Études (Chopin)
Encyclopedia
The Études
Étude
An étude , is an instrumental musical composition, most commonly of considerable difficulty, usually designed to provide practice material for perfecting a particular technical skill. The tradition of writing études emerged in the early 19th century with the rapidly growing popularity of the piano...

 by Frédéric Chopin
Frédéric Chopin
Frédéric François Chopin was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist. He is considered one of the great masters of Romantic music and has been called "the poet of the piano"....

 are three sets of solo studies for the piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...

, There are twenty-seven overall, comprising two separate collections of twelve, numbered Opus
Opus number
An Opus number , pl. opera and opuses, abbreviated, sing. Op. and pl. Opp. refers to a number generally assigned by composers to an individual composition or set of compositions on publication, to help identify their works...

 10 and 25, and a set of three without opus number.

Composition

Chopin's Études are the foundation of a new system of technical piano playing that was radical and revolutionary the first time they appeared. They are some of the most challenging and evocative pieces of all the works in concert piano repertoire. Because of this, the music remains popular and often performed in both concert and private stages. Some are so popular they have been given nicknames; arguably the most popular of all is the Revolutionary Étude (Op. 10, No. 12). Although no nicknames are of Chopin's original creation, they create interesting pretext and encourage the imagination to fabricate epic works embodied by these studies.

All twenty-seven Études were published during Chopin's lifetime. Opus 10, the first group of twelve, were composed between 1829 and 1832, and were published in 1833, in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

, and England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. The twelve Études of Opus 25 were composed at various times between 1832 and 1836, and were published in the same countries in 1837. The final three, part of a series called "Méthode des méthodes de piano" compiled by Moscheles
Ignaz Moscheles
Ignaz Moscheles was a Bohemian composer and piano virtuoso, whose career after his early years was based initially in London, and later at Leipzig, where he succeeded his friend and sometime pupil Felix Mendelssohn as head of the Conservatoire.-Sources:Much of what we know about Moscheles's life...

 and Fétis
François-Joseph Fétis
François-Joseph Fétis was a Belgian musicologist, composer, critic and teacher. He was one of the most influential music critics of the 19th century, and his enormous compilation of biographical data in the Biographie universelle des musiciens remains an important source of information today...

, were composed in 1839, without an assigned opus number. They appeared in Germany and France in November 1840, and England in January 1841. Accompanying copies of these important early editions, there are usually several manuscripts of a single Étude in Chopin's own hand, and additional copies made by his close friend, Jules Fontana, along with editions of Carl Mikuli
Carl Mikuli
Karol Mikuli was a Polish-Armenian pianist, composer, conductor and teacher.- Biographical Notes :Mikuli was born in Czerniowce, then part of the Austrian Empire to an Armenian family. He studied under Frédéric Chopin for piano and Anton Reicha for composition...

, Chopin's student.

The first Études of the Opus 10 set were written when Chopin was still in his teens. They rank alongside the early works of Mendelssohn
Felix Mendelssohn
Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Barthóldy , use the form 'Mendelssohn' and not 'Mendelssohn Bartholdy'. The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians gives ' Felix Mendelssohn' as the entry, with 'Mendelssohn' used in the body text...

 as rare examples of extremely youthful compositions that are regarded as both innovative and worthy of inclusion in the standard canon. Chopin's Études elevated the musical form from purely utilitarian exercises to great artistic masterpieces. At a concert in which Chopin performed his opus 25, Robert Schumann said "À la Chopin".

