Étude Op. 10, No. 2 (Chopin) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Étude Op. 10, No. 2, in 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...

, is a technical study composed 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"....

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...

. Composed in 1829 it was first 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...

This étude

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...

is an exercise in developing the independence of the weaker fingers of the right hand by playing rapid chromatic scale

Chromatic scale

The chromatic scale is a musical scale with twelve pitches, each a semitone apart. On a modern piano or other equal-tempered instrument, all the half steps are the same size...

figures with the third, fourth, and fifth fingers of the right hand. Meanwhile, the first two fingers of the right and the left hand play an accompaniment of short chords and single notes. Chopin indicated the fingering himself note by note for almost 800 notes.

Structure and stylistic traits

The melody consists of rapid chromatic scale figures played by the outer right-hand fingers, accompanied by chord

Chord (music)

A chord in music is any harmonic set of two–three or more notes that is heard as if sounding simultaneously. These need not actually be played together: arpeggios and broken chords may for many practical and theoretical purposes be understood as chords...

attacks. Like most of Chopin’s other études, this work is in ternary form

Ternary form

Ternary form, sometimes called song form, is a three-part musical form, usually schematicized as A-B-A. The first and third parts are musically identical, or very nearly so, while the second part in some way provides a contrast with them...

A-B-A. The harmonic scheme of the A section is relatively simple, with A minor, 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....

, A minor, but the chromatic scale and the exotic clash of its C-sharps with the A minor chords tend to veil the clarity of A minor and create a mysterious sound effect further increased by the Neapolitan chord

Neapolitan chord

In music theory, a Neapolitan chord is a major chord built on the lowered second scale degree. It most commonly occurs in first inversion so that it is notated either as II6 or N6 and normally referred to as a Neapolitan sixth chord...

, bar 15. The middle section brings a dramatic increase with the dynamic climax exactly in the center of the piece, bar 25. This climax is approached by stepwise rising two-bar sequences from 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...

to A minor via G minor

G minor

G minor is a minor scale based on G, consisting of the pitches G, A, B, C, D, E, and F. For the harmonic minor scale, the F is raised to F. Its relative major is B-flat major, and its parallel major is G major....

. The final dominant seventh chord

Dominant seventh chord

In music theory, a dominant seventh chord, or major minor seventh chord,is a chord composed of a root, major third, perfect fifth, and minor seventh. It can be also viewed as a major triad with an additional minor seventh...

of each sequence leads to the next one by means of a deceptive cadence. The longer and asymmetric second part of the B section, leading back to the restatement of the A section, uses a similar harmonic progression but shorter sequences. The final A section is a quite literal though shortened restatement of the first one ending with a Coda

Coda (music)

Coda is a term used in music in a number of different senses, primarily to designate a passage that brings a piece to an end. Technically, it is an expanded cadence...

of a rising and falling scale into a Picardy ending

Picardy third

A Picardy third is a harmonic device used in European classical music.It refers to the use of a major chord of the tonic at the end of a musical section which is either modal or in a minor key...

.

Chopin demanded that the chromatic scale be played sempre legato
Legato
In musical notation the Italian word legato indicates that musical notes are played or sung smoothly and connected. That is, in transitioning from note to note, there should be no intervening silence...

, a direction mentioned seven times throughout the score. This contrasts with the staccato

Staccato

Staccato is a form of musical articulation. In modern notation it signifies a note of shortened duration and separated from the note that may follow by silence...

chords played as accompaniment

Accompaniment

In music, accompaniment is the art of playing along with an instrumental or vocal soloist or ensemble, often known as the lead, in a supporting manner...

.

