Grandes études de Paganini, S.141: No. 1, Prelude

ÉTUDE

Etude is a short instrumental composition whose purpose is to perfect a particular musical skill. Composers such as Cramer and Czerny among others wrote many etudes that became legendary exercises to strengthen the fingers and to master hand dexterity. Although valuable in this regard, these etudes, primarily repetitions of the same intervallic patterns, lacked musical substance.

CHOPIN

Chopin was the first to develop the etude into an art form. In a letter to his friend Titus Woyciechowski on October 24, 1829 Chopin wrote: “I have composed a grand study in my own manner.” In fact, Chopin had a peculiar vision on technique, as he mentions: "One needs only to study a certain positioning of the hand in relation to the keys to obtain with case the most beautiful quality of sound to know how to play long notes and short notes, and to attain unlimited dexterity."
Chopin tended to avoid technique for its own sake and cultivated the art of touch beyond the acquisition of virtuosity, demanding a variety colors and textural contrast. In short, Chopin combines musical substance and technical challenge to form a complete artistic form.
The first set of Chopin Etudes, the Opus 10, was composed between 1829 and 1832 and published in 1833 with the dedication to Franz Liszt. Chopin also wrote other set, the opus 25, along with more twelve etudes and the Trois
Nouvelles Études.
Chopin had great admiration for Liszt and had once said "I would love myself to acquire from him the manner in which he plays my etudes.” This admiration was mutual as Liszt commented after Chopin's concert in Paris, "no one compares to him, he shines alone, peerless in the firmament of art."

LISZT

Liszt's etudes differ from Chopin's Etudes in that they lack the relentless, one-sided focus on a specific technical aspect that can be seen in the latter. Thus, they are in fact, often less taxing with regards to sheer endurance. Nevertheless, many Liszt etudes contain concentrated difficulties that often exceed anything found in Chopin's creations. Liszt was so impressed with the effect of Paganini’s performance that he set out to become, as Alan Walker says, the “Paganini of the piano.” Liszt started exploring new dimensions of his capabilities to demonstrate technical prowess and a new language began to appear. Walker refers to Liszt’s desire to “unlock every secret of the keyboard – as Paganini had unlocked those of the violin –however intractable they were.”

An immediate result of Paganini’s effect on Liszt came with the Clochette Fantasy (1832). This is a large work based on an old Italian melody, which Paganini had used in his Violin Concerto in B minor op. 7. Although this work demands a great deal of technique, it has been obscured by the more popular La Campanella from the Paganini etudes set. This etude is a smaller
version of the Clochette Fantasy. The set of six etudes based on Paganini themes was written between 1838 and 1839 and first published in 1840. They are published with the name of Six Études d’execution trancendante d’après Paganini and dedicated to Clara Schumann. Five of the etudes are based on Paganini’s 24 Caprices for Violin op. 1, and the La Campanella. The Paganini themes appeared in Liszt’s Paganini etudes in the following order:
1 G-minor etude, based on the caprices no 5 and 6;
2 E-flat etude, on Caprice no 17;
3 D-sharp minor etude La Campanella, on B minor Violin Concerto;
4 E-major etude on the Caprice no 1;
5 E-major etude on the Caprice no 9;
6 A-minor etude on the Caprice no 24.

Between the years 1849 and 1853, the composer decided to review and revise most of his works, including the Années de pèlerinage, the Trancendental Études and some early Hungarian Rhapsodies as well as the Paganini Etudes. This new version now called Grandes Études de Paganini, appeared much lighter and more accessible. Liszt considered that the final
edition is the only one edition a pianist should perform, since he said “I disavow the earlier editions of these works.”