Chopin Étude Op. 25, No. 5

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Étude No. 17
Composition by Frédéric Chopin
Alternate name: Wrong Note
Form: Étude
Key/Time signature: E minor, 3/4
Tempo Vivace
Date of composition: 1837
Composition number: Op. 25 No. 5

Étude Op. 25, No. 5 in E minor is an Étude composed by Frédéric Chopin in 1837. Marking a serious departure in the expected technique developed by Études, Chopin wrote this Étude with a series of quick minor seconds, that produce slightly dissonant sounds.

[edit] Structure

After the first theme of 'minor seconds' closes, Chopin introduces a Più Lento section in which a new melody is played in the parallel key, E major. This section is played consonantly, without dismelodious sounds such as the minor second. The final section of the piece starts with a recapitulation of the first theme, with climaxes in a Coda played in E Major.

The second section is marked as Più Lento (It. More Slow) despite Chopin's Metronome mark of ♩=168, a very quick BPM.

This étude features a unique overall structure, surrounding a Major second theme, with the minor main theme. This motive appears only one other time in Chopin's set, in Étude Op. 25, No. 10. Styling the études in this fashion futher emphasizes Chopin's deviation from the étude standard set before him with Carl Czerny and Charles-Louis Hanon. These two études are structured much like the sonatas of Ludwig van Beethoven, in which Beethoven set apart three movements in this same structure.