Quatre études (Four Studies), Op. 7 is a collection of short études for piano by Russian composer Igor Stravinsky. It was finished between June and July 1908 and was composed in Ustyluh, Ukraine. It is one of his major early works for piano, which were preceded only by his Piano Sonata in F-sharp minor.
Structure
The four movement are listed as follows.
These four études are focused on difficult and irregular rhythmical structures for pianists, countering tuplets with other rhythmically regular forms or other rhythmical structures that involve certain difficulty for performers.
The first étude in C minor, dedicated to E. Mitusov, consists of a regular 2/4 with triplets against quintuplets or even septuplets at some point.
The second étude in D major, dedicated to Nicolas Richter, is in 6/8 and opposes sixteenth notes against quadruplets and quintuplets.
The third in E minor, dedicated to Andrey Rimsky-Korsakov, doesn't require much effort or experience in polyrhythm, while the long legato melody is in the middle voice and the accompaniment figures are in the upper registers,
the main trait of the fourth étude in F-sharp major, which is dedicated to Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, is its syncopation, present all along the étude.
Some critics have claimed that this collection of études has not become more popular because it is inspired in the compositional style of Chopin, Scriabin and Rachmaninoff (the latter, more specifically, in the third étude).