Etude
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An etude (from the French word étude meaning "study") is a short musical composition designed to provide practice in a particular technical skill in the performance of a solo instrument. For example, Frédéric Chopin's etude Op. 25 No. 6 trains pianists to play rapid parallel chromatic thirds, Op. 25 No. 7 emphasizes the production of singing tone in a polyphonic melody, and Op. 25 No. 10 covers parallel octaves.
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History and function
Musical studies have been composed since the 18th century, most notably by Carl Czerny, but it was Chopin who transformed the etude into an important musical genre. Etudes can be in many forms and are sometimes grouped into larger schemes — Robert Schumann's Études symphoniques bears the title, in its second version, Études en forme de Variations. [1] (http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/notes/67166-N.asp)
Etudes for other instruments have been written as well, for example Rodolphe Kreutzer's etudes for the violin.
Chopin's etudes tend to stress a specific aspect of performance difficulty; Liszt's etudes tend to stress mastery of performance as a whole.
The etudes that are most widely admired are those which transcend their practical function and come to be appreciated simply as music. For example, Chopin's etudes are considered not just technically difficult, but also musically very powerful and expressive. In contrast, Czerny's are generally regarded by pianists and audiences as being only technically difficult. Thus Chopin's etudes are continually performed before appreciative audiences, whereas Czerny's are confined to the practice room.
List of etude composers
For the piano
Born before 1700
- Girolamo Diruta (c. 1554–1610)
Born 1700–1799
- Carl Czerny (1791–1857)
- Ignaz Moscheles (1794–1870)
- Henri Bertini (1798–1876): wrote 24 etudes (op. 29)
Born 1800–1850
- Felix Mendelssohn (1809–1847)
- Robert Schumann (1810–1856): wrote the Études symphoniques.
- Frédéric Chopin (1810–1849): wrote 24 etudes in two sets of 12 etudes each (Op. 10, Op. 25), plus three more, for a total of 27.
- Franz Liszt (1811–1886): wrote the set of "Transcendental Etudes", with its two revisions; six etudes on themes by Niccolo Paganini (among them the famous La Campanella); and three "Études de Concert".
- Charles-Valentin Alkan (1813–1888): wrote etudes in all 12 major keys (op. 35) and in all 12 minor keys (op. 39); and also three "Grande Études" (op. 76).
- Clara Schumann (1819–1896)
- Louis Moreau Gottschalk (1829–1869): wrote Tremolo and Manchega, two concert etudes.
- Johannes Brahms (1833–1897)
- Camille Saint-Saëns (1835–1921)
- Agathe Backer-Grřndahl (1847–1907): wrote 19 "Concert Etudes".
Born 1850–1899
- Moritz Moszkowski (1854–1925): wrote 15 Études de Virtuositié (op. 72), 12 studies for the left hand alone (op. 92), and 20 technical studies (op. 91).
- Sergei Liapunov (1859–1924)
- Claude Debussy (1862–1918)
- Jean Sibelius (1865–1957)
- Leopold Godowsky (1870–1938): wrote 60 paraphrases on Chopin's etudes, of which 53 are published; three original "Concert Studies" (op. 11), and the Etude Macabre.
- Alexander Scriabin (1872–1915)
- Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873–1943): wrote two sets of Etudes-Tableux (op. 33 and 39).
- Josef Hofmann (1876–1957)
- Ernö Dohnányi (1877–1960): wrote six "Concert Etudes" (op. 28).
- Béla Bartók (1881–1945)
- Igor Stravinsky (1882–1971)
- Karol Szymanowski (1882–1937)
- Alfredo Casella (1883–1947)
- Sergei Prokofiev (1891–1953)
Born after 1900
- Olivier Messiaen (1908–1992)
- György Ligeti (born 1923) (three volumes: 1985, 1988–1994 and 1995–)
- Philip Glass (born 1937) (1994–)
- Nikolai Kapustin (born 1937)
For other instruments
- Rodolphe Kreutzer (1766–1831): for the violin
- Matteo Carcassi (1792–1853): for the guitar
- Francisco Tárrega (1852–1909): for the guitar
- Julius Klengel (1859–1933): for the cello
- Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887–1959): for the guitar
- Andrés Segovia (1893–1987): for the guitar
de:Etüde es:Estudio ja:練習曲 nn:Etyde no:Etyde fr:Étude (musique)