Chopin Etude 25.1
The word “étude” means study — a practice piece, designed to exercise a particular technique. Études for musicians are generally dry, repetitious pieces, not music to perform, but just exercises for practice. So Chopin’s choice of that title may seem a little understated, or even ironic: his études certainly do exercise one’s technique, but they are expressive, poetic, passionate, and anything but dry.
I think the title fits beautifully: shouldn’t learning always be this way?
An interesting aspect of the piece I work to bring out, one which you don’t always hear, is the inner voices. This comes straight from my teacher, Don Betts, who is very particular about that in this piece. He quotes Schumann remarking on how Chopin himself brought them out. (To have a recording of Chopin…!) That’s thirdhand information, of course, but Chopin certainly does notate them clearly.
What’s the “inner voice?” Well, the piece is made of sort of rapid, repeating cycle of notes, and a melody — a “voice” — emerges from the topmost notes. That’s the “upper voice.” But there are sections in the piece where other melodies emerge, not on the top, but in the middle, and those are the “inner voices.” Listen, for example, to 0:50–1:10, or 1:46–2:01. Does that make sense? Let me know if it’s confusing, and I’ll try to explain it better.
Don himself has a recording of this piece on this site, from his Chopin album, and our two versions make an interesting comparison, I think. Of course I love his handling of the inner voices. He’s more technically adept, especially at the end. And his sense of the shape of the phrases is quite different in some spots — not the way I’d play it, but the way he would! Sometimes, when I’m in the middle of learning and understanding a piece, I can’t stand to hear somebody else’s version. But right now, hearing Don’s version gives me tremendous pleasure, and makes me want to think through the piece all over again.
One of the marvelous things about composed music is just this: Don and I can both play this piece, and through that shared experience I can learn from the master even as I derive personal satisfaction from playing it my own way. A piece of music is not just its own world, but many worlds in many hands at many times, never perfected, always satisfying.
Comments
I love this piece. I was looking for a beautiful piece by Chopin for my next “study” haha. This melody is what I hum as I am waking up in the morning.
I listened to both you and your teachers’ recordings and, sorry to say, his performance was just a tiny bit better, in my opinion.
But hey, I hope to come close to that when I perform it in April.
Thank you for the performance. It inspired me to learn this.
Don’t be sorry – I agree! He is the teacher, after all, and has been playing that piece since before I was born.
Thanks for visiting! Hope to hear from you again….
thanks u really helped me
My grandfather started hearing inner voices. We took him to the hospital and wouldn’t allow him to operate the TV remote anymore.
Really, these “tutorials” with each piece are great. I’m an absolute novice but know what I like when I hear it. So far, I’ve really cottoned on to Brahams. He’s mesmerizing and mysterious and my God, so relaxing too. Chopin I like also, but he seems to demand a bit more attention of me which is fine as long as I’m in an attentive mood.
THANK YOU for all this, all the hours you’ve put in! I’m so glad I stumbled onto the site.
this etude is pretty easy, can be easily site read. I played this well in a week. good luck with learning this. Do any of you know how to play any of the other etudes so we can discuss?
As a listener,this is a beautiful piece.
Thank you for sharing.
Hey, it’s Great!!! The Chopin song which u had remastered!:) May i noe more bout u? i juz found tis website in search of that song…
Very nice……I love chopin etudes….I hope you will be posting more.
Hello.
Nice job. But, if I’m not mistaking, where is the “un-mastered” original song ? It shoult have been put along with your “mastered” version for comparison. THanks.Petru
Hello Paul, I’m from France and just discover your blog yesterday. Your analysis are quite interesting. I heard also the inner voice when I played this Etude en la mineur op. 25 No 1 and I never had an explanation like yours. Thanks for trying to put words on feelings of discovering this inner world ! best regards
I disagree with the poster who said this is an easy piece. It is deceptively easy to play and sound ok or even “well” (with the help of the damper pedal). But remember Chopin admired bach and you can see this in this piece. It could be arranged to a wonderful 4 voice chorale with beautiful counterpoint. There are things too which you need to refine – playing cresc and descr both the top and bottom notes while not cheating the rhythmic vitality of the inner voices. The switch to parrallel motion from contrary motion at the end needs practice as well as some of the reaches the 5th finger needs to make. Lastly, it is an etude in pedaling – this is where the piece is highly pianistic as to highlight the counterpoint, well-prepared pedaling will assist greatly.
Another etude using similar means but limited to the right hand is the Op 10 No 1. Great example of 3-part 1st species counterpoint wherein the left hand acts as a cantus firmus and the arpeggiated chords of the rh spell out the other two voices and double often the left hand voice. And again the key to this is PRECISE pedaling — it is in a way a preparation for the Op 25 No 1 in some ways.
