page_title: Étude Op. 10, No. 3 (Chopin)
section_title: Technical difficulties
hierarchical_section_title: Étude Op. 10, No. 3 (Chopin) / Technical difficulties
caption_attribution_description: English: Exercise for touch differentiation in right hand of Chopin Etude Op. 10, No. 3 (after Alfred Cortot)
context_page_description: Étude Op. 10, No. 3, in E major, is a study for solo piano composed by Frédéric Chopin in 1832. It was first published in 1833 in France, Germany, and England as the third piece of his Études Op. 10. This is a slow cantabile study for polyphonic and legato playing. Chopin himself believed the melody to be his most beautiful one. It became famous through numerous popular arrangements. Although this étude is sometimes identified by the names "Tristesse" or "Farewell", neither is a name given by Chopin, but rather his critics.
context_section_description: In Robert Schumann's 1836 Neue Zeitschrift für Musik article on piano études, the study is classified under the category "melody and accompaniment in one hand simultaneously". As the right hand part contains a melody (and sometimes an extra filling voice) to be played by the three "weaker fingers" and an accompaniment figure played by the first two fingers, the hand can be divided into an "active element" and an "accompanying element" not unlike in Op. 10 No. 2. French pianist Alfred Cortot (1877–1962) especially mentions the importance of "polyphonic and legato playing", the "individual tone value of the fingers" and the "intense expressiveness imparted by the weaker fingers".
   Preparatory exercises consist of addressing two "distinct muscular areas" of the hand by playing two voices with one hand, each voice with a "different intensity in tone". Cortot believes that the "weight of the hand" should lean towards the fingers playing the predominant part while the others "remain limp". He recommends practicing the right-hand part of the first twenty bars (the A section) in three distinct modes of articulation and dynamics simultaneously, the top voice forte and legato, the middle one mp, and the lowest semiquavers in pp and staccato. Concerning the legato Cortot states that the intensity of tone is imparted "by pressure and not by attack". He further observes that legato of notes played in succession by the same finger can only be achieved by the portamento device". His exercises for the double notes of the middle section stress "firm position of the hand" and "vigour of attack". In regard to the pedal Cortot recommends pedal changes synchronized with the bass line (six changes per bar), although many critics say this is too much to be necessary.  No pedal indication by Chopin is found in manuscripts or original editions.
caption: Exercise for touch differentiation in the right hand (after Cortot).
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