Leopold Godowsky

Studien über die Etüden von Chopin
Studies on Chopin's Études
Études d'après Chopin

Zofia Chechlinska writes, "In the studies both parts are frequently marked by such significant melodic activity that concepts of melodic line and accompaniment become completely inadequate. ... Clearly, one is not dealing with strictly contrapuntal voices in the Bachian sense, but with thematically independent layers composed either of one voice or of several simultaneously sounding components. At least one of these layers, irrespective of its degree of independence, always fulfills an harmonic role, confirming that the starting-point of Chopin's thought was homophony."
Volume I
1. Op. 10 No. 1 C C 79 diatonic Strict Trans. C 3/4 79 = 144-176
2. left hand alone Freely/Metam. Dþ 2/C 76 = 108-138
3. Op. 10 No. 2 a C 49 left hand alone Strict Trans. a C 49 = 116-126
4. "Ignis Fatuus" Cantus Firmus a C 57 = 120-132
5. Op. 10 No. 3 E 2/4 77 left hand alone Freely Treated Dþ 2/4 76 = 50-69
6. Op. 10 No. 4 c# C 82 left hand alone Freely Treated c# C 82 = 112-132
7. Op. 10 No. 5 "Black Key" Gþ 2/4 85 on black keys Strict Trans. Gþ 2/4 85 = 116
8. on white keys Cantus Firmus C C 45 = 96-116
9. Tarantella on white keys Cantus Firmus a 12/8 98 . = 88-100
10. Capriccio on white & black keys Cantus Firmus A 12/8 46 . = 84-92
11. inversion, left hand on black keys Free Inversion Gþ 2/4 86 = 84-100
12. inversion, right hand on black keys Free Inversion Gþ 2/4 85 = 84-104
12a. left hand alone Freely Treated Gþ 2/4 84 = 69-84
Volume II
13. Op. 10 No. 6 eþ 6/8 53 left hand alone Freely Treated eþ 6/8 55 = 108-132
14. Op. 10 No. 7 C 6/8 59 Toccata Strict Trans. C 6/8 57 . = 76-84
15. Nocturne Cantus Firmus Gþ 6/8 60 . = 54-63
15a. left hand alone Freely/Metam. Eþ 6/8 30 . = 58-66
16. Op. 10 No. 8 F C 95 Free Inversion F C 94 = 76-84
16a. left hand alone Freely Treated Gþ C 94 Allegro
17. Op. 10 No. 9 f 6/8 67 (imitation of Op. 10 No. 7) Imitation c# 6/8 67 . = 63-72
18. imitation of Op. 25 No. 2 Imitation f 12/8 72 . = 63-76
18a. left hand alone Freely Treated f# 3/4 127 = 80-92
19. Op. 10 No. 10 Aþ 12/8 77 Variations D 12/8 (¢) 80 . = 54-63
20. left hand alone Freely Treated Aþ 12/8 78 = 120-138
Volume III
21. Op. 10 No. 11 Eþ 3/4 54 left hand alone Freely Treated A 3/4 55 = 58-66
22. Op. 10 No. 12 "Revolutionary" c C 84 left hand alone Freely Treated c# C 84 = 112-126
23. Op. 25 No. 1 "Æolian Harp" Aþ C 49 left hand alone Freely Treated Aþ C 50 = 84-100
24. like a piece for 4 hands Freely Treated Aþ C 50 = 92-100
25. Cantus Firmus Aþ C 50 = 80-92
26. Op. 25 No. 2 "The Bees" f ¢ 69 Cantus Firmus f 2/26/412/8 70 . = 92-96
27. Waltz Free Inversion f 12/8 (C)2 3/4 70 . = 72-84
28. a. right hand, b. in octaves Freely Treated f ¢12/88/8 71 . = 66-76
28a. left hand alone Freely Treated f# 12/8 70 = 128-144
29. Op. 25 No. 3 F 3/4 72 Variations F 3/4 72 = 88-104
30. left hand alone Freely Treated F 3/4 73 = 100-108
Volume IV
31. Op. 25 No. 4 a C 65 left hand alone Variations a C 64 = 108-126
32. Polonaise Metamorphosis f 3/4 126 = 96-108
33. Op. 25 No. 5 e 3/4 138 Freely Treated e 3/4 141 = 144-160
34. Mazurka Metamorphosis c# 3/4 177 . = 52-60
35. left hand alone Freely Treated bþ 3/4 141 = 116-132
36. Op. 25 No. 6 in thirds g# C 63 in thirds Strict Trans. g# ¢ 64 = 69-72
(37) Op. 25 No. 7 "Cello" c# 3/4 68 Omitted
38. Op. 25 No. 8 in sixths Dþ C 36 in sixths Cantus Firmus Dþ ¢ 37 = 60-72
39. Op. 25 No. 9 "Butterfly" Gþ 2/4 51 Strict Trans. Gþ 2/4 51 = 104-116
40. left hand alone Freely Treated Gþ 2/4 52 = 96-104
Volume V
41. Op. 25 No. 10 in octaves b ¢ 119 left hand alone Freely Treated b ¢ 117 = 80-92
42. Op. 25 No. 11 "Winter Wind" a C 96 Freely Treated a 12/8, C 95 = 58-66
43. Op. 25 No. 12 "Ocean" c ¢ 83 left hand alone Strict Trans. c# C 83 = 104-126
44. Nouvelle Étude No. 1 f ¢ 67 left hand alone Freely Treated f ¢ 67 = 112-126
45. Nouvelle Étude No. 2 Aþ 2/4 60 Variations E C 56 = 58-69
45a. left hand alone Freely Treated Dþ C 30 = 60-69
46. Nouvelle Étude No. 3 Dþ 3/4 73 Menuetto Variations G 3/4 114 = 108-120
47. Op. 10 No. 5 & Op. 25 No. 9 Gþ 2/4 Badinage Two Combined Gþ 2/4 62 = 92-104
48. Op. 10 No. 11 & Op. 25 No. 3 Eþ/F 3/4 Two Combined F 3/4 59 = 80-96


