In his notes to the F major study Theodor Kullak expatiates at length upon his favorite idea that Chopin must not be played according to his metronomic markings.  The original autograph gives 96 to the half, the Tellefsen edition 88, Klindworth 80, Von Bulow 89, Mikuli 88, and Riemann the same.  Kullak takes the slower tempo of Klindworth, believing that the old Herz and Czerny ideals of velocity are vanished, that the shallow dip of the keys in Chopin’s day had much to do with the swiftness and lightness of his playing.  The noble, more sonorous tone of a modern piano requires greater breadth of style and less speedy passage work.  There can be no doubt as to the wisdom of a broader treatment of this charming display piece.  How it makes the piano sound—­what a rich, brilliant sweep it secures!  It elbows the treble to its last euphonious point, glitters and crests itself, only to fall away as if the sea were melodic and could shatter and tumble into tuneful foam!  The emotional content is not marked.  The piece is for the fashionable salon or the concert hall.  One catches at its close the overtones of bustling plaudits and the clapping of gloved palms.  Ductility, an aristocratic ease, a delicate touch and fluent technique will carry off this study with good effect.  Technically it is useful; one must speak of the usefulness of Chopin, even in these imprisoned, iridescent soap bubbles of his.  On the fourth line and in the first bar of the Kullak version, there is a chord of the dominant seventh in dispersed position that does not occur in any other edition.  Yet it must be Chopin or one of his disciples, for this autograph is in the Royal Library at Berlin.  Kullak thinks it ought to be omitted, moreover he slights an E flat, that occurs in all the other editions situated in the fourth group of the twentieth bar from the end.

The F minor study, No. 9, is the first one of those tone studies of Chopin in which the mood is more petulant than tempestuous.  The melody is morbid, almost irritating, and yet not without certain accents of grandeur.  There is a persistency in repetition that foreshadows the Chopin of the later, sadder years.  The figure in the left hand is the first in which a prominent part is given to that member.  Not as noble and sonorous a figure as the one in the C minor study, it is a distinct forerunner of the bass of the D minor Prelude.  In this F minor study the stretch is the technical object.  It is rather awkward for close-knit fingers.  The best fingering is Von Bulow’s.  It is 5, 3, 1, 4, 1, 3 for the first figure.  All the other editions, except Riemann’s, recommend the fifth finger on F, the fourth on C. Von Billow believes that small hands beginning with his system will achieve quicker results than by the Chopin fingering.  This is true.  Riemann phrases the study with a multiplicity of legato bows and dynamic accents.  Kullak prefers the Tellefsen metronome 80, rather than the traditional 96.  Most of the others use 88 to the quarter, except Riemann, who espouses the more rapid gait of 96.  Klindworth, with his 88, strikes a fair medium.