Music and Time Annotation << Back Perpetuum Mobile in Preludes and Fugues by R. Shchedrin I.A. Davydova Rodion Shchedrin's cycle «24 Preludes and Fugues» is one of the central works in his late period of creativity in the 1960s and 1970s. The relevance of this topic lies in the exploration of the perpetuum mobile genre in Shchedrin's polyphonic cycle. To achieve this, it was necessary to analyze two preludes and fugues (A-dur and gis-moll) in terms of their style, interpretation of perpetuum mobile forms and genres, thematicism, and complex polyphonic counterpoint techniques. The article uses structural-musical (the structures of fugue themes and the forms of preludes and fugues) and comparative methods. The conclusions emphasize the traditions of polyphonic cycles by J.S. Bach, D. Shostakovich, P. Hindemith, and S. Prokofiev; examples of the use of the perpetuum mobile genre in other instrumental compositions, operas, and ballets by R. Shchedrin are provided. Keywords: cycle «24 preludes and fugues» by R. Shchedrin, perpetuum mobile, fret neutrality, chromatic tonality, concert and polyphonic three-part forms, complex counterpoint. DOI: 10.25791/music.5.2026.1408 Pp. 03-09.