While the Four Etudes, Op. 7, of 1908 were not Stravinsky's first works for solo piano (a Piano Sonata in F sharp minor had preceded it in 1903 - 1904), they were the first solo piano pieces he had published and his only solo piano music of any substance until the Piano Rag Music of 1919.

Like most early Stravinsky, the Four Etudes revealed the composer's influences, in this case, Chopin and middle-period Scriabin. The opening con moto is in the style of the opening and closing movements of Chopin's 24 Preludes; the following allegro brilliante sounds like an étude of Scriabin; the following andantino evokes the salon world of Chopin's nocturnes; and the closing vivo could be Scriabin in a particularly extroverted mood. However, each Etude except the third is also concerned with a particular type of rhythmic problem. The con moto movement explores various kinds of hemiolas with groups of seven notes in the rights hand against groups of three in the left. The allegro brilliante continues to combine different rhythms with groups of six notes in the right hand against groups of four and then five in the left hand. The closing vivo is a form of perpetuum mobile built out of syncopations. Stravinsky's rhythmic experiments, begun in the Four Etudes, were to continue throughout his compositional career.

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1.Con moto in C-

The Study for Piano (Con moto), the first of the Four Etudes, Op. 7, was written in June and July of 1908 at the Stravinsky family estate of Ustilug in the Ukraine. The Four Etudes were clearly composed in the style of Chopin and middle-period Scriabin. The Con moto in C minor recalls the Allegro Appassionata, the last of Chopin's 24 Preludes, with its heroic right-hand melody and agitated left-hand accompaniment. At the same time, however, Stravinsky is here beginning to explore new metrical combinations by mixing quintuplets with duplets and triplets and sextuplets.

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4.Vivo in F#

The Study for piano (Vivo), the fourth of the Four Etudes, Op. 7, was written in June and July of 1908 at the Stravinsky family estate of Ustilug in the Ukraine. The Four Etudes were clearly composed in the style of Chopin and middle-period Scriabin. The Vivo is a virtuosic conclusion to the set, both pianistically and compositionally. Continuing the rhythmical experimentation of the first and second studies, the Vivo has been described as a perpetuum mobile of syncopation and as a forerunner of the pervasive syncopations of Le sacre du printemps. Of the four studies, the Vivo is the least indebted to Chopin and Scriabin.

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