Studies on Chopin's Études

Godowsky's arrangements of the Études are highly intricate and extremely difficult.

Studies on Chopin's Études is a set of 53 arrangements of Chopin's études by Leopold Godowsky. (The number of studies is often given as 54, with Op. 25, No. 2 having one study written as a considerably different ossia of another; a similar ossia also exists for one of the studies on Op. 25, No. 3, so the total number of studies can be taken to be 55. In contrast, Godowsky's original numbering scheme runs only to 48.) They are renowned for their technical difficulty: critic Harold C. Schonberg called them "the most impossibly difficult things ever written for the piano." Several of the studies (for example, the study "Ignis Fatuus" on Chopin's Étude in A minor, Op. 10, No. 2) put the original right-hand part into the left hand; several others are for the left hand alone (for example, the study on the "Revolutionary" Étude, transposed to C-sharp minor). Two of the studies even combine two études; the most well known of these, called "Badinage," combines both the G-flat (the "Black Key" Étude of Op. 10 and the "Butterfly" étude of Op. 25).

The Studies

Opus 10

Opus 10 No. 1

• 1st Study in C major
• 2nd Study in D-flat major (left hand only)

Opus 10 No. 2

• 1st Study in A minor (left hand only)
• 2nd Study in A minor ("Ignis Fatuus")

Opus 10 No. 3

• Study in D-flat major (left hand only)

Opus 10 No. 4

• Study in C-sharp minor (left hand only)

Opus 10 No. 5

• 1st Study in G-flat major
• 2nd Study in C major
• 3rd Study in A minor ("Tarantella")
• 4th Study in A major ("Capriccio")
• 5th Study in G-flat major
• 6th Study in G-flat major
• 7th Study in G-flat major (left hand only)
• This étude was also combined with the Opus 25 No. 9 étude in the "Badinage" composition.

Opus 10 No. 6

• Study in E-flat minor (left hand only)

Opus 10 No. 7

• 1st Study in C major ("Toccata")
• 2nd Study in G-flat major ("Nocturne")
• 3rd Study in E-flat major (left hand only)

Opus 10 No. 8

• 1st Study in F major
• 2nd Study in G-flat major (left hand only)

Opus 10 No. 9

• 1st Study in C-sharp minor
• 2nd Study in F minor (imitation of Opus 25 No. 2)
• 3rd Study in F-sharp minor (left hand only)

Opus 10 No. 10

• 1st Study in D major
• 2nd Study in A-flat major (left hand only)

Opus 10 No. 11

• Study in A major (left hand only)
• This étude was also combined with the Opus 25 No. 3 étude.

Opus 10 No. 12

• Study in C-sharp minor (left hand only)

Opus 25

Opus 25 No. 1

• 1st Study in A-flat major (left hand only)
• 2nd Study in A-flat major (Like a piece for four hands)
• 3rd Study in A-flat major

Opus 25 No. 2

• 1st Study in F minor
• 2nd Study in F minor ("Waltz")
• 3rd Study (A) in F minor
• 3rd Study (B) in F minor
• 4th Study in F-sharp minor (left hand only)
• This étude was also imitated in one of the Opus 10 No. 9 studies.

Opus 25 No. 3

• 1st Study in F major
• 2nd Study in F major (left hand only)
• This étude was also combined with the Opus 10 No. 11 étude

Opus 25 No. 4

• 1st Study in A minor (left hand only)
• 2nd Study in F minor ("Polonaise")

Opus 25 No. 5

• 1st Study in E minor
• 2nd Study in C-sharp minor ("Mazurka")
• 3rd Study in B-flat minor (left hand only)

Opus 25 No. 6

• Study in G-sharp minor

Opus 25 No. 7

There are no studies of this étude in the collection.

Opus 25 No. 8

• Study in D-flat major

Opus 25 No. 9

• 1st Study in G-flat major
• 2nd Study in G-flat major (left hand only)
• This étude was also combined with the Opus 10 No. 5 étude in the "Badinage" composition.

Opus 25 No. 10

• Study in B minor (left hand only)

Opus 25 No. 11

• Study in A minor

Opus 25 No. 12

• Study in C-sharp minor (left hand only)

Trois Nouvelles Études

Nouvelle Étude No. 1

• Study in F minor (left hand only)

Nouvelle Étude No. 2

• 1st Study in E major
• 2nd Study in D-flat major (left hand only)

Nouvelle Étude No. 3

• Study in G major ("Menuetto")

Recordings

Only three pianists, Geoffrey Douglas Madge, Marc-André Hamelin and Carlo Grante, have recorded the entire set of the studies. Francesco Libetta has performed the complete set in concert and is the only pianist to do so from memory.^[1] Ivan Ilić has made a specialty of the 22 études for the left hand alone. Pianist Emanuele Delucchi has performed numbers 1 - 22 (on Chopin opus 10) in concert.

Only a handful of other pianists have ventured to record selected studies. The first was Vladimir de Pachmann, who recorded the Study on Op. 10 #12 in 1912.^[2] Others include Boris Berezovsky, Jorge Bolet, Ivan Ilić, Ian Hobson,^[3] Jacob Jettomersky, David Saperton, David Stanhope and Victor Schiøler.

References

1. ArtistDomain.Net (2000-02-27). "Libetta". Vaimusic.com. Retrieved 2012-01-06.
2. "A Multitude of Pianists CD". International Piano Archives at Maryland. Retrieved 31 July 2013.
3. "Hobson". Itunes.apple.com. 2006-01-01. Retrieved 2012-01-06.

External links

• Studies on Chopin's Etudes: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project
• Discography of Godowsky's Studies on Chopin's Etudes