How hard is the Tristesse etude? (Chopin 10/1)

[thalberg]

Hi All,

I'm a teacher thinking of assigning Chopin Tristesse to a 17 year old with small hands and not a lot of practice time.  She's done Chopin preludes and nocturnes, has a decent technique and wonderful artistry, but she practices an hour a day maybe like 4 days a week.  It will prob take her four months to learn this if I assign it.

Are there any parts in there that are super difficult technically?  (I have not played it)

[pianovlad1996]

Hi thalberg! The most difficult part, yet not so difficult, is the middle part. The rest of the etude is simple technically but I hope she has the required emotional maturity because it is very hard to bring the inner voices with the pinkie and it needs lot of work. For a 17 old pianist this etude should  be very simple, even if she doesn't practice too much. The harmonies of the middle part would take a few weeks to memorize and that's all. It will be very nice if you can post her playing this wonderful masterpiece.
Timea

[ahinton]

Much as I hate these added-after-the-event "titles", you're referring to 10/3, surely?

Best,

Alistair

[birba]

I think so.  Why did they write 10/1?

[pianowolfi]

It needs a lot of time and patience, first of all. And it's very difficult to memorize. You have to discern all the different layers and voices clearly, observe the legato, work very detailed on pedalling, you'll have to decide what tempo you want (since there exist very contradictory indications by Chopin himself) and those bravoura sixthts need a lot of dedicated practice.

[quantum]

There are parts of it, especially the middle section, that do require time to practice.  Some sections of the piece may not feel like they naturally fall under the hand.  I have heard some students say that the voice leading and balance between foreground and background for the outer sections is very tricky. 

I believe this is doable for someone with small hands.  Personally I was very young when I learned this piece and did not find it overly taxing with regard to reaching wide intervals.  You may wish to start your student on the more technical sections first such as the alternating 6ths, or the LH descending tritone scales. 

[squarevince]

This was the first Chopin etude I learned at about 16, and it wasn't terribly hard.  As others have said, it took a bit of memorization, but my teacher had me focus over and over in the "difficult" section, and after a couple of weeks I was executing well & had memorized it.  If you're teaching it, if you can convince your student to memorize the hard part for a few hours, it will make it a joy to play.  It took me far longer to master 10/4 and 10/12.

Interestingly, as I'm picking the piano back up 18 years later, i found I was able to brush off the 10/4 and 10/12 reasonably well, but am having to completely relearn the 10/3.

[perfect_pitch]

Isn't the so-called 'Tristesse' etude, Chopin's Op 10 No. 3

I don't think there's a nick-name for his Op 10, No. 1

[lostinidlewonder]

I don't think there's a nick-name for his Op 10, No. 1

I think it has a nickname "Waterfall" although those mean arpeggios don't really make me think of a waterfall!


If this etude is estimated to takes her 4 months I feel this is a little too long to study alone. The majority of this etude should be easy enough for her to manage using past knowledge, the middle more technical section obviously a little tougher. I'd start with the tough parts with her that she doesn't have much past knowledge with.

[revanyoda777]

Your talking about the 10/3 right? If so, its technically standard for a Chopin piece. If your student has played some preludes and nocturnes it should be no problem technically. However to capture the emotion and musicality of the piece requires some skill especially in the voicings of the inner and outer parts