Detailed comments on Godowsky's Studies.

12 études, Opus 10
Par Fr. Chopin
À mon ami F. Liszt
Composed 1829-1832; published June 1833

The Opus 10 études are considered to be Chopin's first truly mature work.

Opus 10, Number 1 in C major, Allegro.

Chopin's majestic first étude is a study in wide swirling right-hand arpeggiated tenth chords, played at a rate of about twelve semiquavers per second, while the left hand plays a broad melody in octaves. The arpeggiated right-hand chords, caught in the pedal, create alternating dissonances (increasing to fortissimo) and consonances (diminishing to forte) and build tension climactically. Because of the way consecutive arpeggios are staggered, some commentators have called this a study in alternating extension and contraction of the right hand, but in truth the best players probably do not much contract their hand. James Huneker writes, "Here is the new technique in all its nakedness, new in the sense of figure, design, pattern, web, new in a harmonic way. ... The nub of modern piano music is in the study, the most formally reckless Chopin ever penned."

Godowsky precedes his two studies on this étude with a preface containing roughly 40 finger exercises, each one to four measures in length, to be practised carefully in preparation for the studies. Godowsky notes, "It is of considerable advantage to practise most of the examples in all keys."

Opus 10, Number 2 in A minor, Allegro.

This étude entrusts legato chromatic scales to the third, fourth, and fifth fingers of the right hand (at a measly nine notes per second), while the remaining two fingers and the left hand together play periodic chords (staccato on the left hand). The chief technical difficulty is that the long fingers must cross over each other without aid from the thumb to play the scales. The eleven exercises Godowsky supplies include scales and runs for the weak three fingers.

Opus 10, Number 3 in E major, Lento, ma non troppo.

One of Chopin's most lyrical études, the third asks for legato playing of interlocking chords, preferably using as little pedal as possible. To bring out the beauty of this étude, one must master cantabile playing of double sixths and similar figurations, and be able to phrase a melody and accompaniment in the same hand. Chopin is said to have told his friend Gutmann that "he had never in his life written another such melody."

Opus 10, Number 4 in C sharp minor, Presto.

The fourth étude's melody is composed of fragments of diatonic scales and other figurations, and must be passed from hand to hand (at intervals of two to four bars) without an interruption in its flow. In a midsection and at the coda, both hands play semiquaver figurations together.

Opus 10, Number 5 in G flat major, Vivace, "Black Key."

The famous Black Key Étude received its moniker (not from Chopin) because the right hand plays triplet figurations at very high speed on black keys only (except one F in measure 66). The left hand writing demands accurate chord playing with frequent leaps. The character of the piece is comic, light, and very fast.

Godowsky must have liked the Black Key Étude, because he published eight studies based on it (including Study 47, where it is combined with Opus 25, Number 9), and is believed to have written two others, which were lost when Godowsky and his family fled Vienna at the outbreak of the First World War.

Opus 10, Number 6 in E flat minor, Andante.

