Description
This is the ninth étude of Op. 10, the set dedicated to Liszt, in F minor. It pairs wide left-hand leaps in the accompaniment with an expressive, singing right-hand melody above. Demanding finger technique and singing musicianship at once, it is one of the Op. 10 études where expression weighs most heavily.
It is in F minor and 6/8 time. The left-hand accompaniment ranges widely and never stops moving, while the right-hand melody sways between intensity and melancholy. It lasts about one minute and twenty-three seconds with 1,227 notes. Its range runs wide, from G1 to F7, 71 keys, more than a 61-key keyboard holds, so it needs a 76-key keyboard.
Rated advanced, it requires both precise control of the leaps and genuine musical phrasing in the melody. It suits players working on technique and expression together, aiming to keep the arm movements of the leaps from interrupting the melody's breathing. Begin by listening to the left hand at a reduced playback speed and checking the width of its leaps with the hand colours. Repeating a single phrase with the A-B loop and adding the right-hand melody only once the left hand is secure is an efficient way forward.
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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