Tempered Guitars), 24 préludes et fugues, Op. 199 | 2 guitars | 1962 | | Described as "the longest and most important cycle of works for two guitars ever composed", the 200-page score was written between 8 March and 3 June 1962, in response to performances by the popular husband-wife duo Ida Presti and Alexandre Lagoya |
| Gara Garayev | 24 Preludes | piano | 1951–63 | C5* | |
| Gunnar de Frumerie | Circulus Quintus Op. 62, 24 piano pieces | piano | 1965 | | Some have names which suggest the character of the piece such as "Siciliano", "Tarantella", or "Gavotte". As in the case of Emil Sjögren's Legends for organ, the collection is divided in two volumes, where the first has the pieces ordered in a perfect half-circle of fifths from C major to G# minor, and the second volume is ordered in a half-circle of fifths backwards, i.e. starting with F major and ending with E♭ minor. |
| Isaak Berkovich | 24 Preludes, Op, 46 | piano | 1965-68 | C5 | |
| Aleksandr Kasyanov | 24 Preludes | piano | 1968 | C5 | |
| Richard Cumming (1928–2009) | 24 Preludes | piano | 1966–69 | | Commissioned by John Browning, who stipulated they should be "as hard as possible", gave the world premiere in 1969 and recorded them |
| Rodion Shchedrin | 24 Preludes and Fugues, in 2 volumes | piano | 1964–70 | C5 | Shchedrin premiered Vol. I in Moscow in 1965 and the complete cycle in 1971. Dedicated to the memory of his father. |
| Viktor Poltoratsky | 24 Preludes and Fugues | piano | 1967–71 | C5 | |
| Sulkhan Tsintsadze | 24 Preludes | piano | 1971 | C5 | |
| Eduard Abramian (1923–1986) | 24 Preludes | piano | 1952–72 | | d and e♭ occur twice each; D and a are not represented. |
| Balys Dvarionas (d. 1972) | 24 Preludes | piano | ? | AC | |
| Dmitri Shostakovich | 15 string quartets | string quartet | 1938–74 | | Shostakovich planned to write 24 string quartets, one each in a different key, but completed only 15 before his death. |
| Georgy Mushel (d. 1989) | 24 Preludes and Fugues | piano | 1975 | | |
| Alan Bush | 24 Preludes, Op. 84 | piano | 1977 | | Composer gave the first performance at the Wigmore Hall on 30 October 1977. |
| Valentin Bibik | 34 Preludes and Fugues in 3 Books | piano | 1973–78 | | Book I: 14 major and minor keys on the white notes; Book II: 10 sharp keys; Book III: 10 flat keys |
| Yevgeny Svetlanov | 12 Preludes | piano | 1978 | | 12 selected major and minor keys, in random order |
| Sembiin Gonchigsumlaa | 24 Preludes | piano | 1978–79 | C5 | |
| Yasushi Akutagawa | 24 Preludes: The Piano Pieces for Children | piano | 1979 | C5* | |
| Hans Gál | 24 Fugues, Op. 108 | piano | 1979–80 | AC | Written as a 90th birthday present to himself. |
| Hiroshi Hara (1933–2002) | 24 Preludes & Fugues | piano | 1981 | | |
| Jaan Rääts | 24 Marginalia, Op. 68 | 2 pianos | 1982 | | |
| Alexander Iakovtchouk (b. 1952) | 24 Preludes and Fugues | piano | 1983 | | or Alexander Yakovchuk |
| John McLeod (b. 1934) | Twelve Preludes | piano | 1984 | | Cycle of Preludes related by key. Commissioned by Richard Orlando Thompson. Premiered 30 September 1984, Purcell Room, London |
| Anthony Burgess | The Bad-Tempered Electronic Keyboard | piano | Nov–Dec 1985 | | 24 preludes and fugues + a closing "Finale: Natale", written for the 300th anniversary of the birth of Johann Sebastian Bach 12 major keys ascending chromatically are followed by the 12 minor keys in the same order. |
