Étude Op. 2 No. 1 is a technical 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...

 for piano in C-sharp minor which was written by the Russian

Russians

The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....

 composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

 Alexander Scriabin

Alexander Scriabin

Alexander Nikolayevich Scriabin was a Russian composer and pianist who initially developed a lyrical and idiosyncratic tonal language inspired by the music of Frédéric Chopin. Quite independent of the innovations of Arnold Schoenberg, Scriabin developed an increasingly atonal musical system,...

 in 1887.

Background

This Étude was written in 1887, when Scriabin was just 15 years old. It was the first of the Three Pieces from Op. 2 and was one of Scriabin's earliest successes.

Analysis

Étude Op. 2 No. 1 is in 3/4 time

Time signature

The time signature is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats are in each measure and which note value constitutes one beat....

 and is in the key

Key (music)

In music theory, the term key is used in many different and sometimes contradictory ways. A common use is to speak of music as being "in" a specific key, such as in the key of C major or in the key of F-sharp. Sometimes the terms "major" or "minor" are appended, as in the key of A minor or in the...

 of C-sharp minor.

The melody of this étude is poignant and heartfelt, showing many characteristics of Russian Gypsy music. It is accompanied by the right hand and left playing repeated chords, these chords feature rich harmonies, inner voices, and large spreads in the left hand. The dynamics of the piece are varied constantly to display emotion and passion and to add interest. The piece features many key changes but finally concludes in the original key. Although it is a slow and somber piece, like many other études, it is considerably difficult to perfect.

This étude lasts for about three minutes.

Recordings

Pianist	Duration	Record Label	Recording Date	Album
Vladimir Horowitz Vladimir Horowitz Vladimir Samoylovich Horowitz    was a Russian-American classical virtuoso pianist and minor composer. His technique and use of tone color and the excitement of his playing were legendary. He is widely considered one of the greatest pianists of the 20th century.-Life and early...	02:39	Deutsche Grammophon Deutsche Grammophon Deutsche Grammophon is a German classical record label which was the foundation of the future corporation to be known as PolyGram. It is now part of Universal Music Group since its acquisition and absorption of PolyGram in 1999, and it is also UMG's oldest active label...	1986	Horowitz in Moscow
Shura Cherkassky Shura Cherkassky Shura Cherkassky was an American classical pianist known for his performances of the romantic repertoire. His playing was characterized by a virtuoso technique and singing piano tone...	03:24	London Records London Records London Records, referred to as London Recordings in logo, is a record label headquartered in the United Kingdom, originally marketing records in the United States, Canada and Latin America from 1947 to 1979, then becoming a semi-independent label....	1982	Encores
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:...	02:51	Melodiya Melodiya Melodiya is a Russian record label. It was the state-owned major record company/label of the Soviet Union.-History:It was established in 1964 as the "All-Union Gramophone Record Firm of the USSR Ministry of Culture Melodiya"...	1952	Richter

External links

• [ Étude Op. 2 No. 1] at Allmusic
• Scores at the IMSLP