A study in cantabile playing, with a melody that passes between the two hands. In the words of Henry T. Finck, "The étude seems as if it were in a sort of double minor...much sadder than ordinary minor." Robert Collet adds, "There is even a brief modulation into the remote key of A major - or is it really B double flat?" He also regards this étude as an example of "Chopin's uncontrapuntal polyphony;" one may distinguish a melody, a countermelody (missing in the middle section), a semiquaver accompaniment (moved to the right hand for the middle section), and a bass line (doubled in the midsection). Chopin provides no pedal markings, but careful use of pedal is essential.

Opus 10, Number 7 in C major, Vivace.

The seventh étude is a tocatta in which the right hand must combine a legato voice in the upper part of the right-hand with rapidly repeated notes in the lower part of the same hand; these repeated notes are divided between the thumb and index finger. The left hand plays a less frenetic legato melody of its own. In a middle section, a bass melodic line must be traced by the fifth finger of the left hand, with aid from the pedal. James Huneker asked, "Were ever Beauty and Duty so mated in double harness?"

Opus 10, Number 8 in F major, Allegro.

Another study in arpeggios - mostly on the right hand, with occasional intrusions on the left, especially at the end. The frequent need to place the thumb on a black key complicates the arpeggios. This étude is difficult mainly because of its speed.

Opus 10, Number 9 in F minor, Allegro, molto agitato.

Asks the pianist to play a left hand figure of wide extension (up to a thirteenth). James Huneker writes, "The melody is morbid, almost irritating, and yet not without certain accents of grandeur." One of the less difficult études, though it requires endurance. Written by Chopin for Ignaz Moscheles.

Opus 10, Number 10 in A flat major, Vivace assai.

The left hand repeats a wide rapid figure (similar to the previous étude) incorporating leaps of seventeenths, while the right hand rotates from single notes in the thumb to sixths or sevenths in the index and fifth fingers. This étude is much easier for players having a wide stretch between their inner fingers. The piece is rhythmically challenging, for although the figurations do not change in any substantial way, the right hand quavers are grouped sometimes in three, sometimes in twos, sometimes in syncopated twos, and sometimes in a continual uniform stacatto or legato line; these differences of articulation change the melodic line that emerges. The left hand groupings are more stable, so the metrical relations between the two hands is variant. Dynamics also vary frequently. Von Bülow wrote, "He who can play this study in a really finished manner may congratulate himself on having climbed to the highest point of the pianist's Parnassus, as it is perhaps the most difficult piece of the entire set. The whole repertory of piano music does not contain a study of perpetuum mbile so full of genius and fancy as this particular one is universally acknowledged to be, except perhaps Liszt's Feux Follets."

Opus 10, Number 11 in E flat major, Allegretto.

This nocturne is composed almost entirely of quickly rolled chords of wide span, at a rate of six per hand per measure with the hands close together, creating a harp-like effect - "as if the guitar had been dowered with a soul," writes Huneker. The top notes form a melodic line. This piece looks striking on the printed page, with its clusters of chords and roll-markings. It takes careful tonal balance and phrasing to give the melody its due while maintaining smooth rapid arpeggiation of the chords that compose it.

Opus 10, Number 12 in C minor, Allegro con fuoco, "Revolutionary."

One of Chopin's most popular works, the Revolutionary Étude is a study of rapid legatissimo figurations in the left hand (and occasionally the right), with a dramatic melody carried by right-hand chords. Kullak calls it a "bravura study of the very highest order for the left hand. It was composed in 1831 in Stuttgart, shortly after chopin had received tidings of the taking of Warsaw by the Russians, September 8, 1831" (hence its nickname). Niecks writes, "The composer seems fuming with rage; the left hand rushes impetuously along and the right hand strikes in with passionate ejaculations." Huneker: "Four pages suffice for a background upon which the composer has flung with overwhelming fury the darkest, the most demoniac expressions of his nature. Here is no veiled surmise, no smothered rage, but all sweeps along in tornadic passion."

12 études, Opus 25
Par Fr. Chopin
À Madame la Comtesse d'Agoult
[Countess Marie d'Agoult, Liszt's mistress]
Composed 1832-1836; published October 1837

Opus 25, Number 1 in A flat major, Allegro sostenuto, "Æolian Harp."

