Chopin op 10 1 vs op 25 12. Which is harder and why?

[mjames]

You make a weak case, you both do

yeah but i can still play 10th chords comfortably. yummmmmmmmm

[hardy_practice]

And why would I need to believe he made a device to stretch his hands?
I read a biography years ago would you not remember something like that? Before the biography I just thought he had big hands, now I just think of Schumann playing Kinderszenen with his fucked up hands coz he wanted to have hands like Chopin

Where does it say 'he wanted to have hands like Chopin'?  A reference please!

[forte88]

yeah but i can still play 10th chords comfortably. yummmmmmmmm

With your 4 and 5th finger? you must be an acrobat, it doesn't matter
Someone with big hands can obviously play faster than someone that has to roll it, it's contrary to common sense to say anything else

[mjames]

With your 4 and 5th finger? you must be an acrobat

i just dont have hobbit hands

[forte88]

Where does it say 'he wanted to have hands like Chopin'?  A reference please!

Again, the biography I read years ago, such details escape me, I don't care, I just thought it was amusing...I've heard some pretty amusing ones about Tchaikovsky as well.....

[hardy_practice]

Again, the biography I read years ago, such details escape me, I don't care, I just thought it was amusing...

Well, in that case whatever it is you're trying to say lacks credibility.  Maybe what Chopin did for the piano is just 'amusing' to you - to others it's quite profound.

[outin]

i just dont have hobbit hands

From the photo below I conclude that Hobbit hands have a wide palm with short fingers. I have a narrow palm with long fingers so I guess I don't have hobbit hands either. My teacher has small hobbit hands. While she has pro technique, I think she might prefer having human hands if she had a choice because it does make playing easier. The pianos are designed for humans after all.

[forte88]

Well, in that case whatever it is you're trying to say lacks credibility.  Maybe what Chopin did for the piano is just 'amusing' to you - to others it's quite profound.

You don't get it, Chopin was only a vessel.You're focusing on the wrong thing If you want to collect 'facts' about his life in order to understand the music better.
There's the man and there's the music, does the man truly even understand his own music?

So whatever anecdotes I (and probably millions of others) have about a composer's life don't matter one way or the other but then logic isn't one of your strong points

[hardy_practice]

You don't get it, Chopin was only a vessel.You're focusing on the wrong thing If you want to collect 'facts' about his life in order to understand the music better.
There's the man and there's the music, does the man truly even understand his own music?

So whatever anecdotes I (and probably millions of others) have about a composer's life don't matter one way or the other but then logic isn't one of your strong points

If it's a post-structuralist debate you're looking for that's fine by me.  

[chopinlover01]

It's also important to note, as others have in this thread, that Chopin's keyboard was narrower. Pleyelsof the period had octaves equivalent to a seventh on a modern piano.

[hardy_practice]

For what it's worth both my piano made in 1800 and the one made in about 1845 have 1/16th"  shorter tenths than my modern instruments.