Étude in A minor

At a glance

• What it isthe eighteenth étude, in A minor, from Moszkowski's piano études, Op. 91.
• Who, when, whyone of twenty études Moszkowski, a pianist and teacher active in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, wrote to train students' hands.
• What to listen forthe even flow of rapid figures, and the tension the minor key brings.

Listen for

• The openingrapid minor-key notes build tension at once.
• The middlefollow the flow as the sound rises and falls. Even in a short piece there is a large wave.
• The endingafter a brief rush, it closes in A minor.

When it was written

An étude is originally a piece for mastering a particular technique. But after Chopin, many composers tried to make études worth hearing on the concert stage too. Moszkowski's études likewise aim to combine technical practice with listening pleasure.

Moszkowski taught many students in Berlin and Paris. His études are still used as piano teaching material, and short pieces like this one are often played at student recitals. The composer's name has largely been forgotten, but the material he left is still building someone's fingers today.