The Æolian Harp Étude presents rapid cantabile figurations to both hands, with the need for the fifth finger of the right hand to emphasize key melody notes - and sometimes for the left hand thumb and fifth finger to bring out a bass or inner voice. (The study has an unusual look on the page, as most of the notes are printed smaller than is ordinary, with the accented notes printed at full size.) Another technical difficulty is the occasional need to play two notes on the left hand for every three on the right. Perhaps the best description of this étude's effect comes from Zofia Chechlinska: "the tonal space is basically constant resulting from the rapid movement and the holding of the figuration notes in the pedal; on the other hand, changes in the pedal plus the circular motion of the figures cause nuances of fluctuation in the density, producing as it were a continual vibration of colour. And in places the notes of the figuration create motives that counterpoint the main melody." The étude's name comes from Robert Schumann who wrote after hearing Chopin play his étude, "Imagine that an æolian harp possessed all the musical scales, and that the hand of an artist were to cause them all to intermingle in all sorts of fantastic embellishments, yet in such a way as to leave everywhere audible a deep fundamental tone and a soft continuously-singing upper voice, and you will get the right idea of his playing. But it would be an error to think that Chopin permitted every one of the small notes to be distinctly heard. It was rather an undulation of the A flat major chord, here and there thrown aloft anew by the pedal. Throughout all the harmonies one always heard in great tones a wondrous melody, while once only, in the middle of the piece, besides that chief song, a tenor voice became prominent in the midst of chords."

Opus 25, Number 2 in F minor, Presto, "The Bees."

A study in right-hand triplets. Imposes a mild cross-rhythm because, while the left hand plays one note for every two on the right, the right-hand notes are grouped in threes; nevertheless, this is one of the easier études of Opus 25. Huneker waxes, "every bar rules over a little harmonic kingdom of its own."

Opus 25, Number 3 in F major, Allegro.

This étude has been called a study in the "precise rhythmic values of ornaments", with its mix of simultaneous notes of various durations and syncopated accents. Kullak calls this étude "a spirited little caprice, whose kernel lies in the simultaneous application of four different little rhythms [the study has two voices in each hand, of which the lower-pitched right-hand voice carries the chief melody] to form a single figure in sound, which figure is then repeated continuously to the end. In these repetitions, however, changes of accentuation, fresh modulations, and piquant antitheses, serve to make the composition extremely vivacious and effective." In a middle statement, the theme is moved, one black key at a time, to B major and back again, changing the hand positions needed to play the figurations. The left hand takes some perilous leaps to delineate its two voices, especially near the end.

Opus 25, Number 4 in A minor, Agitato.

Asks the right hand to play a legato melody and stacatto accompaniment (the latter augmented by the left hand) simultaneously (a procedure which Robert Collet claims originated with Weber). The right hand stacatto part is syncopated; odd-numbered beats are represented only by a single left-hand bass note, whereas even-numbered beats are filled with chords and frequently accented. Perhaps the most difficult requirement of this étude is not the concurrent legato and stacatto touches, but the dangerous left hand leaps, difficult to execute accurately.

(Godowsky prefers syncopated melodic idea to rhythmic skips.)

Opus 25, Number 5 in E minor, Vivace.

Has at least once been called the "Wrong Note Étude" for its numerous grace notes. Occasionally, the thumb is asked to play both a black grace note and the white key that follows it; it is difficult to suppress wrong accents. In the E major midsection, the arpeggiated right hand part changes rhythm from duplets to triplets to quadruplets, and the two hands share a melodic inner voice while the left hand plays bass and the right hand plays rapid figurations; this passage has prompted comparisons with Sigismond Thalberg's favorite compositional trick, the clever simulation of three-handed playing. Simon Finlow writes, "if still further evidence were needed of his exceptional pianistic insight, Chopin provides it at the end: the deep E, sounded with the dampers raised in the final bar, sets all of its sympathetic overtones resonating throughout the instrument, even before they are actually picked out one by one in free time and sustained by the pedal for the duration of their natural decay."

Opus 25, Number 6 in G sharp minor, Allegro.

Chopin's eighteenth étude is one of the most difficult, asking for rapid right-hand scales and figurations (including some tricky skips) in thirds. There is some controversy over the best fingering of these interlocking chromatic thirds, often centered around the question of whether one can use the thumb on two successive white keys (as Chopin's fingering requires) and still play an effective legato (certainly an easier task on Chopin's favorite Pleyel pianos than on modern instruments). Chopin is so successful in infusing poetry into his exercise in thirds that Huneker turns to superlatives: "In the piano literature no more remarkable merging of matter and manner exists." "Unquestionably the greatest study in thirds ever written," adds Frank Cooper.

Opus 25, Number 7 in C sharp minor, Lento, "Cello."

