Abstract
Anton Stepanovich Arensky (1861-1906) was one of the most prominent composers and pianists of the late nineteenth century in Russian classical music. Nowadays, he is mostly known as the teacher of some representative Russian composers, including Sergei Rachmaninoff and Alexander Scriabin. During his forty-five years of life, Arensky composed a large number of works of different genres, including opera, ballet, and symphonic works. As an accomplished pianist, he wrote nearly a hundred piano works. Amongst them, the Piano Trio in D minor has been performed most frequently in public concerts. The purpose of this study is to analyze Arensky’s "Twelve Etudes, Op. 74," from the performer’s point of view. The paper includes a brief biographical sketch of Arensky, and a discussion of each etude in detail, focusing on the musical interpretation and technical challenges.
The essay comprises five chapters: Chapter I is a general introduction to the subject, Chapter II offers biographical information on Arensky, Chapter III discusses Arensky’s compositional output, Chapter IV is the core of this study, divided into three sections: (1)a comparison between Arensky’s etudes Op. 41 and Op. 74, (2) an overview of Arensky’s "Twelve Etudes, Op. 74," (3) an analysis of each etude in detail with musical examples, Chapter V is the conclusion which summarizes all the aspects discussed in this essay.
Interestingly, although Arensky’s music has shown some popularity, there is still a paucity of literature—there are no English-translated books that discuss him at length. Apart from his "Piano Trio in D Minor," his other piano works are rarely performed. It is the writer’s intention to promote Arensky’s piano music, encourage piano teachers to utilize his piano music as teaching material, and inspire more listeners to seek out other piano music by Arensky.