This is the earliest version of what later became the Grandes Études, S137, in 1837 and finally the Transcendental Etudes, S139, in 1851. Liszt wrote them at the age of fifteen, and it seems apparent that they were nothing more than student exercises. Although the basic thematic and harmonic content of the later Études is present, virtually none of the brilliant technical innovations that make the later sets so important to the history of piano and musical composition is here. In fact, these Études are no more difficult or original, technically, than Czerny's many studies, who, by the way, was Liszt's teacher. The most interesting use of these Études for the modern listener is in contemplating their startling transformation from this early state to their brilliant final incarnation in the Transcendental Etudes.

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