Two fingers on one note: Chopin 10-5

[tunneller]

Hi, sorry if this is a repeat and/or dumb question. On bar 61 of Chopin's etude 10-5, the score indicates that both the left and right hand should play the same Gflat for the same length of time. Two index fingers on the same note!

The right hand follows with a tiny rest and then is up two octaves, so the RH finger has to be on top.

Is the idea to give the right hand chance to "get going" early onto the upper end of the keyboard while the finger on the left hand holds the note for its full beat, thereby avoiding a staccato sound?

Or is there a certain sound Chopin is hoping for in the left hand which requires the left index finger in position, e.g.,  his point might be to really, really make the bars 61 and 62 sound exactly the same (in the LH).

Or some other music concept I can't grasp yet.

Still odd though...

[ramseytheii]

I wouldn't overthink this.  Composers of the past tended to write in more theoretical ways; if you look at the score even closer, Chopin asks for the G-flat to be played simultaneously in three voices (two stems in the RH, and one in the left). 

Thinking literally, this would obviously make the G-flat, which is the resolution and tonic, much too loud.  That's why we don't actually play literally (even when we claim righteously that we do).  Even the most literal-minded pianist plays things like this with a musical bent.

You don't have to play the G-flat with specifically either the RH or LH, just choose the one that is most comfortable (probably LH).  Don't overthink, just make it sound how it is supposed to sound.

Walter Ramsey

[quasimodo]

Using one or two fingers is not going to change the sound you produce, that's for sure. However, Chopin is a very pianistic composer and I would suppose that the idea is to have a movement-sequence that's flowing with the music on both hands. It might just feel more "natural".