A copy by Józef Linowski of Chopin's autograph

Autograph

An autograph is a document transcribed entirely in the handwriting of its author, as opposed to a typeset document or one written by an amanuensis or a copyist; the meaning overlaps with that of the word holograph.Autograph also refers to a person's artistic signature...

reads cut time (alla breve) for No. 2, but this seems to have been overlooked. The original (first French, German, and English) editions have common time. Chopin’s metronome marking for the piece is MM 144 referring to quarter note

Quarter note

A quarter note or crotchet is a note played for one quarter of the duration of a whole note . Often people will say that a crotchet is one beat, however, this is not always correct, as the beat is indicated by the time signature of the music; a quarter note may or may not be the beat...

s. Later editors have followed Chopin in this regard with the exception of Hans von Bülow

Hans von Bülow

Hans Guido Freiherr von Bülow was a German conductor, virtuoso pianist, and composer of the Romantic era. He was one of the most famous conductors of the 19th century, and his activity was critical for establishing the successes of several major composers of the time, including Richard...

who suggests MM 114.

Character

Musicologist Hugo Leichtentritt

Hugo Leichtentritt

Hugo Leichtentritt was a German-Jewish musicologist and composer who spent much of his life in the USA. Composer Erich Walter Sternberg was one of his pupils.-Literary works:*R...

(1874–1951) calls the étude a "moto perpetuo

Perpetuum mobile

Perpetuum mobile , moto perpetuo , mouvement perpétuel , movimiento perpetuo , literally meaning "perpetual motion", means two distinct things:#pieces of music, or parts of pieces, characterised by a continuous steady stream of notes, usually at a...

." The transparent texture of nonstop semiquavers

Sixteenth note

thumb|right|Figure 1. A sixteenth note with stem facing up, a sixteenth note with stem facing down, and a sixteenth rest.thumb|right|Figure 2. Four sixteenth notes beamed together....

accompanied by a light "dancing" bass has its forerunners in Bach’s

Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...

Prelude No. 5 in D major (BWV 850) from the first book of the Well Tempered Clavier and resembles other virtuoso pieces from around 1830 such as Paganini’s

Niccolò Paganini

Niccolò Paganini was an Italian violinist, violist, guitarist, and composer. He was one of the most celebrated violin virtuosi of his time, and left his mark as one of the pillars of modern violin technique...

Moto Perpetuo for violin

Violin

The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....

and piano. In Schumann’s

Robert Schumann

Robert Schumann, sometimes known as Robert Alexander Schumann, was a German composer, aesthete and influential music critic. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most representative composers of the Romantic era....

substantial NZM

Neue Zeitschrift für Musik

Die Neue Zeitschrift für Musik was a music magazine published in Leipzig, co-founded by Robert Schumann, his teacher and future father-in law Friedrich Wieck, and his close friend Ludwig Schuncke...

article on Pianoforte-Études, NZM (1836), all Chopin Etudes Op. 10 are awarded an asteriks (*) for "poetic character" except No. 2. But Leichtentritt describes its sound effect as the "murmuring and blowing of a gentle wind", French pianist Alfred Cortot

Alfred Cortot

Alfred Denis Cortot was a Franco-Swiss pianist and conductor. He is one of the most renowned 20th-century classical musicians, especially valued for his poetic insight in Romantic period piano works, particularly those of Chopin and Schumann.-Early life and education:Born in Nyon, Vaud, in the...

(1877–1962) mentions its "gliding and vaporous character" and Alfredo Casella

Alfredo Casella

Alfredo Casella was an Italian composer, pianist and conductor.- Life and career :Casella was born in Turin; his family included many musicians; his grandfather, a friend of Paganini's, was first cello in the San Carlo Theatre in Lisbon and eventually was soloist in the Royal Chapel in Turin...

talks about a "character of swift, aerial and unsubstantial mysteriousness". The American music critic

Music criticism

See also Music journalism for reporting on classical and popular music in the media.The Oxford Companion to Music defines music criticism as 'the intellectual activity of formulating judgments on the value and degree of excellence of individual works of music, or whole groups or genres'. In this...

