Etudes (Chopin)

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Galley proof of op. 10.2 with handwritten notes by Chopin

Frédéric Chopin wrote a total of 27 etudes for piano: 12 etudes op.10 (published 1833), 12 etudes op.25 (published 1837) and another three etudes for the third part ( Études de perfectionnement pour le piano , published 1840) for the piano school Méthodes des Méthodes by Ignaz Moscheles and François-Joseph Fétis . The three etudes were later published separately under the title Trois nouvelles études .

meaning

As the “Magna Charta of Piano Playing” (Karl Schumann), they are among the most important piano compositions in music history. Great piano composers such as Alkan , Scriabin , Debussy and Rachmaninoff have orientated themselves on them. Technically interesting but musically controversial arrangements are the studies of the etudes by F. Chopin (Godowsky) . The Chopin Etudes are

"... as clay pieces in etude form generally recognized as a top artistic achievement in the field of mechanically-technically valuable, as well as spiritually and content-wise important piano literature ... and retain their eternal significance."

- Leopold Godowsky

Franz Liszt and Józef Wieniawski were the first pianists to publicly perform Chopin's etudes.

Opus 10

The etudes were composed between 1829 and 1832 and are dedicated to Franz Liszt .

op.10.7
  • No. 1, C major - Allegro, broken decimal chords , which are considered dangerous because of the tension between the fingers and have caused playing damage to many pianists. High speed with great power development.
  • No. 2, A minor - Allegro: chromatic sixteenth notes for the overlapping outer fingers (3-4-5) of the right hand, which plays accompanying chords at the same time. Considered one of the most difficult studies.
  • No. 3, E major - Lento ma non troppo: vocal theme with rich middle voices. The right hand plays the melody and an accompanying voice at the same time. There are numerous, partly kitschy arrangements for different instruments and voices of the (“In mir sounds a song”); in the accelerated middle part wide-reaching sixth passages in countermovement in both hands.
  • No. 4, C sharp minor - Presto, con fuoco. Fast drive in both hands alternately.
  • No. 5, G flat major - Vivace: right hand, with the exception of one tone, only on the black keys. Arrangements by Rafael Joseffy and Marc-André Hamelin , six versions by Leopold Godowsky .
  • No. 6, E flat minor - Andante: melancholy song with intertwined middle voices.
  • No. 7, C major - Vivace: figurative work consisting of thirds and sixths in the right hand with many repetitions.
  • No. 8, F major - Allegro, veloce: fast drive mainly in the right hand.
  • No. 9, F minor - Allegro molto agitato: wide sixteenths with organ point on the left.
  • No. 10, A flat major - Vivace assai: very strenuous due to the uniform repetition of the finger sequence 1–2 / 5 in sixths, according to Hans von Bülow the most difficult etude.
  • No. 11, E flat major - Allegretto: extensive arpeggios in both hands at the same time; causes textual difficulties due to rich harmonics and modulations.
  • No. 12, C minor - Allegro con fuoco: as the so-called "Revolutionary Etude", next to the E major Etude No. 3, it is probably the best known.

Opus 25

The second set of studies was written between 1833 and 1837 and is dedicated to Countess Marie d´Agoult , Franz Liszt's partner at the time.

op.25.11
op.25.12
  • No. 1, A flat major - Allegro sostenuto. Called harp etude .
  • No. 2, F minor - Presto: in the Allabreve 4 versus 2 triplets
  • No. 3, in F major - Allegro. Sixths and octaves in each eighth of both hands, pushed Zweiunddreißigstel , syncope, orchestral B major - modulation .
  • No. 4, A minor - agitato: bass jumps on the left, syncope on the right.
  • No. 5, E minor - Vivace: Proposal study with wide arpeggiated basic chords on the left;
  • No. 6, G sharp minor - Allegro, Allabreve : called the third etude .
  • No. 7, C sharp minor - Lento. Melody in the left hand.
  • No. 8, D flat major - Vivace, called Sextenetude .
  • No. 9, G flat major - Allegro assai.
  • No. 10, B minor - Allegro con fuoco: octaves with middle part in both hands, vocal middle part in B major. Called the octave study .
  • No. 11, A minor - Allegro con brio. Called winter storms .
  • No. 12, C minor - Allegro molto con fuoco: broken chords running in parallel in both hands.

Etudes without opus number

Composées pour la Méthode des Méthodes de Moscheles et Fétis , the short etudes were published in 1840 by Maurice Schlesinger without an opus number.

  • F minor - Andantino : In legato triplets against eighth notes.
  • A flat major - Allegretto. Triplets against eighth notes
  • D flat major - Allegretto. Two different articulations in the right hand, the middle part staccato, the upper part legato.

Paraphrases

  • Alistair Hinton : Étude en forme de Chopin , op. 26 (1992).
  • Leopold Godowsky : Studies on the Etudes by F. Chopin . New York 1899, Berlin 1903.
  • Friedrich Wührer : Eighteen studies on Frederic Chopin's Etudes in Motu Contrario . Heidelberg 1958.

Recordings

Selection of important recordings, most of which are posted on youtube:

Géza Anda , Claudio Arrau , Vladimir Ashkenazy , Wilhelm Backhaus , Paul Badura-Skoda , Boris Vadimovich Berezovsky , Alfred Cortot , Georges Cziffra , François-René Duchâble , Andrei Vladimirovich Gavrilov , Werner Haas , Adam Harasiewicz , Raoul Koczalski , Lang Lang , Kurt Leimer , Nikita Magaloff , Murray Perahia , Edith Picht-Axenfeld , Maurizio Pollini , Daniil Olegowitsch Trifonow , Arcadi Volodos , Daniil Trivonov

Web links

literature

  • Jan Marisse Huizing: Frédéric Chopin. The Etudes. Origin, performance practice, interpretation (= music study book ). Schott Music, Mainz 2009, ISBN 978-3-7957-8744-8 . (Original edition: Jan Marisse Huizing: De Chopin Etudes in historical Perspectief . De Toorts, Haarlem 1996).

Individual evidence