Description
This is the second étude of Op. 10, written around 1830 and dedicated to Liszt. It requires an unusual fingering: chromatic runs in the right hand played using only the third, fourth and fifth fingers. Considered one of the most technically demanding études, it trains finger independence and even tone in the weaker fingers.
It is in A minor and 4/4 time. While the chromatic line runs unbroken in the right hand's upper voice, the thumb and index finger of the same hand add chords beneath it, and the left hand marks the beat with light chords. It lasts only about one minute and twenty-three seconds yet holds 1,458 notes, more than seventeen per second. Its range from E1 to C7 fits on a 76-key keyboard.
Though brief, it demands unwavering concentration and precision to play through without help from the other fingers, an advanced-level trial. Forcing it makes the notes uneven, so keep the hand from stiffening. Slow the playback considerably, check the relationship between the right-hand line and the left-hand chords with the hand colours, and then bring short sections back up to tempo with the A-B loop to accustom the fingers without strain.
A collection of études by various composers, including Chopin's famous "Revolutionary" Étude, designed to build finger independence and expressive technique.
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Sheet music provided by Mutopia Project
About the Composer
Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849)
Frederic Chopin was born in Poland and made his career in Paris, remaining unusual among great composers for writing almost exclusively for piano. He poured his longing for his homeland into mazurkas and polonaises, while his ballades and etudes combine poetic melody with harmonic innovation. This site includes the "Revolutionary" and other etudes, Ballades No. 1 and No. 4, nocturnes, and the Preludes, Op. 28.
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