James Huneker

James Gibbons Huneker was an American music writer and critic.Huneker was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He studied piano in Europe under Leopold Doutreleau and audited the Paris piano class of Frédéric Chopin's pupil Georges Mathias. He came to New York City in 1885 and remained there...

(1857–1921) writes that "the entire composition, with its murmering, meandering, chromatic character, is a forerunner to the whispering, weaving, moonlit effects in some of [Chopin's] later studies".

Technical difficulties

The technical novelty of this étude is the chromatic scale to be played by the three outer fingers of the right hand together with short semiquaver notes to be played by the first and second fingers of the same hand and the difficulty is to do this evenly in piano and legato at the required tempo of MM 144. Other piano composers before Chopin, such as 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...

(1794–1870) in his Études Op. 70, have introduced chromatic scales with accompanying notes to be played by the same hand. But the chromatic scale is never given to the "weak" fingers. Leichtentritt believes that Chopin in his Étude Op. 10 No. 2 revives an old fingering habit [of not using the thumb] from the pre-Bach clavichord

Clavichord

The clavichord is a European stringed keyboard instrument known from the late Medieval, through the Renaissance, Baroque and Classical eras. Historically, it was widely used as a practice instrument and as an aid to composition, not being loud enough for larger performances. The clavichord produces...

time of the 17th century

17th century

The 17th century was the century which lasted from 1601 to 1700 in the Gregorian calendar.The 17th century falls into the Early Modern period of Europe and in that continent was characterized by the Dutch Golden Age, the Baroque cultural movement, the French Grand Siècle dominated by Louis XIV, the...

which had already long been regarded as obsolete. The technical significance of this étude for Chopin is proved by the extensiveness of his fingerings, an effort he did not apply to any other piece. An analysis of Chopin’s fingering reveals that, like in the "standard" chromatic scale fingering, the long 3rd finger plays the black keys, the 2nd finger, which "normally" plays C and F, is replaced by the 5th one. The 1st finger, usually playing all other white keys, is replaced by the 4th one. While it is fairly easy to cross the long 3rd finger over the short thumb, acrobatic dexterity is required to cross the 3rd finger over the 4th one. An obvious way to proceed is straightening 3 while bending 4 and 5.

French pianist Alfred Cortot

Alfred Cortot

(1877–1962) states that the first difficulty to overcome is the "crossings of the 3rd, 4th and 5th fingers" and the "strain resulting from the continuous action of the said fingers." Preparatory exercises introduced by Cortot, Gottfried Galston and Alfredo Casella

Alfredo Casella

always commence with the chromatic scale (top voice) alone without the filling voice. Cortot divides the hand into an "active element" and an "accompanying element." He first insists on practicing chromatic scales with the three outer fingers in all permutations. Galston recommends to hold and press a little object with the 1st and 2nd fingers while playing the chromatic semiquavers with the other ones. Cortot recommends the "pizzicato" notes to be "plucked rather than struck" and Casella wittily compares the three outer fingers to a "motorcycle

Motorcycle

A motorcycle is a single-track, two-wheeled motor vehicle. Motorcycles vary considerably depending on the task for which they are designed, such as long distance travel, navigating congested urban traffic, cruising, sport and racing, or off-road conditions.Motorcycles are one of the most...

dragging along its own sidecar

Sidecar

A sidecar is a one-wheeled device attached to the side of a motorcycle, scooter, or bicycle, producing a three-wheeled vehicle.-History:A sidecar appeared in a cartoon by George Moore in the January 7, 1903, issue of the British newspaper Motor Cycling. Three weeks later, a provisional patent was...

[the first two fingers]". Australian pianist Alan Kogosowski

Alan Kogosowski

-Biography:Alan Kogosowski was born in Melbourne. From the age of six he played the piano for ten hours a day. He won a number of competitions and prizes, including the Australian television talent quest "BP Showcase 1966"...

