hord
keys and then rise again with the back of the hand in the most
elastic manner. The upward movement of the hand must be very
slight. Everything must be done with the greatest precision,
and not merely in a superficial manner. Where the cantilena
appears, every melodic tone must stand apart from the tones of
the accompaniment as if in "relief." Hence the fingers for the
melodic tones must press down the keys allotted to them with
special force, in doing which the back of the hand may be
permitted to turn lightly to the right (sideward stroke),
especially when there is a rest in the accompaniment. Compare
with this etude the introduction to the Capriccio in B minor,
with orchestra, by Felix Mendelssohn, first page. Aside from a
few rallentando places, the etude is to be played strictly in
time.

I prefer the Klindworth editing of this rather sombre, nervous
composition, which may be merely an etude, but it also indicates a
slightly pathologic condition. With its breath-catching syncopations
and narrow emotional range, the A minor study has nevertheless moments
of power and interest. Riemann's phrasing, while careful, is not more
enlightening than Klindworth's. Von Bulow says: "The bass must be
strongly marked throughout--even when piano--and brought out in
imitation of the upper part." Singularly enough, his is the only
edition in which the left hand arpeggios at the close, though in the
final bar "both hands may do so." This is editorial quibbling. Stephen
Heller remarked that this study reminded him of the first bar of the
Kyrie--rather the Requiem Aeternam of Mozart's Requiem.

It is safe to say that the fifth study in E minor is less often heard
in the concert room than any one of its companions. I cannot recall
having heard it since Annette Essipowa gave that famous recital during
which she played the entire twenty-seven studies. Yet it is a sonorous
piano piece, rich in embroideries and general decorative effect in the
middle section. Perhaps the rather perverse, capricious and not
altogether amiable character of the beginning has caused pianists to be
wary of introducing it at a recital. It is hugely effective and also
difficult, especially if played with the same fingering throughout, as
Von Bulow suggests. Niecks quotes Stephen Heller's partiality for this
very study. In the "Gazette Musicale," February 24, 1839, Heller wrote
of Chopin's op. 25:

What more do we require to p