Thanks for posting this it’s exactly the piece I’ve been looking for for YEARS. There’s this television drama out of Australia “Princess Kate” that came out in the early 90’s. Teenager, Kate is shown playing this piece and it’s perhaps the most moving scene in the whole drama. I used to stop the VCR-yes, VCR & try to write down all of the pieces played with the intention of looking up the music but you’ve nailed it. This is the piece. To be frank before I found your site I saw a figure skater skate to this piece so I knew it was the same song. I’m a pathetic piano player but I’d die to be able to play this piece. I’m more of a ear player so who knows maybe one day with some easy notation or a patient teacher.
I just want you to know that I thought that was beautiful. I am studying this piece. It is my first etude, and I find it really really hard to play. I was thinking that if I understood the chords better, but that is hard too!!! Thank you. I’m so glad to have found your site!
Thanks for visiting!
I found the comment by someone that they played op25#1 well after 1 week funny - I’ve been working on it now a couple of months! Seeing the movie Kinsey set me back - a version of the etude is played near the beginning at super-fast tempo - you’re literally just fanning the keys! Now for my comment: I’m looking for the original “lessons” the etudes were written for - each one had a specific “lesson” - but my edition Paderewski from Dover - doesn’t list the lessons, although it has an extensive commentary section for all etudes. Question: I’m sure you’re aware that the final two chords were written in pencil on the manuscript - do you believe it belongs there? I don’t - I think it was an unfortunate afterthought that has nothing in common with the rest of the piece. Thanks for your assistance. Randy
Randy: These etudes weren’t written for “super specific” lesson plans. Of course, Chopin used them as teaching tools, and many of them have obvious specific purposes in mind (e.g. Op 10 No 2 is about working the weaker fingers of the right hand). But many of them have purposes which are more multiple and ambiguous, and trying to pigeonhole them is counterproductive. They are emotional études as much as technical ones, and the way to learn from them is to live with them.
The commentary in the Dover is about the source materials used for the edition, not about the pieces themselves.
I like the two final chords. Chopin certainly intended them: they’re in the early editions (check the aforementioned commenary), at least some of which Chopin would have checked. However, if you don’t like them, of course you’re free to leave them out.
I have been playing this etude off and on now for probably 6 years. I feel I have learned the beginning and end of the piece relatively quickly. I am having a little trouble with the middle sections. My biggest problem is with pedaling. The edition I have show pedaling markings in only two places. This has lead me to believe that the whole piece should be played without pedaling, but it does not sound as pretty as when I play it with pedaling. How should the pedaling be played for this piece; throughout the entire piece or only in the two 1 measure places that my music shows? A response would be greatly appreciated. Thank you
Oops, this was not supposed to be posted for this etude.
Sorry
My first above comment was in regards to Chopin’s Etude in E Major Op. 10, No. 3. So if you know the answer to how this Etude should be pedaled that would be great. Thanks
Joel: You’ve chosen a fantastic (and very difficult) piece!
Absence of pedal markings in Chopin doesn’t necessarily mean absence of pedal; rather, it means that you’re free to do what you like. Contrary to what many musical tastemakers claim, there really is no single right way to play these pieces. Therefore, the main thing to do is to listen, and do what works. If it works, it’s right.
When I play this one, I use the pedal throughout the A section, changing pedal with the chord changes. In the B section, I use it a bit more lightly — though I do pedal through the runs (in mm32-33, m38, etc.) where others play them dry; both can work. In mm. 46-53, I pedal (and phrase) with the chord changes again, which makes a pattern of 4,4,2,2,2,2 sixteenth notes. It’s worth doing a little analysis on this section to figure out exactly how it works, and find that pattern for yourself.
Thank you
Picking up on the E major (10.3) etude, do you agree with a suggested mm of 100 to the eighth? Apparently Chopin first marked it Vivace. Then changed it to Lento ma non troppo. 100 seems quick to me….
chip: Yes, the draft has “Vivace” and several subsequent reductions. He apparently changed his mind several times about this one, and originally imagined a very different piece.
I consider all metronome markings from the 1800s extremely suspect (their metronomes were not very reliable or well-standardized), and I consider this one even more suspect than most. In short, I ignore the mm=100 and play it like I hear it.
Thanks, I think I remember a story about Beethoven marking all his Sonatas with the then new device (was it Maezel’s?) and then misplacing the copy, only to redo it. When the first was found all the markings were different, and Beethoven decided to toss the metronome in the trash. The melody in this etude is as Chopin himself wrote, the most beautiful he had written, it seems a shame to rush it at 100.
Great story, chip! Thanks. I love it — and could easily believe that it would happen even with a reliable modern metronome. Music is just too fluid to be pinned down like that, even by its composer.
Stunning!! My own personal favorite Chopin and I don’t think it has ever been played more beautifully!
