Also known as: "Tristesse"(sadness)

This work is probably the best known of all the Chopin studies. Its primary aim is the control of the touch required to play a lyrical melody. A secondary aim is the hand flexibility and expanded hand position required to perform the parallel sixths in the middle section.

The structure of the opening melody is irregular, that is five-plus-three and five-plus-seven bars.

Chopin considered this etude one of his most inspired creations: "I have never in my life written another such melody," and once when hearing it raised his arms aloft and cried out: "Oh, ma patrie!"

Niecks writes that this study "may be counted among Chopin's loveliest compositions. It combines classical chasteness of contour with the fragrance of romanticism."