But how? And if they're supposed to be technical exercises, why do they need to be beautiful as well? Well, the young Chopin began composing his first set of Études (there are three sets in total) when he was still a teenager, so he was perhaps at a creative stage at which he keenly wanted to make an impression.
Stephen Hough: Here the routine, arpeggiated figuration covering the span of an octave, (and covering endless pages of piano music of the time), becomes extended by two notes to a tenth, requiring a new technique of rotation. One could say, literally, that it becomes 'more than a handful'. No longer are the fingers alone sufficient to execute this passage; the wrist and arm have to be used, and thus Chopin 'elbows' his way to a new…show more content… & Mikuli, C. (1987) Mazurkas. New York: Dover.
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