| Geoff Cummings-Knight (b. 1947) | 24 Preludes | piano | 1985 | | Published by Roberton Publications in 1987. Premiered at the British Music Information Centre, London, 29 October 1991. |
| Dave Smith (b. 1949) | First Piano Concert (24 sonatas in all the keys) | piano | 1985–86 | | |
| Nikolai Kapustin | 24 Preludes in Jazz Style, Op. 53 | piano | 1988 | C5 | |
| Jaan Rääts | 24 Estonian Preludes, Op. 80 | piano | 1988 | | |
| Igor Rekhin (b. 1941) | 24 Preludes and Fugues | guitar | 1985–90 | AC | |
| David Cope | The Well-Tempered Disklavier, 48 preludes and fugues | piano | 1991 | | |
| Igor Rekhin (b. 1941) | 24 Caprices | cello | 1991 | AC | |
| Sulkhan Tsintsadze (d. 1991) | 24 Preludes | cello & piano | ?? | C5 | |
| Sergei Slonimsky | 24 Preludes and Fugues | piano | 1994 | AC | Inspired to create this cycle after listening to Glenn Gould's recording of The Well-Tempered Clavier on New Year's Eve, 1993. The cycle was dedicated to the memory of A. N. Dolzhansky. It follows Bach's key organization, ascending in chromatic order from C major to B minor. |
| Trygve Madsen | 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 101 | piano | 1995–96 | | |
| Howard Blake | Lifestyle, Op. 489: 24 pieces | Piano | 1996 | | Minor/parallel major pairs, descending sharps, ascending flats, descending sharps. |
| Nikolai Kapustin | 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 82 | piano | 1997 | | The major keys tour the circle of fifths in the flat direction (beginning with C major and ending with G major), while the minor keys tour in the same mode but begin at the other side of the circle (starting with G# minor and ending with E♭ minor). This has the effect of juxtaposing very unrelated keys, and spacing relative majors and minors as far apart from one another as possible. |
| Ron Weidberg (b. 1953) | Voyage to the End of the Millennium: 24 Preludes and Fugues | piano | 1997–98 | | |
| Lera Auerbach | 24 Preludes, Op. 41 | piano | 1999 | C5 | No. 13 in F# in the 24 Preludes for piano, Op. 41, is written in 5 sharps, with accidentals used to achieve the desired tonality. |
| Lera Auerbach | 24 Preludes, Op. 46 | violin and piano | 1999 | C5 | No. 13 in F# in the 24 Preludes for piano, Op. 41, is written in 5 sharps, with accidentals used to achieve the desired tonality. |
| Lera Auerbach | 24 Preludes, Op. 47 | cello and piano | 1999 | C5 | No. 13 in F# in the 24 Preludes for piano, Op. 41, is written in 5 sharps, with accidentals used to achieve the desired tonality. |
| Niels Viggo Bentzon (d. 2000) | Det temperede klaver, 14 sets each containing 24 Preludes and Fugues | piano | ? | | Opp. 157, 379, 400, 409, 428, 470, 530, 532, 541, 542, 546, 554, 633, 638 |
| Dmitri Smirnov | The Well-Tempered Piano | piano | 1968–2000 | | Major keys ascending chromatically from C alternate with minor keys descending chromatically from b. |
| Henry Martin (b. 1950) | 24 Preludes and Fugues | piano | 1990–2000 | AC | |
| John Ramsden Williamson (1929–2015) | Palindromic Preludes (at least 8 sets of 12), New Preludes | piano | 1993–2000 | | These sets generally consist of 12 major or minor keys |
| Alexander Mekaev (b. 1960) | 24 Preludes, Op. 41 | piano | ?? | C5 | |
