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Frederic Chopin's 24 Etudes of Opus 10 and Opus 25 were the first piano studies
which were not merely technical exercises, but great musical works which stood on
their own individually. The first set was composed by Chopin between 1829 and 1833
and dedicated to Franz Liszt. The second set was published in 1837 but composed
during the years following 1832 according to Robert Schumann. Each piece has a technical
problem which is interwoven into the musical fabric, and they were unlike any of
the countless studies in piano technique by other contemporary composers including
Reicha, Cramer, Clementi, Czerny and Kalkbrenner. They were his first masterpieces
and a benchmark in composition for piano technique. To quote Ludwig Rellstab "A
player with crooked fingers will straighen them by playing these studies, but other
players should be put on their guard against them..."
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