page_title: Étude Op. 10, No. 1 (Chopin)
section_title: Structure and stylistic traits
hierarchical_section_title: Étude Op. 10, No. 1 (Chopin) / Structure and stylistic traits
caption_attribution_description: English: Chopin Op. 10, No. 1: excerpt of harmonic reduction (bars 41 - 49) after Carl Czerny
context_page_description: Étude Op. 10, No. 1 in C major, known as the Waterfall étude, is a study for solo piano composed by Frédéric Chopin in 1829. It was first published in 1833 in France, Germany, and England as the first piece of his Études Op. 10. This study in reach and arpeggios focuses on stretching the fingers of the right hand. The American music critic James Huneker compared the "hypnotic charm" that these "dizzy acclivities and descents exercise for eye as well as ear" to the frightening staircases in Giovanni Battista Piranesi's prints of the Carceri d'invenzione. Virtuoso pianist Vladimir Horowitz, who refused to perform this étude in public, said, "For me, the most difficult one of all is the C Major, the first one, Op. 10, No. 1."
context_section_description: The étude, like all études by Chopin, is in ternary form (A–B–A), recapitulating the first part. The first part of the middle section introduces chromaticism in the left hand octave melody while the second one modulates to the C major recapitulation via an extended circle of fifths.
  James Huneker states that Chopin wished to begin the "exposition of his wonderful technical system" with a "skeletonized statement" and compares the étude to a "tree stripped of its bark."
   
  Its harmonies resemble a chorale and its relationship to Bach's Prelude No. 1 in C major (BWV 846) from The Well-Tempered Clavier has been noted by musicologist Hugo Leichtentritt (1874–1951), among others. A fictional example of Chopin's harmonies with Bach's figuration and vice versa is given by British musicologist Jim Samson (born 1946). A harmonic reduction ("ground melody") of the work can already be found in Carl Czerny's School of Practical Composition.
  The work is to be executed at an Allegro tempo. Chopin's metronome marking, given in the original sources, is MM 176 referring to quarter notes. The time signature common time is according to the first French, English, and German editions. A copy by Józef Linowski of Chopin's autograph reads cut time (alla breve). A slower tempo (MM 152) has been suggested by later editors such as Hans von Bülow who feared that at MM 176 "the majestic grandeur [would be] impaired." There is no Maestoso indication by Chopin though. Unlike Op. 10, No. 4, which reaches fff, this one stays in f throughout and never once reaches ff. Both right hand arpeggios and left hand octaves are to be played legato throughout.
caption: Excerpt of harmonic reduction (bars 41–49: circle of fifths leading to recapitulation) after Carl Czerny
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