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Chopin etudes by difficulty, Op. 10
None of Chopin's Etudes are easy. For easy Etudes, look at Czerny's Studies. For easy Chopin, look at his Preludes, Nocturnes, and Mazurkas. If you're not confident that you are ready for Chopin, than stick with Mozart and Beethoven for a while(I learned that the hard way, trying to learn Grande Valse Brilliante 2 years into my piano playing) But some Chopin etudes are easier than others. I will go in compositional order here.
Waterfall Etude, Op. 10 no. 1
The bass line in the left hand is very easy, just simple octaves. The right hand is also relatively easy because it is basically scales but embellished. What makes this even easier is the key being C major.
Chromatic Etude, Op. 10 no. 2
This is another relatively easy etude. The bass is very simple. Again the right hand is mostly scales but you also have to play part of the bass line with the right hand which makes it a bit harder than the Waterfall Etude. Key is in A minor. This Chopin Etude reminds me a bit of Flight of the Bumblebee because of the constant chromatic motion by sixteenth notes and the tonic of A.
Tristesse Etude, Op. 10 no. 3
This is arguably easier than the previous two etudes. In fact, I would say that it is about as easy as a Chopin Nocturne. Hardest part is the wide leaps in the left hand.
Torrent Etude, Op. 10 no. 4
After 3 relatively easy etudes comes one that is very difficult. All those fast notes and octaves makes the entire piece difficult.
Black Keys Etude, Op. 10 no. 5
This is another difficult etude, once again due to fast notes and octaves. As you can probably tell from the name, it uses mostly the black keys.
Etude in Eb Minor, Op. 10 no. 6
This is one of few etudes by Chopin that don't have nicknames. This is I would say is an intermediate in Chopin etude difficulty. It is definitely easier than the previous two etudes. The bass and melody switch hands in the B section of this Etude.
Toccata Etude, Op. 10 no. 7
Yet another difficult etude. I can see how it got its nickname the Toccata Etude. A toccata is a piece composed basically to show off the player's talent on a given instrument, typically a keyboard instrument. And this Etude definitely fits with the definition of toccata.
Sunshine Etude, Op. 10 no. 8
The bass is relatively simple with this etude. But the mainly scalar melody is hard because of the speed. So overall, I would say this is Intermediate.
Etude in F minor, Op. 10 no. 9
Here it is basically switched. The bass is now difficult and the melody is relatively simple, especially compared to the bass. This I would again say is intermediate.
Etude in Ab major, Op. 10 no. 10
Both the bass and the melody are hard here. Everything is based around triplets. There are a few 3:2 polyrhythm sections which makes it more difficult than just triplets alone. That and the tempo is quite fast. I would say this is difficult.
Arpeggio Etude, Op. 10 no. 11
While both the bass and the melody are difficult, the fact that both are just arpeggios makes things easier. I would rate this as an Intermediate.
Revolutionary Etude, Op. 10 no. 12
This is another fast etude. This is very comparable to Beethoven in more ways than one. It is dramatic and is in the key of C minor. It is very octave heavy. Even places where it is written to be quiet still have just as much intensity as the loud sections. And there is sudden dynamic contrast as well. Dramatic, octave heavy, intense in quiet sections, sudden dynamic contrast, there is only 1 composer that I think of like immediately when I think of these 4 characteristics together. That is, Beethoven of course. This Etude really draws out the Beethovenian side of Chopin. I mean, just listen to it for a moment.
What composer comes to mind when you hear this? Chances are that Beethoven was your first guess. I find it odd for Chopin's pieces to be in such a Beethovenian mood. Here is an actual Beethoven piece of similar tempo and length to the Etude for comparison:
It just so happens that this Beethoven Bagatelle is of a similar difficulty to the Chopin Etude. But the Bagatelle in C minor and the Revolutionary Etude sound similar in mood and speed, don't they?
I would put this Chopin Etude in the Very Difficult category. Not just difficult but very difficult.
So, so far with the Chopin etudes, we have this:
- Easy: Op. 10 no. 1, Op. 10 no. 2, Op. 10 no. 3
- Intermediate: Op. 10 no. 6, Op. 10 no. 8, Op. 10 no. 9, Op. 10 no. 11
- Difficult: Op. 10 no. 4, Op. 10 no. 5, Op. 10 no. 7, Op. 10 no. 10
- Very Difficult: Op. 10 no. 12
Here is a link to a PDF of all of Chopin's Op. 10 etudes:
Chopin Op. 10 Etudes
How well do you think I assessed the difficulty of the etudes? I just listened to each etude a few times. I didn't actually try to play them. I didn't take time signature into account but I did take tempo into account. That is because, as far as I know, Chopin never used odd meters like 5/4 in his life. And he certainly didn't use Irrational meter. Compound time signatures can sort of be thought of as triplet equivalents to simple time signatures. This becomes more true the more beats there are. While 6/8 can be thought of as a triplet 2/4, it doesn't really have a 2/4 feel to it. It has its own unique feel. 9/8 can be thought of as a triplet 3/4 and 12/8 essentially is a triplet 4/4. Thus, I treated all time signatures equally and just didn't take them into account in my assessment of the Op. 10 etudes.
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Originally Posted by caters
