Chopin Études, Op. 10 and Op. 25
27 études, free to read, hear and print, in the composer's own order.
Open the sheet music libraryTwenty-seven studies that turned the piano exercise into concert music: twelve in Op. 10, dedicated to Liszt in 1833, twelve in Op. 25, dedicated to Liszt's partner Marie d'Agoult, and three Nouvelles Études written in 1839 for a piano method. Each one takes a single technical problem, wide arpeggios, black keys, thirds, octaves, and builds a whole piece out of it.
Most carry nicknames that Chopin never gave them: the Revolutionary, the Black Key, Tristesse, the Winter Wind, the Butterfly. They are among the hardest music written for the piano, but several, Op. 10 No. 3 and the three Nouvelles Études especially, are slow enough to learn a few bars at a time with the reader playing them back.
About the pieces
Étude in C major Op. 10 No. 1 Waterfa
The first study Chopin published, and a deliberate answer to Bach's C major prelude: the same rising arpeggio idea, stretched to the limits of the hand.
Étude in E major Op. 10 No. 3 (Tristesse)
Chopin is said to have told a pupil he had never in his life written another melody as beautiful. The middle section is some of the most violent writing in the whole set, which is the point of it.
Étude in G-flat major Op. 10 No. 5 (Black Keys)
The right hand of this study never touches a white key. Chopin thought little of the trick and said so, but it has been called the Black Key study for nearly two centuries.
Étude in C major, Op. 10 No. 7
Op. 10 was published in 1833 and dedicated to Liszt.
Étude in F minor, Op. 10 No. 9
The ninth study of Chopin's first book of études, Op. 10.
Étude in C minor Op. 10 No. 12 (Revolutionary)
Written around the fall of Warsaw to Russian troops in 1831, and known as the Revolutionary from long after Chopin's death rather than from anything he called it. The left hand runs almost without pause from the first bar to the last.
Étude in G-sharp minor Op. 25 No. 6 T
The study in thirds, generally regarded as the hardest thing in the Op. 25 set.
Étude in D-flat major Op. 25 No. 8 Si
A study in double sixths, and one of the shortest in the set. Chopin wrote his studies to solve one problem each, and the title of this one is the problem.
Étude in G-flat major, Op. 25 No. 9 "Butterfly"
Nicknamed the Butterfly, this is the shortest of the Op. 25 études: fluttering octaves and single notes alternate lightly in the right hand over a bouncing bass.
Étude in B minor, Op. 25 No. 10
A thunderous study in octaves for both hands, with a calm, singing middle section in B major played in legato octaves.
Étude in A minor Op. 25 No. 11 Winter
Four bars of bare melody, and then the storm that gave it its nickname. The opening was added after the rest of the piece was written.
Nouvelle étude No. 1 in F minor
Chopin wrote three short études in 1839 for a piano method compiled by Moscheles and Fétis, and they are among his most approachable studies. In this first one the right hand plays triplets against the left hand's plain quarter notes.
Nouvelle étude No. 2 in A-flat major
The second of the three Nouvelles études again sets different rhythms against each other, with a gentle melody carried in the top of the right hand.
Nouvelle étude No. 3 in D-flat major
In the last of the three, one hand must play legato and staccato at the same time: the melody sings while the notes beneath it are detached.