Étude in G major, Op. 40 No. 1

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1,840–1,893)

First published: 1879
Key: G major
Style: Studies
Level: Diploma
Roughly: RCM ARCT · ABRSM ARSM · Trinity ATCL · Henle 7
Lesson: D.13 Keep a concert study brilliant and relaxed
Musicianship: D.13 Brilliant and relaxed
Focus: Chromatic sixteenth-note cells and even finger transfer, hand-to-hand exchange, sustained-note independence and marcato inner voices, register changes, dynamic stamina, and a complete original recapitulation/coda.

What its lesson teaches

D.13 Keep a concert study brilliant and relaxed

Study Tchaikovsky’s Étude in G major, Op. 40 No. 1. Keep the rapid figuration light and even across the keyboard, let the hand move with the figure instead of stretching, and keep the melody inside it audible. This is the level’s second study, beside Scriabin’s Op. 8 No. 11.

Ideas: Playing without tension
Voicing and balance
Theory cards: Staying free of tension
Technique: G major scale, hands together, 4 octaves

Edition and licence

Score: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky; D. Rahter, Hamburg, 1890, plate 2902.401; historical facsimile: Sibley Music Library, University of Rochester, hdl.handle.net/1802/19359; new manual transcription: Musalea contributors, CC0-1.0.

Hamburg: D. Rahter, 1890, plate 2902.401; author-reviewed edition, printed pp. 2–7.

Encoding source: https://urresearch.rochester.edu/handle/1802/19359 · CC0

Étude in G major, Op. 40 No. 1

Edition: Hamburg: D. Rahter, 1890, plate 2902.401; author-reviewed edition, printed pp. 2–7.

Published: 1890

Source: https://urresearch.rochester.edu/handle/1802/19359

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky; D. Rahter, Hamburg, 1890, plate 2902.401; historical facsimile: Sibley Music Library, University of Rochester, hdl.handle.net/1802/19359; new manual transcription: Musalea contributors, CC0-1.0.

Encoding source: https://urresearch.rochester.edu/handle/1802/19359

CC0-1.0

Licence: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/

Checked bar by bar against D. Rahter, Hamburg, 1890, plate 2902.401 (Sibley Music Library, hdl.handle.net/1802/19359; IMSLP #280373), PDF pp. 4-9, 2026-10-28: every bar compared; 11 bars corrected (bars 23, 60, 62, 64, 70, 71, 78, 79, 101, 102 and 114).

Adapted by Musalea: corrected from the print, converted to MusicXML and prepared for interactive practice.

The other lesson pieces of Diploma

Prelude and Fugue in F minor, BWV 857 — complete pair, Johann Sebastian Bach
Piano Sonata No. 6 in F major, Op. 10 No. 2 — complete, Ludwig van Beethoven
Étude in B-flat minor, Op. 8 No. 11, Alexander Scriabin
Prelude and Fugue in F-sharp minor, BWV 859 — complete pair, Johann Sebastian Bach
Piano Sonata No. 24 in F-sharp major, Op. 78 — complete, Ludwig van Beethoven
Berceuse in D-flat major, Op. 57, Frédéric Chopin
Prelude and Fugue in B-flat minor, BWV 867 — complete pair, Johann Sebastian Bach
Impromptu in F minor, D. 935 No. 4 (Op. 142 No. 4) — complete, Franz Schubert
Piano Sonata No. 27 in E minor, Op. 90: II. Nicht zu geschwind und sehr singbar vorgetragen, in E major, Ludwig van Beethoven
Mallorca (Barcarola), Op. 202, Isaac Albéniz
Sonatine, M.40 — I. Modéré, Maurice Ravel
Intermezzo in A major, Op. 118 No. 2, Johannes Brahms
Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37: I. Allegro con brio, Ludwig van Beethoven

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