rate Etude No. 12 in C Minor "Revolutionary," Op. 10 by chopin

[bradleykavin]

what would you rate Etude No. 12 in C Minor "Revolutionary," Op. 10 by chopin as, from scale 1-10 in difficulty?

[rapmasterb]

id give it a 7. Im learning it at the moment and its quite acessible. Its basically for one hand so there not much of a problem in my opinion.

[henrah]

I don't really understand why it's called revolutionary. Did Chopin call it that, or did someone else give it that name?

[emmdoubleew]

Chopin called it that because he, like most artists, supported the French revolution and uprisings against monarchy, and it inspired this song. I beleive Liszt also wrote a similar "revolutionary" piece.

Nothing to do with the piano technique it involves 

[pies]

I'm not good with numbers, so I'd rate it as somewhere between beginner and intermediate.

[rimv2]

Chopin called it that because he, like most artists, supported the French revolution and uprisings against monarchy, and it inspired this song. I beleive Liszt also wrote a similar "revolutionary" piece.

Nothing to do with the piano technique it involves 

Some quick searching. Found different stories and angles. One site says the etude was inspired by the conflict, another says it had nothing to do with the conflict and was coicidentally published at the same time.

Weird eh?

[steve jones]

I'm not good with numbers, so I'd rate it as somewhere between beginner and intermediate.

Compared to what???

I was under the impression that all of Chopin's Etudes were considered advanced. Certainly, Iv never seen any feature in the AB grades.

Personally, I think that 10/12 is probably of average difficulty when compared to the rest of Op10 and Op25. But ofcourse, it all really depends on you and how good your LH is.

SJ

[emmdoubleew]

Some quick searching. Found different stories and angles. One site says the etude was inspired by the conflict, another says it had nothing to do with the conflict and was coicidentally published at the same time.

Weird eh?

Hmmm, yeah that's really interesting.

Well, I always saw it as having that grandiose "revolutionary" feel.

[pianalex]

some say it is titled to commemorate the brutal suppression of protest against russian rule in poland, which occurred more or less at the time of composition, and would no doubt have inspired intense empathetic feeling from chopin.  others say not.

[lisztener]

I have a little thought I would like to share  

Have you thought of the ending, and that it's very sudden. And that is - imo- a bit revolutionary, since it differs to most of the music of his time   But it's just a little thougt, and probably thats all hihi
Take care everyone 

[gorbee natcase]

ABRSM- 8+

Also I would note that Chopins etudes are an essential study before taking on the ballades as they will stand you in good ground to the technical difficulties of the works

[pianogeek_cz]

Its basically for one hand so there not much of a problem in my opinion.

Basically maybe, but in the end the RH becomes the problem. The LH figurations are a matter of rhythm variations, RNG and all that stuff that has been discussed here so thoroughly. But in the repetition of the main theme, bars 54-55, the RH is a pain. Especially the sixteenths chords at the end of bar 55, if you can't comfortably reach a 1-3 octave (luckily I can  ), you're sure going to get stuck here for quite a number of hours. Add the crazy LH figuration and there you are...

And even with what has been said a paragraph earlier about the LH, it's a loong work to get it perfectly even, clear, with dynamics and all...

On a 1 - 10 scale, 7 is probably a good number.

some say it is titled to commemorate the brutal suppression of protest against russian rule in poland,

Von Bulow was I think the first one to say that and title the piece "Revolutionary", the probably most intense opposition to this title came from Alexander Friedman (who called Bulow "childish" for his effort to give such titles to every single piece... The smaller of the two was probably lucky that they never met...).

Also I would note that Chopins etudes are an essential study before taking on the ballades as they will stand you in good ground to the technical difficulties of the works

Yeah, I've started learning Ballade op. 23 some weeks ago and Chopets definitely help a LOT.

[gyzzzmo]

Depends a bit on yourself, if you worked hard enough on your left hand. Average its like 7 i think.