Étude Op. 10 No. 5 - Chopin

Étude Op. 10 No. 5, in G-flat major, also known as the Black Key Étude, is a solo piano work composed by Frédéric Chopin in 1830. This work is characteristic for the arpeggios played with the right hand, almost exclusively on black keys except in measure 66, where Chopin wrote an F-natural, the only white key for the right hand throughout the entire piece.

The left hand plays the melody, with mostly chords and octaves, while the right hand accompanies with quicktriplets on black keys.

This piece is unbalanced in terms of structure, but as a romantic study, Chopin favored melodic interest over rigid structure. This étude can be divided into four parts, depending on interpretation. The first theme is introduced and expounded upon with some variation after its second repetition. The second theme is presented after two sweeping arpeggios covering half the length of the keyboard. It lasts only 16 measures and is in the étude's dominant key, D-flat major.