(born 1952) recommends keeping 1 and 2 completely relaxed while playing the top voice alone: The "little two-note chords on each beat in the right hand" should be released "as soon as they’ve been played." The thumb should not be operated vertically to avoid strain and "play its notes extremely lightly –becoming as light as a feather, almost as if it is hardly there at all." Von Bülow

Hans von Bülow

orders "the middle harmonies to be played throughout distinctly, and yet transiently [flüchtig]." Galston suggests to accentuate all the upper notes of the two-note chords (played by the 2nd finger) while practicing the right hand.

It is a particular physical and psychological challenge to perform this étude in public and especially after the C major one with its enormous stretches. Kogosowski reports that even "the imposingly powerful Sviatoslav Richter

Sviatoslav Richter

Sviatoslav Teofilovich Richter was a Soviet pianist well known for the depth of his interpretations, virtuoso technique, and vast repertoire. He is widely considered one of the greatest pianists of the 20th century.-Childhood:...

, who possessed the most awesome
technical equipment of any pianist in the world, would quake before this tiny piece.
When performing the twelve Etudes Op. 10

Études (Chopin)

The Études by Frédéric Chopin are three sets of solo studies for the piano, There are twenty-seven overall, comprising two separate collections of twelve, numbered Opus 10 and 25, and a set of three without opus number.-Composition:...

as a set, he’d hesitate and sometimes skip over the quiet but treacherous second Etude. And Richter was certainly not the only
pianist to feel this way about this little Etude." Galston believes that "he who wants to perform at Chopin's tempo (MM 144) has to be able to control it at home [im Kämmerlein] at MM 152, or MM 160."

Paraphrases and arrangements

Three years after the publication of Chopin’s Études Op. 10 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...

who had frequently entertained Chopin at his Viennese home, 1829, included a study in his Schule des Virtuosen, 1836, that begins like a parody of Chopin’s Op. 10 No. 2. In the course of this study the chromatic scale and the two-note accompaniment chords appear in all kinds of permutations given to the right to the left and to both hands simultaneously. Busoni

Ferruccio Busoni

Ferruccio Busoni was an Italian composer, pianist, editor, writer, piano and composition teacher, and conductor.-Biography:...

in his Klavierübung
Klavierübung (Busoni)
The Klavierübung , by the Italian pianist-composer Ferruccio Busoni, is a compilation of piano exercises and practice pieces, including transcriptions of works by other composers and original compositions of his own....

introduces an extensive exercise, somewhat reminiscent of this. An exercise in double notes is included Leopold Godowsky’s

Leopold Godowsky

Leopold Godowsky was a famed Polish American pianist, composer, and teacher. One of the most highly regarded performers of his time, he became known for his theories concerning the application of relaxed weight and economy of motion in piano playing, principles later propagated by Godowsky's...

53 Studies on Chopin's Études
Studies on Chopin's Etudes
The Studies on Chopin's Études, by Leopold Godowsky, is a set of 53 arrangements of Chopin's études. The Studies on Chopin's Études, by Leopold Godowsky, is a set of 53 arrangements of Chopin's études. The Studies on Chopin's Études, by Leopold Godowsky, is a set of 53 arrangements of Chopin's...

include two versions. The first one is for the left hand alone while the popular second one, Ignis Fatuus (will-o'-the-wisp

Will-o'-the-wisp

A will-o'-the-wisp or ignis fatuus , also called a "will-o'-wisp", "jack-o'-lantern" , "hinkypunk", "corpse candle", "ghost-light", "spook-light", "fairy light", "friar's lantern", "hobby lantern", "ghost orb", or simply "wisp", is a ghostly light or lights sometimes seen at night or twilight over...

