Étude Op. 25, No. 9 in
G-flat major
G-flat major (or the key of G-flat) is a major scale based on G, consisting of the pitches G, A, B, C, D, E, and F. Its key signature has six flats.
Its relative minor is E-flat minor (or enharmonically D-sharp minor), and its parallel ...
, known as the ''Butterfly'' étude, is an
étude
An étude (; ) or study is an instrumental musical composition, usually short, designed to provide practice material for perfecting a particular musical skill. The tradition of writing études emerged in the early 19th century with the rapid ...
by
Frédéric Chopin. The title ''Butterfly'' was not given by Chopin (as is true for all Chopin pieces with such titles); however
Arthur Friedheim
Arthur Friedheim (russian: Артур Фридхайм, 14/26 October 1859 – 19 October 1932) was a Russian-born concert pianist and composer who was one of Franz Liszt's foremost pupils. One of Friedheim's students was Rildia Bee O'Bryan ...
said, "while some titles were superfluous, this one is inadequate."
Analysis
The composition is a study of
staccato –
marcato
Marcato (short form: Marc.; Italian for ''marked'') is a musical instruction indicating a note, chord, or passage is to be played louder or more forcefully than the surrounding music. The instruction may involve the word ''marcato'' itself writt ...
alternations, marked throughout the piece. The piece is marked ''Allegro assai'' and is written in
meter. It is the shortest of Chopin's études, lasting under a minute played at the indicated tempo. The melody is created by playing a detached
octave, then two non-detached octaves. This makes a four-note group, the structure of which is used during the whole piece to convey the melody. The structure of rapid octaves can pose a challenge to the less technically experienced. Another difficulty is in the constant switching of solid octaves to detached octaves. It is much more straightforward to simply play one or the other for the whole piece.
"Musical Analysis: Etudes"
OurChopin.com
References
External links
*
* , played by Josef Hofmann
Josef Casimir Hofmann (originally Józef Kazimierz Hofmann; January 20, 1876February 16, 1957) was a Polish-American pianist, composer, music teacher, and inventor.
Biography
Josef Hofmann was born in Podgórze (a district of Kraków), in A ...
* , played by Alfred Cortot
* , played by Claudio Arrau
Claudio Arrau León (; February 6, 1903June 9, 1991) was a Chilean pianist known for his interpretations of a vast repertoire spanning the baroque to 20th-century composers, especially Bach, Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin, Schumann, Liszt and B ...
* , played by Adam Harasiewicz
Adam Harasiewicz (born 1 July 1932) is a Polish classical concert pianist.
Harasiewicz was born in Chodziez, Poland. After studying violin for two months, at the age of 10 he began piano study, and at age 15 he obtained first prize in a contest ...
* , played by Vladimir Ashkenazy
Vladimir Davidovich Ashkenazy (russian: Влади́мир Дави́дович Ашкена́зи, ''Vladimir Davidovich Ashkenazi''; born 6 July 1937) is an internationally recognized solo pianist, chamber music performer, and conductor. He ...
* , played by Maurizio Pollini
* , played by Valentina Lisitsa
Valentina Lisitsa, ; russian: Валентина Евгеньевна Лисица, translit=Valentina Evgen'evna Lisica, ) (born 25 March 1970) is a Ukrainian-American pianist.
Lisitsa independently launched her career on social media, without ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Etude Op. 25, No. 9 (Chopin)
25 09
1834 compositions
Compositions in G-flat major