The lyrical Cello Étude puts chords in the right hand, which often must sustain a legato high voice while playing quickly repeated notes in a lower voice. The left hand plays a cantabile melody, including a few rapid scales. However, this étude is not designed to exercise any particular technical skill. Theodor Kullak writes, "The whole piece is a song, or, better still, an aria, in which two principal voices are to be brought out; the upper one is in imitation of a human voice, while the lower one must bear the character throughout of an obligato violoncello. It is well known that Chopin was very fond of the violoncello and that in his piano compositions he imitated the style of passages peculiar to that instrument." Many of Chopin's contemporaries thought this study one of his greatest efforts, but I find it his least interesting étude, and agree with Niecks who says this " duet between a He and a She, of whom the former shows himself more talkative and emphatic than the latter, is, indeed, very sweet, but, perhaps, also somewhat tiresomely monotonous, as such tête-à-têtes naturally are to third parties." The Cello étude is the only étude of Chopin that Godowsky did not treat in a published study. He probably wrote an unpublished left-hand adaptation, which was lost when Godowsky fled Vienna at the onset of World War I.

Opus 25, Number 8 in D flat major, Vivace.

In this étude, the right hand plays rapid interlocking sixths while the left hand plays varied figurations of double notes. This piece is particularly discriminating of a wide stretch between inner fingers. Huneker notes, "it contains a remarkable passage of consecutive fifths that set the theorists by the ears."

Opus 25, Number 9 in G flat major, Allegro assai, "Butterfly."

The main technical problem in the Butterfly étude is the rapid alternation of legato and stacatto playing in the right hand (while the left hand plays stacatto throughout). The figurations of both hands include rapid skips.

Opus 25, Number 10 in B minor, Allegro con fuoco.

In this étude, rapid legato octaves in both hands demand great endurance. A contrasting lento midsection in B major supplies only slight relief.

Opus 25, Number 11 in A minor, Lento; Allegro con brio, "Winter Wind."

The Winter Wind Étude is one of Chopin's longest études, and probably the grandest. Turbulent, rapid descending chromatic figurations in the right hand are contrasted with a slow, march-like bass in the left, which enforces strict playing in time. The pianist must have lare reserves of power and endurance. Kullak writes, "It is a bravura study of the highest order; and is captivating through the boldness and originality of its passages, whose rising and falling waves, full of agitation, overflow the entire keyboard; captivating through its harmonic and modulatory shadings; and captivating, finally, through a wonderfully invented little theme which is drawn like a `red thread' through all the flashing and glittering waves of tone..." The étude begins with four slow bars (added by Chopin after the rest of the piece was written, at the suggestion of a friend) announcing the bass theme before the blizzard begins. It ends with a rapid scale in both hands.

Opus 25, Number 12 in C minor, Molto allegro con fuoco, "Ocean."

A melancholy but dramatic étude featuring rapid arpeggios, with irregular repeated notes, in both hands. Semiquavers are periodically accented to provide a lower-register melody. Zofia Chechlinska notes, "the figuration is now located in both hands and is fused into a single layer, while the bottom notes bring out the melodic line. The dynamic properties of the figuration are determined by the tonal space employed, by the rapidity of motion and by the density, which is intensified by the dissonances between the figurative lines. Successive repetitions of the figurative curves accumulate to produce a powerful sound whose apogee is reached at the end of the piece. This amounts to a transformation of harmonic figuration into an effect of dynamic power and energy." Rachmaninov favored a version in which, beginning at Measure 40, the first note of each measure is played as an octave.

Trois Nouvelles Études
Par Fr. Chopin
Composées pour la Méthode des Méthodes pour le piano
de I. Moscheles et F. J. Fétis
Composed 1839, published 1840

Simon Finlow writes, "The style and technical functions of the Nouvelles études have virtually nothing in common with those of the other works printed in the second volume of the Méthode. Side by side with the concert studies contributed by Liszt, Thalberg and Henselt, these elegant, unaffected études seem like anachronisms, beguilingly poetic samples of a musical type that was to be transformed almost beyond recognition by the peremptory requirements of transcendental virtuosity."

Nouvelle Étude Number 1 in F minor, Andantino.

A rhythmic study juxtaposing three right-hand notes against four in the left.

Nouvelle Étude Number 2 in A flat major, Allegretto.

Another rhythmic study, now juxtaposing three right-hand notes against two in the left.

Nouvelle Étude Number 3 in D flat major, Allegretto.

Requires the right hand to play stacatto notes in the thumb and index finger and legato notes in the remaining fingers simultaneously. Further complicates the right hand part with a few tricky grace notes.

Combined studies.