Godowsky's Studies on Chopin's Etudes

by Marc-André Hamelin

This recording is dedicated to the memory of my father who, as an avid Godowsky

enthusiast, was particularly looking forward to the eventual realization of this project.
He provided me over the years with many interesting ideas and comments - all stemming
from a deep familiarity with the music.
Advertised by their publisher Schlesinger (now Lienau) as 'a modern high school of piano-
playing', Godowsky's Studies on Chopin's Etudes occupy a unique place in the literature
of the piano. With the exception of the music of Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji, I know of no
segment of the repertoire to have achieved such a legendary status, and even a casual
perusal of the scores will help understand why. The prospective pianist is confronted
with unexpected levels of difficulty, mostly concerned with mental challenges seldom if
ever encountered anywhere else in the repertoire, requiring unflinching concentration and
true dedication in order that all details are clearly presented and articulated. Any one
of these Studies may, for example, pit together two or even three strands of
counterpoint, each with its own personality and demanding to be clearly differentiated.
It is therefore not difficult to understand why these pieces have earned the reputation
of requiring Olympian feats of execution, and this helps to explain their general neglect
(as well as the critical abuse they have received from the time the first few were
published).

But wait! What's this? 'Dolce', 'dolcissimo', 'molto espressivo' markings by the dozen?
Here a nocturne, a polonaise, there a mazurka? Beautifully involved harmony in velvety
rich textures? Anyone who has taken the trouble to spend more than a short amount of time
with these pieces finds that Godowsky's fervent wish to revolutionize pianistic writing
carried with it only the loftiest aesthetic aims, and each of the Studies, while perhaps
not all being equally successful musically, adheres unquestionably to this dual purpose.
Despite their formidable reputation, many of them are serene in character, hardly ever
exploiting the forceful, percussive side of piano writing. This provides yet another
explanation why these Studies have been neglected over the years: they do not belong to
the category of works which tend to rouse audiences, even when indifferently or badly
performed. Their generally rather 'inward' character, coupled with a comparative lack of
overt virtuosity, makes all efforts invested into mastering them almost completely non-
apparent. But to any welcoming and adventurous ear, they provide the greatest fascination
- the pleasure of seeing a composer's work filtered through the sensibility and
personality of another, in a thoroughly tasteful and highly characterisitic way. (I
myself always enjoy reading about one composer's opinion of another; a transcription is
simply another way of expressing it.)

It is reasonably safe to assume that Godowsky did not originally plan to transcribe each
and every one of Chopin's Etudes; his original aim was to provide ambitious pianists with
aesthetically sound material with which to develop their left hand, since Chopin usually
places much emphasis on the right hand.

Godowsky's process of transformation, although sometimes based on a simple 'inversion of

hands', or rather a reversal of their respective roles in the Chopin originals, basically
stems from the variation principle; fundamentally there is no difference between
Godowsky's treatment of Chopin and Beethoven's many reworkings and rethinkings of a
Diabelli waltz, in the sense that in both cases one or more of the parameters of the
original are altered in some way.

It cannot be overemphasized that Godowsky had the utmost respect for Chopin, and he
selected the Etudes in particular because they represented a solid and proven foundation
to consider as a basis for transformation. His reworkings of the Etudes were never
intended as 'improvements' on the originals (a ridiculous criticism that subsists even
now) since he never meant his transcriptions to supplant their admirable models. But
there is one 'flaw' - if it can be called that - which Godowsky did seek to correct,
namely the over-emphasis on the right hand. This was accomplished in two different ways:
firstly, studies for both hands in which the right-hand material is entrusted to the
left. These are not merely academic inversions, such as the ones penned by Friedrich
Wührer, but genuinely creative recastings in which the arduous instrumental difficulties
never give way to aesthetic beauty. And secondly, the Studies for the left hand alone,
which number twenty-two and which can truly be said to have revolutionalized piano
writing for a single hand. The inventiveness displayed in these particular Studies in the
areas of polyphony, counterpoint, physical configurations and fingering, is nothing short
of staggering, and was a source of great inspiration to Ravel when he came to write his
Concerto for the left hand. Godowsky made every effort to make one hand sound like two -
many of the Studies actually require two staves for their notation - and in doing so he
hoped to inspire other composers to extend this principle to both hands to enrich piano
writing even more.

Godowsky had a profound textual knowledge of Chopin's entire corpus of works for the
piano (at least as much as was then possible without the benefit of later musicological
developments). In the same way, any pianist wishing to become familiar with the Godowsky
Studies cannot possibly do so without a thorough awareness of the original Etudes. Only
then will Godowsky's reverence for his chosen material be unequivocally apparent,
pertaining as he does to most of the harmonic and contrapuntal elements of his models.
Lastly, since so much of the original is still present in the transcriptions, it is
imperative (with just a few exceptions) to give Godowsky's Studies an equivalent
character to each corresponding Chopin Etude, regardless of the difficulties involved.
Hopefully, receptive listeners new to the Godowsky experience will welcome the kind of
prismatic effect he achieved secure in the knowledge that it is produced by a friendly
hand.

Marc-André Hamelin ©2000