VOL. 10 · Track 6 · 6 / 15
Étude in C major
A short piece for finger practice that is also a pleasure to hear, from Moszkowski's set of twenty études.
VOL. 10
When You Need a Lift기운이 필요할 때This track plays with a membership. Tracks 1 and 2 are open to everyone.About membership
About this piece
"Étude" tends to suggest dull finger gymnastics. Yet in under two minutes this piece runs past like a small, sparkling performance.
At a glance
- What it isthe eleventh of the twenty piano études in Moritz Moszkowski's Op. 91, a fast piece in C major.
- Who, when, whyMoszkowski, famous as a pianist and teacher, wrote it to train learners' fingers.
- What to listen forthe unbroken run of quick notes, and the clear outline of a melody even within them.
Listen for
- The openingquick notes begin to roll evenly. Try to hear which hand carries the fast notes and which marks the beat.
- The middlelisten for the moments the pitch and color shift. You can almost hear the hand moving across the keyboard.
- The endingit closes neatly in bright C major.
When it was written
Moszkowski was born in Breslau, today Wrocław in Poland, and worked in Berlin as a pianist and teacher. His Spanish Dances, Op. 12, for piano duet, were so popular that they were played in homes everywhere. In 1897 he moved to Paris.
He taught many piano students and left several books of études, which piano teachers still use today. But his last years were lonely. As fashions changed, his music was forgotten, and he died in Paris in 1925 amid illness and poverty.
A question to think about
Moszkowski was once so popular his music was in every home, yet when tastes changed he ended his life in poverty. Today, too, many creators and athletes who were once hugely popular worry about making a living after their peak.
For people in careers where popularity and income change quickly, what should individuals prepare for their later years, and what should society provide together?