), is an exercise in polyrhythm

Polyrhythm

Polyrhythm is the simultaneous sounding of two or more independent rhythms.Polyrhythm in general is a nonspecific term for the simultaneous occurrence of two or more conflicting rhythms, of which cross-rhythm is a specific and definable subset.—Novotney Polyrhythms can be distinguished from...

superimposing Chopin’s right-hand part transposed to the left hand with triplet

Tuplet

In music a tuplet is "any rhythm that involves dividing the beat into a different number of equal subdivisions from that usually permitted by the...

two-note chords in the right hand. The result sounds much faster than the actual tempo which is MM 120-132. German

Germans

The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....

pianist Friedrich Wührer’s

Friedrich Wührer

Friedrich Wührer was an Austrian-German pianist and piano pedagogue. He was a close associate and advocate of composer Franz Schmidt, whose music he edited and, in the case of the works for left hand alone, revised for performance with two hands; he was also a champion of the Second Viennese...

version resembles Godowsky’s first one but with an accompaniment in the right hand. In his Triple Étude (after Chopin) from 1992, Canadian pianist Marc-André Hamelin

Marc-André Hamelin

Marc-André Hamelin, OC, CQ, is a French Canadian virtuoso pianist and composer.Born in Montreal, Quebec, Marc-André Hamelin began his piano studies at the age of five. His father, a pharmacist by trade who was also a pianist, introduced him to the works of Alkan, Godowsky, and Sorabji when he was...

(born 1961) combines Chopin’s Étude Op. 10 No. 2 with Chopin’s other A minor études, 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...

and 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...

, trying to emulate Godowsky whose triple version has been lost. Scottish

Scottish people

The Scottish people , or Scots, are a nation and ethnic group native to Scotland. Historically they emerged from an amalgamation of the Picts and Gaels, incorporating neighbouring Britons to the south as well as invading Germanic peoples such as the Anglo-Saxons and the Norse.In modern use,...

composer Alistair Hinton likewise combines Chopin’s A minor Études Op. 10 No. 2 and Op. 25 No. 11 in his Étude en forme de Chopin Op. 26.

The étude has been transcribed for clarinet

Clarinet

The clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...

and piano by I. Butirsky.

External links

Analysis of Chopin Etudes at Chopin: the poet of the piano
Find an entry on this piece and hear a performance by pianist Xiaofeng Wu at the Chopin Project site or watch his performance
Sheet music available in .pdf or LilyPond format, from Mutopia.
Chopin Etude Op. 10, No. 2 played by Alfred Cortot
Alfred Cortot
Alfred Denis Cortot was a Franco-Swiss pianist and conductor. He is one of the most renowned 20th-century classical musicians, especially valued for his poetic insight in Romantic period piano works, particularly those of Chopin and Schumann.-Early life and education:Born in Nyon, Vaud, in the...

(Youtube)
Chopin Etude Op. 10, No. 2 played by Wilhelm Backhaus
Wilhelm Backhaus
Wilhelm Backhaus was a German pianist and pedagogue.Born in Leipzig, Backhaus studied at the conservatoire there with Alois Reckendorf until 1899, later taking private piano lessons with Eugen d'Albert in Frankfurt...

, 1928 (Youtube)
Chopin Etude Op. 10, No. 2 and Chopin-Godowsky Etude op. 10 No. 2 (2nd version) played by David Saperton
David Saperton
David Saperton was an American pianist known especially for being the first pianist to play the entire original compositions as well as the complete transcriptions of his father-in-law, Leopold Godowsky. He also recorded a number of Godowsky’s Studies on Chopin's Études as well as other pieces...

(Youtube)
Chopin-Godowsky - Etude op. 10, No. 2 (2nd version "Ignis Fatuus") played by Marc-André Hamelin
Marc-André Hamelin
Marc-André Hamelin, OC, CQ, is a French Canadian virtuoso pianist and composer.Born in Montreal, Quebec, Marc-André Hamelin began his piano studies at the age of five. His father, a pharmacist by trade who was also a pianist, introduced him to the works of Alkan, Godowsky, and Sorabji when he was...

(Youtube)

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