Impact

Although sets of exercises for piano had been common from the end of the 18th century ( Muzio Clementi. J. B. Cramer, Ignaz Moscheles, and Carl Czerny
Carl Czerny
Carl Czerny was an Austrian pianist, composer and teacher. He is best remembered today for his books of études for the piano. Czerny's music was profoundly influenced by his teachers, Muzio Clementi, Johann Nepomuk Hummel, Antonio Salieri and Ludwig van Beethoven.-Early life:Carl Czerny was born...

 were composers of the most significant), Chopin's not only presented an entirely new set of technical challenges, but were the first to become a regular part of the concert repertoire. His Études combine musical substance and technical challenge to form a complete artistic form. They are often held in high regard as the product of mastery of combining the two.
His effect on contemporaries such as Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt ; ), was a 19th-century Hungarian composer, pianist, conductor, and teacher.Liszt became renowned in Europe during the nineteenth century for his virtuosic skill as a pianist. He was said by his contemporaries to have been the most technically advanced pianist of his age...

 was apparent, based on the revision Liszt made to his series of concert études after meeting Chopin. Contemporary Polish
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

 musicologist Tadeusz A. Zielinski wrote, on opus 10, that "not only did they become an orderly demonstration of a new piano style and the formulas peculiar to it, but also an artistic ennoblement of this style."

Chopin's Études are not without modern influence as well. Several have lodged themselves in popular music, movies, or television shows.

Études Op. 10

The first set of Études was published in 1833 (although some had been written as early as 1829). Chopin was twenty-three years old and already famous as a composer and pianist in the salons
Salon (gathering)
A salon is a gathering of people under the roof of an inspiring host, held partly to amuse one another and partly to refine taste and increase their knowledge of the participants through conversation. These gatherings often consciously followed Horace's definition of the aims of poetry, "either to...

 of Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

, where he made the acquaintance of Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt ; ), was a 19th-century Hungarian composer, pianist, conductor, and teacher.Liszt became renowned in Europe during the nineteenth century for his virtuosic skill as a pianist. He was said by his contemporaries to have been the most technically advanced pianist of his age...

. Subsequently, Chopin dedicated the entire opus to him - "à son ami Franz Liszt" (French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

, lit. to his [Chopin's] friend Franz Liszt).
Name Key Name Key
Étude Op. 10, No. 1
Étude Op. 10, No. 1 (Chopin)
Étude Op. 10, No.1 in C major is a study for solo piano composed by Frédéric Chopin in 1829. It was first published in 1833 in France, Germany, and England as the first piece of his Études Op. 10. This study in reach and arpeggios focuses on stretching the fingers of the right hand...

C major
C major
C major is a musical major scale based on C, with pitches C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. Its key signature has no flats/sharps.Its relative minor is A minor, and its parallel minor is C minor....

 
Étude Op. 10, No. 7
Étude Op. 10, No. 7 (Chopin)
Étude Op. 10, No. 7, in C major, is a solo piano technical study composed by Frédéric Chopin in 1833. The tempo Vivace indicates a lively playing speed.- Structure :...

C major
C major
C major is a musical major scale based on C, with pitches C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. Its key signature has no flats/sharps.Its relative minor is A minor, and its parallel minor is C minor....

Étude Op. 10, No. 2
Étude Op. 10, No. 2 (Chopin)
Étude Op. 10, No. 2, in A minor, is a technical study composed by Frédéric Chopin for the piano. Composed in 1829 it was first published in 1833 in France, Germany, and England This étude is an exercise in developing the independence of the weaker fingers of the right hand by playing rapid...

A minor
A minor
A minor is a minor scale based on A, consisting of the pitches A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. The harmonic minor scale raises the G to G...

 
Étude Op. 10, No. 8
Étude Op. 10, No. 8 (Chopin)
Étude Op. 10, No. 8 in F major is a technical study composed by Frédéric Chopin. It has been nicknamed the "Sunshine" etude. This work follows on from No.7 as being primarily another work concerned with counterpoint. In this case, however, the principal melody is in the left hand, the secondary...

F major
F major
F major is a musical major scale based on F, consisting of the pitches F, G, A, B, C, D, and E. Its key signature has one flat . It is by far the oldest key signature with an accidental, predating the others by hundreds of years...

