étude

étude, in music, originally a study or technical exercise, later a complete and musically intelligible composition exploring a particular technical problem in an esthetically satisfying manner. Although a number of didactic pieces date from earlier times, including vocal solfeggi and keyboard works (Domenico Scarlatti’s Esercizi per gravicembalo), the étude came into its own only in the late 18th and early 19th centuries with collections published by the virtuoso pianist Muzio Clementi (especially his Gradus ad Parnassum, 1817), emulated by other pianist-composers, especially Karl Czerny. With the 27 piano études by Frédéric Chopin (Opus 10, 1833; Opus 25, 1837), the étude became a composition of considerable musical interest apart from its merit as a technical study. Many of the Transcendental Études by piano virtuoso Franz Liszt feature descriptive titles (e.g., La campanella, or “The Little Bell”). Claude Debussy’s Douze Études (1915; 12 Études) and György Ligeti’s Etudes for Piano (Book 1, 1985; Book 2, 1988–94) are notable later examples.

The violin étude, less cultivated than the piano étude, is represented in a number of collections by Rodolphe Kreutzer, Charles-Auguste de Bériot, and others, following the example of Niccolò Paganini, whose 24 Capricci for solo violin set the pace for 19th-century virtuosity at large.