We have our preferences. Mine in op. 25 is the C minor study,
which, like the prelude in D minor, is "full of the sound of
great guns." Willeby thinks otherwise. On page 81 in his life of
Chopin he has the courage to write: "Had Professor Niecks applied
the term monotonous to No. 12 we should have been more ready to
indorse his opinion, as, although great power is manifested, the
very 'sameness' of the form of the arpeggio figure causes a
certain amount of monotony to be felt. "The C minor study is, in
a degree, a return to the first study in C. While the idea in the
former is infinitely nobler, more dramatic and tangible, there is
in the latter naked, primeval simplicity, the larger eloquence,
the elemental puissance. Monotonous? A thousand times no!
Monotonous as is the thunder and spray of the sea when it tumbles
and roars on some sullen, savage shore. Beethov-ian, in its
ruggedness, the Chopin of this C minor study is as far removed
from the musical dandyisms of the Parisian drawing rooms as is
Beethoven himself. It is orchestral in intention and a true epic
of the piano.
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