Étude Op. 10, No. 3
Étude Op. 10, No. 3 (Chopin)
Étude Op. 10 No. 3, in E major, is a study for solo piano composed by Frédéric Chopin in 1832. It was first published in 1833 in France, Germany, and England as the third piece of his Études Op. 10. This is a slow cantabile study for polyphonic and legato playing. Chopin himself believed the...

E major
E major
E major is a major scale based on E, with the pitches E, F, G, A, B, C, and D. Its key signature has four sharps .Its relative minor is C-sharp minor, and its parallel minor is E minor....

Étude Op. 10, No. 9
Étude Op. 10, No. 9 (Chopin)
Étude Op. 10, No. 9, in F minor, is a technical study composed by Frédéric Chopin in 1829. This étude is part of the twelve studies which belong to Op. 10. It is widely regarded as a good left hand étude because it promotes flexibility in the wrists and fingers. It is also considered the easiest...

F minor
F minor
F minor is a minor scale based on F, consisting of the pitches F, G, A, B, C, D, and E. The harmonic minor raises the E to E. Its key signature has four flats ....

Étude Op. 10, No. 4
Étude Op. 10, No. 4 (Chopin)
Étude Op. 10, No. 4, in C-sharp minor, is a study for solo piano composed by Frédéric Chopin in 1830. It was first published in 1833 in France, Germany, and England as the fourth piece of his Études Op. 10...

C-sharp minor  Étude Op. 10, No. 10
Étude Op. 10, No. 10 (Chopin)
Étude Op. 10, No. 10, in A-flat major, is a technical study composed by Frédéric Chopin. This étude places huge demands on the performer in varying a single pattern by changes of accent and touch...

A-flat major
Étude Op. 10, No. 5 G-flat major  Étude Op. 10, No. 11
Étude Op. 10, No. 11 (Chopin)
Étude Op. 10, No. 11, in E-flat major, is a technical study composed by Frédéric Chopin. It is sometimes given the tiles Arpeggio-Study, and Guitar-Study. The chief difficulty addressed in this piece is the performance of extended arpeggiated chords. Throughout, the hands are required to stretch...

E-flat major
Étude Op. 10, No. 6
Étude Op. 10, No. 6 (Chopin)
Étude Op. 10, No. 6, in E-flat minor, is a study for solo piano composed by Frédéric Chopin in 1830. It was first published in 1833 in France, Germany, and England as the sixth piece of his Études Op. 10. The tempo Andante in 6/8 and con molto espressione indicate a more moderate playing speed...

E-flat minor  Étude Op. 10, No. 12 C minor
C minor
C minor is a minor scale based on C, consisting of the pitches C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. The harmonic minor raises the B to B. Changes needed for the melodic and harmonic versions of the scale are written in with naturals and accidentals as necessary.Its key signature consists of three flats...


Études Op. 25

Chopin's second set of Études was published in 1837, and dedicated to Franz Liszt's mistress, Marie d'Agoult
Marie d'Agoult
Marie Catherine Sophie de Flavigny, Vicomtesse de Flavigny , was a French author, known also by her married name and title, Marie, Comtesse d'Agoult, and by her pen name, Daniel Stern....

, the reasons for which are a matter of speculation.
Name Key Name Key
Étude Op. 25, No. 1
Étude Op. 25, No. 1 (Chopin)
Étude Op. 25, No. in A-flat major is a solo piano work composed by Frédéric Chopin in 1836, and published in 1837. Its romanticized names are "Aeolian Harp," for Schumann's description of it, and "The Shepherd Boy," for Chopin's advice to a pupil to picture a shepherd boy refuging in a grotto to...

A-flat major  Étude Op. 25, No. 7
Étude Op. 25, No. 7 (Chopin)
Étude Op. 25, No. 7 in C-sharp minor is a solo piano technical study composed by Frédéric Chopin in 1834. Markedly different from Chopin's overall scheme of technical virtuosity, this étude focuses instead on perfect sound and phrasing, particularly for the left hand.- Structure :Étude Op. 25, No...

