The
end is notable for the fact that scales appear. Chopin very
seldom uses scale figures in his studies. From Hummel to Thalberg
and Herz the keyboard had glittered with spangled scales. Chopin
must have been sick of them, as sick of them as of the left-hand
melody with arpeggiated accompaniment in the right, a la
Thalberg. Scales had been used too much, hence Chopin's sparing
employment of them. In the first C sharp minor study, op. 10,
there is a run for the left hand in the coda. In the seventh
study, same key, op. 25, there are more. The second study of op.
10, in A minor, is a chromatic scale study; but there are no
other specimens of the form until the mighty run at the
conclusion of this A minor study.
It takes prodigious power and endurance to play this work,
prodigious power, passion and no little poetry. It is open air
music, storm music, and at times moves in processional splendor.
Small souled men, no matter how agile their fingers, should avoid
it.
The prime technical difficulty is the management of the thumb.
Kullak has made a variant at the end for concert performance.
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