12 Études

The Études, Op. 10, probably composed between 1829 and 1832 and published in 1833, marked something of a breakthrough for Chopin, a bridge between youthful exuberance and stylistic maturity. The 12 pieces encompass a wealth of musical and technical resource, and are still used for teaching purposes while also being a staple of the piano’s concert repertoire. With the rise of piano ownership and domestic music-making in the early 19th century, instruction books containing studies for technical development flourished, although musically many were of limited interest. Building on models by, among others, Clementi, Cramer and above all Moscheles (and exceeding them in harmonic and melodic invention), Chopin fully subordinated his technical focus to musical aims, transforming a pedagogical genre into concert music designed for public performance as much as for private practice. The majority of these pieces explore specific technical issues in the right hand, supported melodically and harmonically by the left, although the final Étude of the set, No. 12 in C minor, the famous “Revolutionary Étude”, reverses this. Tempos are generally brisk, apart from the lyrically expressive third and sixth studies. As well as more immediate antecedents, including Moscheles’ set of studies, Op. 70 (1826), the origins of some of Chopin’s writing can be traced back to the keyboard works of Bach—the first Étude, for example, resembles an expanded version of the first Prelude from Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier.