The Toccata in C major, Op. 7 by

Robert Schumann Robert Schumann (; ; 8 June 181029 July 1856) was a German composer, pianist, and music critic of the early Romantic music, Romantic era. He composed in all the main musical genres of the time, writing for solo piano, voice and piano, chamber ...

, was completed in 1830 and revised in 1833. The piece is in sonata-allegro form. The work was originally titled ''Etude fantastique en double-sons'' (''Fantastic Study in Double Notes''), and was infamously referred to by Schumann as the "hardest piece ever written"—to this day it remains as "one of the most ferociously difficult pieces in the piano repertoire". A series of alternating chords introduce the main theme. The development features rapid

unison Unison (stylised as UNISON) is a Great Britain, British trade union. Along with Unite the Union, Unite, Unison is one of the two largest trade unions in the United Kingdom, with over 1.2 million members who work predominantly in public servic ...

octave In music, an octave (: eighth) or perfect octave (sometimes called the diapason) is an interval between two notes, one having twice the frequency of vibration of the other. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been referr ...

s and counterpoint. There is advanced

chromaticism Chromaticism is a compositional technique interspersing the primary diatonic scale, diatonic pitch (music), pitches and chord (music), chords with other pitches of the chromatic scale. In simple terms, within each octave, diatonic music uses o ...

and

syncopation In music, syncopation is a variety of rhythms played together to make a piece of music, making part or all of a tune or piece of music off-beat (music), off-beat. More simply, syncopation is "a disturbance or interruption of the regular flow of ...

throughout the work. A typical performance of this piece (with the repeat sign observed) can last anywhere from six to eight minutes. Schumann dedicated the work to his friend Ludwig Schuncke, who had dedicated his ''Grande Sonata in G minor'', Op. 3, to Schumann. It is partially based on the

Czerny Czerny is a surname meaning "black" in some Slavic languages. It is one of many variant forms, including Czarny, Černý, Czernik, Cherney, and Čierny, among others. People Notable people with this surname include: * Adalbert Czerny (1863–194 ...

Toccata in C major, Op. 92, which Clara Schumann spent much of her youth practicing.

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* *, performed by Sviatoslav Richter *, Piano Soloist: Evgeny Kissin {{Authority control Piano music by Robert Schumann 1836 compositions Compositions for solo piano Schumann Compositions in C major