etude
A study piece designed to develop a specific technical skill, often performed in concert.
In Depth
An etude is a study piece designed to develop a specific technical skill — rapid scales, arpeggios, octaves, trills, or other challenges. While many etudes are purely pedagogical, the greatest ones transcend their didactic purpose to become concert works of the highest order.
Chopin's 27 Etudes are the most famous examples, combining extreme technical demands with profound musicality. His Revolutionary Etude, written in response to the fall of Warsaw, is both a left-hand exercise and a passionate political statement. Liszt, Debussy, and Rachmaninoff also wrote etudes that serve double duty as technical training and concert repertoire.
Chopin's Revolutionary Etude was written in response to the news that Warsaw had fallen to the Russians in 1831. He reportedly played it in a fury and then wept.