Classical Music | Piano Music

Sergei Rachmaninov

Etudes-Tableaux, Op. 39, No. 1 in c minor  Play

Daniel del Pino Piano

Recorded on 03/15/2006, uploaded on 02/26/2009

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

The étude, or study piece, was already a common element in piano instruction by the beginning of the 19th century. Its early champions were Clementi and Czerny, today practically household names for any student of the piano. Yet, it was not until Frédéric Chopin that the étude was elevated from its original mere didactic purpose to also being an outlet for the composer’s creativity. In a sense, it became as much a “study piece” for the composer as the pianist, with a virtually blank canvas for him to exercise, grapple with, and expand his knowledge of his craft and its means of execution in performance. Chopin’s example was followed by many, and within the passing of a century, the étude seemed to expand once again to take on the additional task of programmatic music with the composition of Sergei Rachmaninoff’s two sets of Etudes-Tableaux, opp. 33 and 39, composed in 1911 and 1916-17, respectively. Unlike other composers of programmatic music, Rachmaninoff did not reveal the images he had in mind when composing these sets, believing that the composer should not divulge too much of his method of creativity, but instead preferred for the listener to paint his own picture from what he hears.

Rachmaninoff composed the latter set of études, opus 39, concurrent with an intense study of the music of Alexander Scriabin as part of his preparation for a recital in the deceased composer’s honor. Though his performance of Scriabin’s music was critically panned, it sparked a new direction of creativity, making opus 39 markedly different from its predecessor. Apart from this shift towards an angular melodic style and harmonic dissonance, opus 39 is also more technically challenging than opus 33. Indeed, it possible to look on its nine constituent pieces as more études than tableaux. Each piece is extremely virtuosic and requires of the pianist a near Herculean strength to perform effectively. Incidentally, opus 39 was also the last piece Rachmaninoff composed before leaving his native Russia. In 1929, four pieces from opus 39 (nos. 2, 6, 7, and 9) and one from opus 33 (no. 7) were, with the composer’s blessing, orchestrated by Ottorino Respighi. Respighi reordered the five études but provided each with descriptive titles he devised from what Rachmaninoff told him of the images he had in mind during their composition.       Joseph DuBose

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Etudes-Tableaux, Op. 39 (1916-1917)                 Sergey Rachmaninov 

Rachmaninov wrote two sets of Etudes-Tableaux. The title "picture-etude" was apparently coined by Rachmaninoff, although this form is not unique to him.

Each piece presents a pianistic problem, in the tradition of the etude. In addition to this, an extra-musical idea is implied, although Rachmaninoff was reluctant to reveal any program associated with the Etudes-Tableaux. He stated "I do not believe in the artist disclosing too much of his images. Let them paint for themselves what it most suggests." Rachmaninoff found the writing of the Etudes-Tableaux very difficult after composing several large-scale master-pieces including the Third Piano Concerto and the Second Symphony. He stated "[They] presented many more problems than a symphony or a concerto... after all, to say what you have to say and say it briefly, lucidly, and without circumlocution is still the most difficult problem facing the creative artist" (Haylock).

The Etudes-Tableaux were the last works Rachmaninoff composed in Russia. Author of Rachmaninoff: His Life and Times, Robert Matthew-Walker writes that they mark the "virtual end of nineteenth-century tradition of virtuoso writings of the great composer-pianists". He further states that Opus 39 is a "hidden set of variations on the composer's idee-fixe, the Dies Irae, parts of the plainchant being quoted directly in all of the nine studies, particularly obvious in the first five".  He adds that in these compositions Rachmaninoff seems to be writing less in the Russian tradition and more in the Central and Eastern European tradition. The entire collection contains a vivid rhythmic life of its own. A different harmonic language including modal harmonies is used and can be compared to that of the Third Concerto.  Rachmaninoff's characteristic writing, at times "virile and commanding, at others subtle and understated is an aspect...which also ensures the immortality of his music" (Matthew-Walker).

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

  • No. 1 in C minor
This agitated, passionate étude exploits some of the piano's resources almost unrelentingly, demanding a tireless right hand, an often daringly syncopated left hand and considerable dexterity to illuminate inner voices. Technically, the music is in an almost continual climax. It bears a resemblance to Chopin's Prelude in E flat minor.