C-sharp minor
Étude Op. 25, No. 2
Étude Op. 25, No. 2 (Chopin)
Étude Op. 25, No. 2, in F minor, is an étude composed by Frédéric Chopin. It is based on a polyrhythm, with pairs of eighth-note triplets in the right hand against quarter-note triplets in the left. The étude is sometimes known as "The Bees".- External links :* at...

F minor
F minor
F minor is a minor scale based on F, consisting of the pitches F, G, A, B, C, D, and E. The harmonic minor raises the E to E. Its key signature has four flats ....

 
Étude Op. 25, No. 8
Étude Op. 25, No. 8 (Chopin)
Étude Op. 25, No. 8, in D-flat major, is a technical piano study composed by Frédéric Chopin.- External links :* at...

D-flat major
Étude Op. 25, No. 3
Étude Op. 25, No. 3 (Chopin)
Étude Op. 25, No. 3, in F major, is a technical study composed by Frédéric Chopin in 1836. The romanticized nickname of this piece is "The Horseman" or "The Knight", probably because of its "galloping" style. It is mostly a study in rhythm. The study has four different voices that must be brought...

F major
F major
F major is a musical major scale based on F, consisting of the pitches F, G, A, B, C, D, and E. Its key signature has one flat . It is by far the oldest key signature with an accidental, predating the others by hundreds of years...

 
Étude Op. 25, No. 9
Étude Op. 25, No. 9 (Chopin)
Étude Op. 25, No. 9, in G-flat major, "Butterfly" is an étude by Frédéric Chopin. -Analysis:Étude Op. 25, No. 9 is a study of staccato - marcato alternations, marked throughout the piece. It is the shortest of the twenty-four, and lasts under a minute played at the indicated tempo. The melody is...

G-flat major
Étude Op. 25, No. 4
Étude Op. 25, No. 4 (Chopin)
Étude Op. 25, No. 4 in A minor is a technical study composed by Frédéric Chopin. It is marked Agitato at the head. The technique explored in this piece is the performance of off-beat staccato chords set against a regular on-beat bass. This is an example of syncopation...

A minor
A minor
A minor is a minor scale based on A, consisting of the pitches A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. The harmonic minor scale raises the G to G...

 
Étude Op. 25, No. 10
Étude Op. 25, No. 10 (Chopin)
Étude Op. 25, No. 10 in B minor is a solo piano study in B minor, composed by Frédéric Chopin in 1835.- Structure :Étude Op. 25, No. 10 features many unique aspects not present in most Chopin's études, including a significant and distinctive ternary form. The first theme is presented as a series of...

B minor
B minor
B minor is a minor scale based on B, consisting of the pitches B, C, D, E, F, G, and A. The harmonic minor raises the A to A. Its key signature has two sharps .Its relative major is D major, and its parallel major is B major....

Étude Op. 25, No. 5
Étude Op. 25, No. 5 (Chopin)
Étude Op. 25, No. 5, in E minor, is a technical study composed by Frédéric Chopin in 1837. Marking a serious departure in the expected technique developed previously, Chopin wrote this étude with a series of quick minor seconds that produce slightly dissonant sounds...

E minor
E minor
E minor is a minor scale based on the note E. The E natural minor scale consists of the pitches E, F, G, A, B, C, and D. The E harmonic minor scale contains the natural 7, D, rather than the flatted 7, D – to align with the major dominant chord, B7 .Its key signature has one sharp, F .Its...

 
Étude Op. 25, No. 11
Étude Op. 25, No. 11 (Chopin)
Étude Op. 25, No. 11, in A minor, is a solo piano technical study composed by Frédéric Chopin in 1836. It was first published together with all études of Opus 25 in 1837, in France, Germany, and England. The first French edition indicates a common time time signature, but the manuscript and the...

