Studies on Chopin's Études is a set of 53 arrangements of Chopin's études by Leopold Godowsky. (The number of studies is often given as 54, with Op. 25, No. 2 having one study written as a considerably different ossia of another; a similar ossia also exists for one of the studies on Op. 25, No. 3, so the total number of studies can be taken to be 55. In contrast, Godowsky's original numbering scheme runs only to 48.) They are renowned for their technical difficulty: critic Harold C. Schonberg called them "the most impossibly difficult things ever written for the piano." Several of the studies (for example, the study "Ignis Fatuus" on Chopin's Étude in A minor, Op. 10, No. 2) put the original right-hand part into the left hand; several others are for the left hand alone (for example, the study on the "Revolutionary" Étude, transposed to C-sharp minor). Two of the studies even combine two études; the most well known of these, called "Badinage," combines both the G-flat (the "Black Key" Étude of Op. 10 and the "Butterfly" étude of Op. 25).
Opus 10 No. 11st Study in C major2nd Study in D-flat major (left hand only)Opus 10 No. 21st Study in A minor (left hand only)2nd Study in A minor ("Ignis Fatuus")Opus 10 No. 3Study in D-flat major (left hand only)Opus 10 No. 4Study in C-sharp minor (left hand only)Opus 10 No. 51st Study in G-flat major2nd Study in C major3rd Study in A minor ("Tarantella")4th Study in A major ("Capriccio")5th Study in G-flat major6th Study in G-flat major7th Study in G-flat major (left hand only)This étude was also combined with the Opus 25 No. 9 étude in the "Badinage" composition.Opus 10 No. 6Study in E-flat minor (left hand only)Opus 10 No. 71st Study in C major ("Toccata")2nd Study in G-flat major ("Nocturne")3rd Study in E-flat major (left hand only)Opus 10 No. 81st Study in F major2nd Study in G-flat major (left hand only)Opus 10 No. 91st Study in C-sharp minor2nd Study in F minor (imitation of Opus 25 No. 2)3rd Study in F-sharp minor (left hand only)Opus 10 No. 101st Study in D major2nd Study in A-flat major (left hand only)Opus 10 No. 11Study in A major (left hand only)This étude was also combined with the Opus 25 No. 3 étude.Opus 10 No. 12Study in C-sharp minor (left hand only)Opus 25 No. 11st Study in A-flat major (left hand only)2nd Study in A-flat major (Like a piece for four hands)3rd Study in A-flat majorOpus 25 No. 21st Study in F minor2nd Study in F minor ("Waltz")3rd Study (A) in F minor3rd Study (B) in F minor4th Study in F-sharp minor (left hand only)This étude was also imitated in one of the Opus 10 No. 9 studies.Opus 25 No. 31st Study in F major2nd Study in F major (left hand only)This étude was also combined with the Opus 10 No. 11 étudeOpus 25 No. 41st Study in A minor (left hand only)2nd Study in F minor ("Polonaise")Opus 25 No. 51st Study in E minor2nd Study in C-sharp minor ("Mazurka")3rd Study in B-flat minor (left hand only)Opus 25 No. 6Study in G-sharp minorOpus 25 No. 7There are no studies of this étude in the collection.
Opus 25 No. 8Study in D-flat majorOpus 25 No. 91st Study in G-flat major2nd Study in G-flat major (left hand only)This étude was also combined with the Opus 10 No. 5 étude in the "Badinage" composition.Opus 25 No. 10Study in B minor (left hand only)Opus 25 No. 11Study in A minorOpus 25 No. 12Study in C-sharp minor (left hand only)Nouvelle Étude No. 1Study in F minor (left hand only)Nouvelle Étude No. 21st Study in E major2nd Study in D-flat major (left hand only)Nouvelle Étude No. 3Study in G major ("Menuetto")Only three pianists, Geoffrey Douglas Madge, Marc-André Hamelin and Carlo Grante, have recorded the entire set of the studies. Francesco Libetta has performed the complete set in concert and is the only pianist to do so from memory. Ivan Ilić has made a specialty of the 22 études for the left hand alone. Pianist Emanuele Delucchi has performed numbers 1 - 22 (on Chopin opus 10) in concert.
Only a handful of other pianists have ventured to record selected studies. The first was Vladimir de Pachmann, who recorded the Study on Op. 10 #12 in 1912. Others include Boris Berezovsky, Jorge Bolet, Ivan Ilić, Ian Hobson, Jacob Jettomersky, David Saperton, David Stanhope and Victor Schiøler.
