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I was thinking of no. 15. The repeated A flat or G sharp is not literally constant through the entire piece, but almost.

Yes, and it is a real shame when you want to play that prelude and that key happens to be a bit sluggish due to humidity. I have been told it is one of the most prone to become sluggish?

I have, a few times. And although I wouldn't say that taken as a whole they are better etudes than the etudes, I think some of them are very good as etudes, and seem as if Chopin may have had some pronounced etude-like thoughts while composing them.

Other composers' preludes sometimes seem that way too - many of the preludes of Scriabin and Rachmaninoff can double as etudes quite nicely, for example.

Dampp-Chaser

That sounds odd. Who told you that and what explanation was given for why one particular key "is one of the most prone to become sluggish"?

Regards,

A piano tuner told me, and this was the explanation: "It is possible that the G# will be the first to get sluggish when humid as the flange is probably tighter than average." Not quite as strong as my assertion above, but it is still "possible".

Only the English and German first editions published Op. 10 as two different books; the French first edition published it as one book.

Interesting to know. Thanks!

Are you sure he/she was talking generally, rather than specifically about your piano? Like, maybe there was something about that particular flange (which would be my guess).

BTW I'm talking about this without having the slightest idea what a flange is....and I don't mean that you have to tell me.

It certainly sounds to me as though the tuner were referring to the particular piano in question, rather than to all pianos in general. I find it hard to grasp that all pianos suffer from this (unresolved) issue. Certainly I've never encountered it on any pianos I have ever played.

Regards,

On the question of piano strings ... did you chaps know that the Grand Johanna on the Hindenburg airship had aluminium strings ... to make it lighter!! (disaster May 6, 1937)

Now you know it all.

Off the subject, but......I can't help it....
This is a great example of where I think the rule about using the subjunctive in such a situation is a poor idea -- and I don't do it. Good thing I'm not still in school, because I might flunk.

I think that actually most people who know about the subjunctive and generally use it properly violate the rule in such a context, but (as far as I know) it is nevertheless considered wrong.

What do I mean by "such a context"?
A context where the stated situation is very possibly actual. I reserve the subjunctive for where it's just being imagined, or at most highly unlikely. I think the subjunctive sounds strange when the stated situation is true or very possibly true, but as far as I know, the rule doesn't care.

The rule needs to be changed.
Pass it on.

Yes, it is possible that he was making an assumption about my piano (he didn't have it in front of him), but I will ask him when I have the chance. At any rate the tuner is coming in January, so we will have a look at that flange.

No, I don't. What was the rest of it made of?

Hi Frycek,
Did a bit of reading up on the Hindenburg airship ...
and the use of aluminium strings to the piano.

No ... they didn't use balsawood for the rest of the piano!! ... to make it lighter.

Apparently the piano with aluminium strings did not
accompany the journey when the airship caught fire.
So presumably the old piano was left in the Frankfurt storeroom.

regards, btb

Dr. Rudolf Blüthner-Haessler was head of the Julius Blüthner Piano Company, which created the lightweight duralumin piano carried on Hindenburg during the 1936 season.

Thanks!

I doubt that the piano had aluminum strings. That would be a tremendous design problem, as well as an acoustical one The bass strings may have been wrapped with aluminum, but the reason for wrapping strings is to add weight to them, anyway.