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The Études by Frédéric Chopin are three sets of solo studies for the piano. There are twenty-seven overall, comprising two separate collections of twelve, numbered Opus 10 and 25, and a set of three without opus number.

The twelve études of Opus 25 were composed at various times between 1832 and 1836, and were published in France, Germany, and England in 1837.

Although sets of exercises for piano had been common from the end of the 18th century (Muzio Clementi, J. B. Cramer, Ignaz Moscheles, and Carl Czerny were composers of the most significant), Chopin's not only presented an entirely new set of technical challenges, but were the first to become a regular part of the concert repertoire. His études combine musical substance and technical challenge to form a complete artistic form.They are often held in high regard as the product of mastery of combining the two. His effect on contemporaries such as Franz Liszt was apparent, based on the revision Liszt made to his series of concert études after meeting Chopin.


Even though marked Presto, this is one of the softer, more lyrical Chopin etudes, with the right hand playing quiet eighth note triplets throughout. Like the Revolutionary Etude, the notes are not difficult as long as the proper fingering is learned; the primary difficulty here is the polyrhythm. The right hand, being in triplets, will naturally have its accents on every third or every sixth note. The left hand, however, does not play one note for every three the right hand plays. Rather, it is in quarter note triplets – it plays one note for every two notes in the right hand. This is similar to the situation found before the G minor arpeggios and introduction of the second theme in Chopin’s Ballade No. 1. Thus, a polyrhythm is established, and it is precisely this polyrhythm that makes this piece so difficult. Perfecting the right hand by itself is easy, and perfecting the left hand by itself is even easier. The problem lies in putting the two hands together!

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