Comparison of Chopin and Liszt Etude

Frederic Chops and Frances Liszt are two of the most prominent pianists of their time. Chopin composed 27 etudes in total, 24 of which he wrote in two sets of twelve and three others. Liszt wrote the set of trancendental etudes, six etudes, and five concert etudes. One etude written by Frederic Chopin is his Etude: Op. 10 No. 12 in C minor more commonly known as his Revolutionary etude. One etude written by Franz Liszt is his etude No. 3 also known as La Campanella.

Chopin's Revolutionary etude begins exclusively forte with intense chromatic scales moving down the piano into the bass secttion. The melody is in the right hand as the left hand moves around playing its series of scales. After the melody is first played forte, it comes back as a soft echo. After a few short moment of soft melody, it comes back forte, the left hand playing fierce chromatic scales. It is piano for a moment and the final chords to the etude are forte. This etude is relatively short but contains a lot of movement in both hands.

Liszt's La Campanella etude starts off at a moderate tempo sounding as if it were the melody you would hear from a music box. There are grace notes played in the melody that give it a more musical tone. After the melody is repeated twice, a series of trills and chromatic scales are played on the higher keys of the piano. The trills are played louder than the actual melody. After this part, the mood changes somewhat and it is more lively and a bit more intense. The melody is followed by scales and ends forte unlike how it began.

Liszt's etude is twice as long as Chopin's etude. Liszt's etude sounds more like a melody from a music box and Chopin's etude is full of action thus it's name Revolutionary. There is a lot of action in Liszt's etude as well but it is more spread out unlike Chopin where the scales and intensity all come out at once and throws chromati scales in your face. Both composers made use of the chromatic scale and how it is demonstrated throughout the piece. I found it particularly interesting how Liszt chose to end his etude when it began soft and legato. It was a surprise to me, however, on how Chopin ended his revolutionary etude. It began forceful and fortissimo and ended almost as intense as it began. Chopin tends to just show his mastery on one technique and it's difficult. Unlike Chopin, Liszt shows his mastery of a performance as a whole.

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