Unmeasured prelude

Important lute composers who contributed to the development of the unmeasured prelude include Pierre Gaultier, René Mesangeau and Germain Pinel.

This kind of notation is found in Couperin's unmeasured preludes and was also done by Élisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre.

Another important contribution to the development of the genre was made by Nicolas Lebègue, who used diverse note values in his unmeasured preludes.

The unmeasured harpsichord prelude became a typical French genre, used by many famous composers including Jean-Philippe Rameau, Jean-Henri d'Anglebert, Louis Marchand and Élisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre.

François Couperin's didactic L'art de toucher le clavecin (1716) contained eight preludes that, while unmeasured and improvisatory in nature, were measured for teaching purposes.