“Tristesse” Étude in E major, Op. 10 No. 3

The piece

Chopin composed this study in Paris in 1832; it appeared the following year among the twelve Études Op. 10, dedicated to Franz Liszt. The nickname "Tristesse" is not his. It opens with one of his best-known melodies, in E major, marked Lento ma non troppo with a metronome of 100 to the eighth note. A Poco più animato episode then rises to a con bravura passage in double notes before the theme returns. This version follows the first Paris edition, with the fingerings it prints.

This is a study in singing and in voicing: the right hand holds the melody with its fourth and fifth fingers while the thumb and index play the accompanying sixteenth notes more quietly. Practise the melody alone, then add the inner voice, keeping it light. The central passage, in sixths and in chords sliding chromatically in both hands, needs slow work with a watchful, relaxed wrist. The return of the theme, a Tempo, should find all its gentleness again.