Etude in B minor
Stage:
Qualifying
Right after the ‘fluttering’ music of the G flat major Etude, a new, utterly different, tone enters the opus 25 set of Etudes, henceforth reigning supreme till the end: a serious tone, of exalted, monumental features.On account of its octave texture, the tenth Etude, in B minor, strikes the listener with its remarkable loudness and power. Triplets of double octaves galloping along in chromatic motion and in unison unleash a volume of sound that the piano has never experienced before. Jachimecki heard in this music ‘a hurricane threatening death and destruction’; Niecks – ‘a real pandemonium […] finally hell prevails’.The insertion of a singing trio in B major into this demonic music (a method that Chopin had employed previously in the B minor Scherzo) was quite simply a psychological necessity. Its simple, diatonic beauty brought a contrast that is slightly tinged with irony.Author: Mieczysław TomaszewskiA series of programmes entitled ‘Fryderyk Chopin's Complete Works’Polish Radio 2
Date:
1837
