Grandes études de Paganini

Composer: LISZT, Franz

Quick Facts

  • A series of six piano études based on violin compositions by Niccolò Paganini (see below – all études are based on pieces from 24 Caprices for Solo Violin, Op. 1 except No. 3, “La Campanella”)
  • Written and published in 1851
  • Dedicated to composer and virtuoso pianist Clara Schumann
  • *These Paganini études are a revision of an earlier version written in 1838 (Études d’exécution transcendante d’après Paganini)
  1. Étude No. 1 in G minor, “Tremolo,” based on Caprice No. 6 from 24 Caprices for Solo Violin, Op. 1, by Paganini
  2. Étude No. 2 in E♭ major, “Octaves,” based on Caprice No. 17 from 24 Caprices for Solo Violin, Op. 1, by Paganini
  3. Étude No. 3 in G♯ minor, “La Campanella” (The Little Bell), based on Violin Concerto No. 2, Op. 7, by Paganini
  4. Étude No. 4 in E major, “Arpeggios,” based on Caprice No. 1 from 24 Caprices for Solo Violin, Op. 1, by Paganini
  5. Étude No. 5 in E major, “La Chasse” (The Hunt), based on Caprice No. 9 from 24 Caprices for Solo Violin, Op. 1, by Paganini 
  6. Étude No. 6 in A minor, “Theme and Variations,” based on Caprice No. 24 from 24 Caprices for Solo Violin, Op. 1, by Paganini1

About the Piece

  • Liszt was heavily inspired by the success and virtuosity of Paganini and drove the composer to transfer this performance style to his own instrument, creating a similar series of virtuosic repertoire for the piano.2
  • This 1851 revised version of the Paganini études show two primary changes from the 1838 version:
    1. They were slightly less challenging to play (though still very difficult) so that more of the composer’s colleagues and contemporaries could master them
    2. They are closer to the original intent of Paganini’s original violin works
  • Characteristic of most études, each piece from this series addresses a technical skill to be mastered by the pianist.3

Sources

  1. “Grandes études de Paganini, S.141 (Liszt, Franz),” IMSLP, accessed June 14, 2023, https://imslp.org/wiki/Grandes_%C3%A9tudes_de_Paganini,S.141(Liszt,_Franz).
  2. Dolores Pesce, Maria Eckhardt, and Rena Charnin Mueller, “Liszt, Franz,” Grove Music Online (2001), accessed June 14, 2023, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000048265.
  3. Javier Clavere, “A Study Guide to Franz Liszt’s Grandes etudes de Paganini S.141” (DMA thesis, University of Cincinnati, 2011).

Cut IDs

14497 42980 18313 13225