Reconsidering Chopin’s Etudes: Composition, Invention, Poetry and Pedagogy

The task of editing all 27 Etudes for Peters Edition has revealed a surprising amount of material overlooked by even the large number of extant editions of these pieces. Besides correcting the original sources’ many misprints or slips of the pen, preparation of the new Peters edition has prompted reconsideration of their compositional qualities – not least as Etudes in composition – as well as the range of pedagogical aims they embody. Memoirs of Chopin’s students suggest regarding them as a sort of musical and pianistic yoga to engender good physical habits and focussed musical intelligence at the piano.

Roy Howat is a Keyboard Research Fellow at the Royal Academy of Music, London, and a Senior Research Fellow at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Glasgow. He combines an international concert career with writing, editing and lecturing. He enjoys a wide repertoire but is particularly known for expertise in French repertoire.