For the accompaniment in the right hand we find
chord arpeggiations in triplets, afterward in sixteenths,
calmly ascending and descending, and surrounding the melody as
with a veil. They are to be played almost without
accentuation.
It was Louis Ehlert who wrote of the celebrated study in G sharp
minor op. 25, No. 6: "Chopin not only versifies an exercise in
thirds; he transforms it into such a work of art that in studying
it one could sooner fancy himself on Parnassus than at a lesson.
He deprives every passage of all mechanical appearance by
promoting it to become the embodiment of a beautiful thought,
which in turn finds graceful expression in its motion."
And indeed in the piano literature no more remarkable merging of
matter and manner exists. The means justifies the end, and the
means employed by the composer are beautiful, there is no other
word to describe the style and architectonics of this noble
study. It is seldom played in public because of its difficulty.
With the Schumann Toccata, the G sharp minor study stands at the
portals of the delectable land of Double Notes.
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