| Mikhail Alekseyev (b. 1965) | 26 Preludes | piano | 2000 | | D and B♭ appear twice each |
| Roberto Novegno (b. 1981) | Preludes I, tbp 43 | piano | 2000 | C5 | |
| Roberto Novegno (b. 1981) | Preludes II, tbp 46 | piano | 2000 | | |

#### 21st century

| Composer | Work | Instrument | Date | Order | Comments |
| Roberto Novegno (b. 1981) | Preludes III, tbp 53 | piano | 2000–01 | | |
| Roberto Novegno (b. 1981) | Preludes IV, tbp 60 | piano | 2001–02 | | |
| Daniel Padrón (b. 1966) | 24 Nocturnes | piano | c. 2002 | | |
| Anthony Ritchie (b. 1960) | 24 Preludes | piano | 2002 | | Uses the mathematical concept of the magic square |
| Roberto Novegno (b. 1981) | Preludes V, tbp 62 | piano | 2002–03 | | |
| Rob Peters (b. 1969) | 24 Preludes, Op. 119 | organ | 2003 | | Increasing flats, decreasing sharps |
| Roberto Novegno (b. 1981) | Preludes VI, tbp 65 | piano | 2003–04 | | |
| Wim Zwaag (b. 1960) | 24 Preludes | piano | 2004 | | Premiered in April 2007 by Paul Komen at the Bethaniënklooster, Amsterdam |
| Edward Cowie | 24 Preludes | piano | 2004–2005 | C5* | Vol 1 – Book 1 (Water); Book 2 (Air); Vol 2 – Book 3 (Earth); Book 4 (Fire). Cowie uses a♭ rather than g#. |
| Jeroen van Veen | 24 Minimal Preludes, 2 Books | piano | 1999–2006 | C5 | Book I, 1999–2003; Book II, 2004–06 |
| Daniel Léo Simpson | 24 Inventions | piano | 1977–2008 | | |
| Marc-André Hamelin | Twelve Etudes in All the Minor Keys | piano | 1986–2008 | | Each etude has a title. They are laid out in four groups of three keys following the ascending circle of fifths separated by a minor third. |
| Roberto Novegno (b. 1981) | Preludes VII, tbp 73 | piano | 2004–08 | | |
| Mark Alburger | Standards: 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 162 | piano | 2008 | AC | |
| Roberto Novegno (b. 1981) | Preludes VIII, tbp 85 | piano | 2009 | AC | |
| Roberto Novegno (b. 1981) | Preludes IX, tbp 88 | piano | 2009 | | |
| Roberto Novegno (b. 1981) | Preludes X, tbp 94 | piano | 2009 | | |
| Roberto Novegno (b. 1981) | Preludes XI, tbp 98 | piano | 2009–10 | | |
| Francis Routh | The Well-Tempered Pianist, Op. 77 | piano | 2009–2010 | | These 24 Preludes are based on a seven-note scale consisting of the six notes of the whole–tone scale with the addition of the perfect fourth The sequence includes preludes in D#, G# and A#, which are normally considered theoretical keys as their key signatures include double sharps. |
| Michelle Gorrell | Well-Tempered Licks & Grooves: 24 Preludes & Fugues in Jazz Styles | piano | 2010 | | |
| Leslie Howard | 24 Classical Preludes for Piano, Op. 25 | piano | ? | | Each prelude is written in the style of a different composer |
| Roberto Novegno (b. 1981) | Preludes XII, tbp 102 | piano | 2010 | | |
| Roberto Novegno (b. 1981) | Preludes XIII, tbp 130 | piano | 2011 | | |
| Rob Peters (b. 1969) | 24 Preludes a danser, Op. 211 | piano | 2011 | | Major keys ascending chromatically from C alternate with minor keys ascending chromatically from f. |
| George N. Gianopoulos | 24 Chorale Preludes, Op. 6 | piano | 2006–12 | AC | |
| Geert Van Hoorick (b. 1968) | 24 Preludes, Op. 39 | piano | 2010–12 | C5 | |
| Shuwen Zhang (b. 1991) | The 24 Chinese Solar Terms | piano or harpsichord | 2011–2012 | AC | |
| Lawrence Chandler | The Tuning of the World | string quartet | 2012 | | |