A minor
A minor
A minor is a minor scale based on A, consisting of the pitches A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. The harmonic minor scale raises the G to G...

Étude Op. 25, No. 6
Étude Op. 25, No. 6 (Chopin)
Étude Op. 25, No. 6, in G-sharp minor, is a technical study composed by Frédéric Chopin focusing on thirds, trilling them at a high speed. At one point, both hands play a chromatic-third scale. One of the most difficult études by Chopin, it is also one of the more lyrical of Op.25.- External links...

G-sharp minor  Étude Op. 25, No. 12
Étude Op. 25, No. 12 (Chopin)
Étude Op. 25, No. 12 in C minor is the last of Frédéric Chopin's formal studies for the Piano, opus 25, dedicated À Madame la Comtesse d'Agoult. It was first published in 1837 in French, German, and English. In the first French edition, the time signature is 4/4, but most modern editions follow the...

| C minor
C minor
C minor is a minor scale based on C, consisting of the pitches C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. The harmonic minor raises the B to B. Changes needed for the melodic and harmonic versions of the scale are written in with naturals and accidentals as necessary.Its key signature consists of three flats...


Trois nouvelles études

Trois nouvelles études
Trois Nouvelles Études
Frédéric Chopin wrote his Trois nouvelles études for piano in 1839, as a contribution to "Méthode des méthodes de piano", a piano instruction book by Ignaz Moscheles and François-Joseph Fétis. They are often erroneously described as posthumous. In general, these études display little of the...

were written as a contribution to Méthode des méthodes de piano, a piano instruction book by Ignaz Moscheles
Ignaz Moscheles
Ignaz Moscheles was a Bohemian composer and piano virtuoso, whose career after his early years was based initially in London, and later at Leipzig, where he succeeded his friend and sometime pupil Felix Mendelssohn as head of the Conservatoire.-Sources:Much of what we know about Moscheles's life...

 and François-Joseph Fétis
François-Joseph Fétis
François-Joseph Fétis was a Belgian musicologist, composer, critic and teacher. He was one of the most influential music critics of the 19th century, and his enormous compilation of biographical data in the Biographie universelle des musiciens remains an important source of information today...

, and were not given a separate Opus number. While less technically brilliant than those of Op. 10 and Op. 25, these three études nevertheless retain Chopin's original formula for harmonic and structural balance.
Name Key
Étude No. 1 F minor
F minor
F minor is a minor scale based on F, consisting of the pitches F, G, A, B, C, D, and E. The harmonic minor raises the E to E. Its key signature has four flats ....

Étude No. 2 A-flat major
Étude No. 3 D-flat major

for all Études

  • Casella, Alfredo. F. Chopin. Studi per pianoforte. Milano: Edizioni Curci, 1946.
  • Cortot, Alfred. Frédéric Chopin. 12 Études, op.10. Édition de travail des oeuvres de Chopin. Paris: Éditions Salabert, 1915.
  • Cortot, Alfred. Frédéric Chopin. 12 Études, op.25. Édition de travail des oeuvres de Chopin. Paris: Éditions Salabert, 1915.
  • Galston, Gottfried. Studienbuch [Study Book]. III. Abend [3rd Recital] (Frédéric Chopin). Berlin: Bruno Cassirer, 1910.

for some Études

  • Busoni, Ferruccio. Klavierübung in zehn Büchern [Piano Tutorial in Ten Books], zweite umgestaltete und bereicherte Ausgabe. Buch 8 (Variationen und Varianten nach Chopin). Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, 1925.
  • Godowsky, Leopold. Studien über die Etüden von Chopin (Studies on Chopin’s Etudes). New York: G. Schirmer Inc., 1899 (Berlin: Schlesinger'sche Buch- und Musikhandlung, 1903).
  • Joseffy, Rafael. Etudes for the Piano. Instructive Edition. New York: G. Schirmer, 1901.


