/
ˈprɛljuːd/
n.
  - an action or event serving as an introduction to something more important.
- a piece of music serving as an introduction, e.g. to an act of an opera or to a suite or a fugue. ▸the introductory part of a poem or other literary work. 
v.
 serve as a prelude or introduction to.
Derivative
Etymology
C16: from Fr. prélude, from med. L. praeludium, from L. praeludere ‘play beforehand’.