| Steven O'Brien | 24 Preludes, Op. 2 | piano | 2012 | C5 | |
| Colin Peter Snuggs (b. 1977) | 24 Preludes, Op. 2 | piano | 2012–13 | | Covers 16 unique keys. He has also written at least 18 études in different keys. |
| Aaron Andrew Hunt (b. 1972) | 24 Preludes and Fugues, Set I | piano | 2003–14 | AC | |
| Michael Brough (b. 1960) | 25 Picture-Preludes for Piano, Op. 19 | piano | 2013–14 | | Major/relative minor pairs, order variable, random sequence; No. 13 is specified as "no key"; 24 in b♭ is for left hand. |
| John Burge | 24 Preludes | piano | 2011–15 | C5 | |
| Roberto Novegno (b. 1981) | Preludes XIV, tbp 140 | piano | 2012–15 | | |
| Ilia Lushpa (b, 1991) | 24 Preludes | piano | 2015 | | |
| Jason L. Pachman (b. 1971) | 24 Preludes | piano | 2015–17 | C5 | |
| Felipe Brandes (b. 2000) | 24 Preludes, Op. 34 | piano | 2017 | C5 | |
| Mark Phillips | 24 Preludes for Piano in All Major and Minor Keys: In the Style of Bach's "Prelude in C Major" from The Well-Tempered Clavier | piano | 2017 | | |
| Stéphane Delplace | Préludes et Fugues dans les Trente Tonalités, 3 Books | piano | 1994–2018 | (Book I) | Major/relative minor pairs, ascending in steps of 1 or 4 semitones (14141411414141) |
| Christopher Brown | 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 98 | piano | 2011-19, pub. 2020 | | Four books (each of 6 Preludes and Fugues) based around one of the notes of the name B A C H (B♭, A C and B natural in German), and starting and ending in the major or minor tonality of the 4 keys. |
| Michel Rondeau | 24 Fughettas | 2 flugelhorns & bass trombone | 2019 | | |
| Howard Skempton | 24 Preludes and Fugues | piano | 2019 | | Preludes are all canons. In the first 12, each major key is followed by the minor key of the next note (C, c#, D, e♭ ...). For the remainder, minor keys are followed by the major key of the next note (c, C#, d, E♭ ...) |
| Agnes W. Ascher (b. 1980) | Escapes/Fugitives from Everyday-life: 24 Well-tempered Counterpoint, Taken from Life, Composed and Made for Special Diversion, Op. 2 | piano(s) | 2019–20 | AC | Fugues and fugal movements over everyday life melodies (from ringtones and children's songs to popular, film, tv and classical music; simple, double, triple and quadrupel fugues; multithematic fantasies) |
| Aaron Andrew Hunt (b. 1972) | 24 Preludes and Fugues, Set II | piano | 2019–20 | AC | |
| Keith Eisenbrey (b. 1959) | 24 Preludes | piano | 2011–21 | C5 | |
| Albert Guinovart | 24 Preludes | piano | 2021 | | Descending chromatic pairs of unrelated major and minor keys starting at B/f |
| Kirill Monorosi | 24 Etudes, Op. 1 | piano | 2021 | AC | |
| Andrzej Chmielewski (b. 1990) | 24 Preludes | piano | 2009–22 | C5 | |
| Daniel Léo Simpson | 24 Preludes and Fugues | piano | 2017–22 | | As of 2022, only 13 of the 24 pieces had been published |
| Nicholas Scott-Burt (b. 1962) | 24 Preludes for Piano | piano | 2019–20 | | Alternative major and minor, up a tone, down a semitone |
| Hayden Roberts (b. 2004) | Anthony's Book: 24 Preludes and 24 Scherzos | piano | 2019–22 | AC | |
| Howard Skempton | 50 Preludes for Organ, books 1 and 2 | piano | 2022–23 | AC | |
| Dennis Alexander (b. 1947) | 24 Character Preludes | piano | ?? | | |
| Ken Hatfield | Etudes in 24 Keys | guitar | ?? | | |
| Victor Labenske | Piano Miniatures: 24 Short Solos | piano | ?? | | |