Paraphrases

  • Godowsky, Leopold. Studien über die Etüden von Chopin (Studies on Chopin’s Etudes). New York: G. Schirmer Inc., 1899 (Berlin: Schlesinger'sche Buch- und Musikhandlung, 1903).
  • Wührer, Friedrich. Achtzehn Studien zu Frederic Chopins Etuden [sic] [18 Studies on Chopin’s Etudes]. In Motu Contrario [In Contrary Motion]. Heidelberg: Willy Müller, Süddeutscher Musikverlag, 1958.


Further reading

  • Bülow, Hans von. "Remarks on the Separate Studies." In Auserlesene Klavier-Etüden von Fr. Chopin. München: Jos. Aibl, 1880.
  • Collet, Robert. "Studies, Preludes and Impromptus." In Frédéric Chopin: Profiles of the Man and the Musician. Ed. Alan Walker. London: Barrie & Rockliff, 1966.
  • Czerny, Carl. School of Practical Composition London: R. Cocks & Co., [1848]; Reprint, New York: Da Capo Press, 1979.
  • Deschaussées, Monique. Frédéric Chopin: 24 études - vers une interprétation. Fondettes: Van de Velde, 1995.
  • Eigeldinger, Jean-Jacques. Chopin: Pianist and Teacher as Seen by his Pupils. Cambridge University Press, 1986
  • Ekier, Jan, ed. (National Edition)."About the Etudes." "Performance Commentary." "Source Commentary." Chopin Etudes. Warsaw: Polskie Wydawnictwo Muzyczne, 1999.
  • Finlow, Simon. "The Twenty-seven Études and Their Antecedents." In Jim Samson (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Chopin. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992.
  • Galston, Gottfried. Studienbuch. III. Abend (Frédéric Chopin). Berlin: Bruno Cassirer, 1910.
  • Huneker, James. "The Studies—Titanic Experiments." In Chopin: The Man and His Music. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1900.
  • Klein, Andreas. The Chopin "Etudes": An Indispensable Pedagogical Tool for Developing Piano Technique. DMA diss., Rice University, 1989.
  • Kogosowski, Alan. "Mastering the Chopin Études." A compendium to Chopin: Genius of the Piano. E-Book, 2010.
  • Leichtentritt, Hugo. "Die Etüden." In Analyse der Chopin’schen Klavierwerke [Analysis of Chopin’s Piano Works]. Band II. Berlin: Max Hesses Verlag, 1922.
  • Lear, Angela Chopin’s Grande Etudes. February 5, 2007.
  • Leontsky, Jan: Interpreting Chopin. Etudes op.10 & op.25. Analysis, comments and interpretive choices. Tarnhelm editions.
  • Niecks, Frederick. Chopin as a Man and Musician. London: Novello, Ewer and Co., 1888.
  • Paderewski, Ignacy Jan, Ludwik Bronarski, Józef Turczynsky, ed. ("Paderewski" Edition). "The Character of the Present Edition." "Commentary." Chopin Studies (Etudes). Warsaw: Instytut Fryderyka Chopina, 1949.
  • Samson, Jim. "Baroque reflections." In The Music of Chopin. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1985.
  • Schumann, Robert. "Die Pianoforte-Etuden [sic], ihren Zwecken nach geordnet" ["The Pianoforte Études, Categorized According to their Purposes"]. Neue Zeitschrift für Musik No.11, February 6, 1836, p. 45.
  • Zimmermann, Ewald, ed. (Henle Edition). "Kritischer Bericht" (Critical Report). Chopin Etudes. München: G. Henle Verlag, 1983.

External links

Analysis and Scores

Performances (video)
  • Chopin 24 Etudes, Op. 10 and Op. 25 live performance by Joel Hastings on YouTube (Flash required)
  • Chopin 24 Etudes performance by Valentina Lisitsa on YouTube (Flash required)
  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrD1ZaNwdsU&NR=1 Valentina Igoshina playing Etude in E, Op. 10, No. 3
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