I love all of Chopin’s etudes, especially Etude op.25,n.12 even though I’m still learning the piano, I dream of playing one of them!!
Hello, nice analysis of this piece. Also thanks for your performances.
To Randy:
Chopin told a pupil, “imagine a little shepherd who takes refuge in a peaceful grotto from an approaching storm. In the distance rushes the wind and the rain, while the shepherd gently plays a melody on his flute.”
Firstly, I thought these two final acords are weird as well, but after reading this I am imagining them as the last thunderclap. (the trill)
More at: http://www.geocities.com/Vienna/3495/etudes.html
why do you think this is so hard it is just simple chords that are put together very beautifully. oh waht am i saying? it isso elegant @#%$#
The first time I heard this piece of music was in 1977. It’s played as the final number in the ballet movie, “The Turning Point”. I’ve loved it ever since. This is a beautiful rendition. I wish the soundtrack for this movie would be released on CD. I have it on vinyl, which doesn’t do me much good anymore, but out of print as far as CD goes.
Anyway, great job on a gorgeous piece of music.
No, I don’t like this recording. The left hand and right hand don’t play equal.Maybe left and right were not recording in one time. I don’t hear the inner voices, and also the phrasing isn’t correct.
But I have to say the sound of the piano is correct.
christiaan de koning (holland)
Thanks for this post, I just found your blog today. I’m working my way through the etudes and started this one a couple days ago. When I was younger I had a poisoned mind toward etudes (thanks, Czerny!), but I’m really falling in love with these pieces now. My take on the inner voices: I’m coming the the view that harmony and counterpoint go hand in hand, that the wonderful progressions in this piece make the most sense precisely from the voice leading of those inner voices. Bringing them out also means fully embracing the harmonic language of the music. To me, this also implies that the pianist definitely shouldn’t be shy about aspects of the voice leading that Chopin doesn’t explicitly indicate in the score: he notates alot more than standard, but of course, you can’t write everything down. I’m certain any attempt would be more confusing than anything else.
Your home recording is very impressive…
i would recommend it to many intermediate to advance pianists out there.
However,
Your Chopin Etude is a little too slow for my liking…and it lacks clarity between the notes. However, your shaping of the melody is pretty awesome..
thanks,
Tom
Greetings, Does anyone know for sure that the mm markings are Chopin’s own? I know certain editors Mikuli, Joseffy etc… all use their own, but is there positively a Chopin mm marking? I cannot seem to find a satisfactory answer!!!thanks.
Even when the metronome markings are Chopin’s, you can’t trust them too much. Metronomes back then were notoriously inaccurate. As always, ears are the best guide; if it works, it’s right.
well.haha .i am going to try etude op 27 no 1 and see if it is easy.i mange to play first page of the op 27 no 10.took me very long time to figure out the chromatic patern there.but i mange to play the first page and still trying the second.since i can play first page fast now , i think i can play op27 no 1 more easy.
Someone posted that his playing is a little better. That might be true but your recording quality is MUCH better. ;-)
Thank you Paul, very useful site. I´m presently at work on this Etude and am having no easy time trying to get it to sound “right”…
I have two technical questions:
1) How do you manage the wrist / arm to bring out the different voices? Should one keep the wrist even throughout and just bring out the melody through fingerwork? I´m trying out a rotating motion with the wrist and getting mixed results. What are your suggstions?
2) What are your suggestions for keeping the left and right hands coordinated in the coda? Since I´m using a high wrist to get the “leggiero”, it sometimes feels like I´m fingering in mid air, and both hands aren´t keeping very well together.
By the way, one mistake I noticed in your recording: in the sixth measure, in the fourth group of six notes in the right hand, the fourth note should be a G, not A. I mention this because you play the same A in the 14th measure, and quite emphatically…
Thanks.
Milton
Milton:
(1) I use the rotation motion with the wrists: the wrists should always know where the neutral position is, but be supple and free to move. I let them roll around in a natural, comfortable way on this piece, and let them guide the fingers. However, the important thing here is not just the physical technique; it’s having a very clear sense in your mind’s ear of how you want it to sound, thinking ahead, and hearing the voicings as you play them. Your hands will do surprising things if you imagine the result you want from them.
(2) I have the same problem, as you can hear in this recording. I’m no technician! Slow practice, stops, and accents … practice, practice, practice until you go mad.
Thanks for pointing out the mistake. I’ll have to check that!
Paul, many many thanks for your advice… As you suggest, and as I´ve begun to realize with this piece in particular, one can get lost in technique and completely forget the sound one is looking for… right now I´m in the process of that very “liberation”. (Also hearing Arrau, how he takes his time with things and forgoes trying to achieve a “perfect sound”, and in so doing achieves that very thing, has been of great help…)
Many thanks again.