Étude Op. 25, No. 11 (Chopin)

File:Etude 25 11b.png-tuplets that make up most of this étude]]

{{main|Études (Chopin)}}

The étude is a study for developing stamina, dexterity, accuracy and technique – essential skills for any concert pianist. It begins with a piano (soft) introduction of the main melody. The first theme follows, consisting of tumultuous cascades of semiquaver-tuplets (sixteenth-note-tuplets) and a leaping figure for the left hand in the relative major, C major, which shortly segues into a repetition of the first theme. It finishes with a short development into a fortissimo coda, and ends with one final statement of the theme.

{{Listen|type=music|filename=Frederic Chopin - Opus 25 - Twelve Grand Etudes - a minor (2).ogg|title=Étude Op. 25, No. 11|description=Martha Goldstein (playing on an 1851 Érard)}}

Étude Op. 25, No. 11, is a study of right hand dexterity and left hand flexibility. Each hand has intense challenges, ranging from brilliant runs and multi-octave leaps to tricky articulations which must be phrased correctly so the melody becomes audible.{{Cite web |date=2020-02-28 |title=Your Guide to Chopin's Études |url=https://www.wfmt.com/2020/02/28/your-guide-to-chopins-etudes/ |access-date=2022-06-01 |website=WFMT |language=en-US}} Both hands play an important role throughout the piece; the melody is sung through the heavy left hand, and the right hand contributes the étude's namesake with rapid scales and arpeggios. This study must be navigated with polyphonic mindset, treating both hands as separate melodies that work together, in a duet for one performer.

One dissertation stresses the importance of {{em|implied}} melodic structure throughout the right-hand figures. Meaning, the following passage (measure 10, 11):

:File:Etude 25 11c.png

Should be played thus:

:File:Etude 25 11d.png

accentuating those notes indicated by additional quaver (eighth note) tails. This serves to emphasize the underlying quartal rhythm to further accentuate the march-like theme of the left-hand. Although this analysis may be sound, the performance of this without the aforementioned implications detracts nothing from the rhythmic undulations of the chromatic scales. Abby Whiteside agreed with this subdivision, calling them "tonal patterns which have to be solved before this Etude is playable."{{cite book|last=Whiteside|first=Abby|author-link=Abby Whiteside|title=Mastering the Chopin Etudes and Other Essays|url=https://archive.org/details/masteringchopine0000whit|url-access=registration|year=1969|publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons|location=New York|isbn=978-0-684-10654-0}} Citing her usual procedures of promoting arm strength, she emphasized two key points exemplified by this étude: "notewise procedure does not further bravura playing" and "finger technique is simply not adequate for brilliance and speed." Her dissertation states that this work is impossible without the aforementioned subdivision, and simultaneously advocates her arm technique.

The American music writer and critic James Huneker, in his preface to the Schirmer edition of Chopin's études, famously asserted of this étude, "Small-souled men, no matter how agile their fingers, should avoid it."{{cite book |title=I Am a Strange Loop |first=Douglas R. |last=Hofstadter |author-link=Douglas Hofstadter |page=[https://archive.org/details/iamstrangeloop00hofs/page/16 16] |publisher=Basic Books |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-465-03078-1 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/iamstrangeloop00hofs/page/16 }}[http://www.gutenberg.org/files/4939/4939-h/4939-h.htm Chopin : the Man and His Music] by James Huneker

{{Reflist}}

• {{IMSLP|work=Etudes, Op.25 (Chopin, Frédéric)|cname=Études Op. 25}}
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSERiKBzrAY Op. 25, No. 11] played by Josef Lhévinne
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjO1Ov65muE Op. 25, No. 11] played by Alfred Cortot
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZ7wEXRf85w Op. 25, No. 11] played by Claudio Arrau
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXBtW062bvc Op. 25, No. 11] played by Sviatoslav Richter
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WjpEQBZA44 Op. 25, No. 11] played by Vladimir Ashkenazy
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwM_SgDpdOI Op. 25, No. 11] played by Maurizio Pollini
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0doWiXaPfhI Op. 25, No. 11] played by Murray Perahia
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4x7ZbgJbQMc Op. 25, No. 11] played by Yundi Li
• {{YouTube|ll0qDBCxCEc|Netanel Grinshtein}}, master class with Garrick Ohlsson

{{Chopin études}}

{{Portal bar|Classical music}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Etude Op. 25, No. 11 (Chopin)}}

25 11

Category:1836 compositions

Category:Compositions in A minor