Étude Op. 10, No. 3, in E major, is a study for solo piano composed by Frédéric Chopin in 1832. It was first published in 1833 in France, Germany, and England as the third piece of his Études Op. 10. This is a slow cantabile study for polyphonic and expressive legato playing. In fact, Chopin himself believed the melody of the piece to be the most beautiful one he ever composed. It became famous through numerous popular arrangements. Although this étude is sometimes identified by the names “Tristesse” (Sadness) or “Farewell (L’Adieu)”, neither is a name given by Chopin, but rather his critics.
This étude differs from most of Chopin’s in its tempo, its poetic character and the lingering yet powerful recitation of its cantabile melody. It marks a significant departure from the technical virtuosity required in standard études before Chopin’s time, though, especially in the third volume of Muzio Clementi’s Gradus ad Parnassum (1826), slow études for polyphonic playing, especially slower introductions to études, as well as études with alternating slower and faster sections, can easily be found. According to German scholar and Chopin biographer Frederick Niecks (1845–1924), Chopin said to his German pupil and copyist Adolph Gutmann (1819–1882) that he “had never in his life written another such beautiful melody (‘chant‘); and on one occasion when Gutmann was studying it the master lifted his arms with his hands clasped and exclaimed: ‘O, my fatherland!’ (“O, me [sic]patrie!“)” Niecks writes that this study “may be reckoned among Chopin’s loveliest compositions” as it “combines classical chasteness of contour with the fragrance of romanticism”. American music critic James Huneker (1857–1921) believed it to be “simpler, less morbid, sultry and languorous, therefore saner, than the much be-praised study in C sharp minor (Étude Op. 25, No. 7)”.
Like most of Chopin’s other études, this work is in ternary form (A–B–A). The A section is of remarkable melodic construction. Musicologist Hugo Leichtentritt (1874–1951) believes its asymmetric structure, (5 + 3) + (5 + 7) bars, to be highly relevant to the impact of the melody. The first five bars can be seen as a contraction of 4 + 4 bars with the final clause (consequent) of the prototypal eight-bar period replaced by bar 5. Italian composer and editor Alfredo Casella (1883–1947) notices the Pelléas-like effect of the oscillating major thirds in bars 4–5 anticipating Debussy by more than half a century. According to Leichtentritt bars 6–8 with its stretto and final ritenuto can be interpreted as the contraction of a four-bar clause. The melody is accompanied by oscillating semiquavers played by the right hand in a manner reminiscent of the Adagio cantabile movement of Beethoven’s Sonata Pathétique while the syncopated rhythm in the left hand somewhat counteracts the simple “naiveté” of this oscillation. The melody itself is characterised by repeated notes. A novelty are the distinct crescendo and diminuendo signs allocated “polyphonically” and sometimes even differing in the two voices played by the right hand.
In the middle section (poco più animato), characterised by rhythmic shifts and sudden harmonic turns, theme and accompaniment are fused into oscillating double notes. There are five eight-bar phrases. Leichtentritt observes that each eight-bar phrase is “ruled by a new motif” and that “each of these segments surpasses the preceding one in sonority and brilliancy”. The third period, although it stays chromatically centred around E major, is a long sequence of diminished seventh and tritone intervals, littered with accidentals and irregular rhythms difficult to play. It reaches a climax in the fourth period (bars 46–53), a bravura passage of double sixths for both hands. The fifth period (bars 54–61), leading back to the final restatement of the theme, can be described as an extended dominant seventh. Leichtentritt believes it to be “one of the most exquisite sound impressions ever contrived for the piano”. Its effect is “based on its contrast with the fourth period and on the gradation of the most tender nuances in piano”. The final A section is a quite literal though shortened restatement of the first one. At the end of the étude the fair copy autograph contains the directive attacca il presto con fuoco which means that Chopin foresaw the joint performance of both this étude and the following one.
The étude served as the setting for the popular song “Tristesse”, a 1939 hit for French singer-actor Tino Rossi and the 1950 song “No Other Love” written by Bob Russell and Paul Weston, popularly performed by Jo Stafford. The melody was used in the 1985 Serge and Charlotte Gainsbourg song “Lemon Incest”. It was played on piano by Fay Bainter in the film Jezebel (1938). Both a piano and orchestral arrangement of the étude, arranged and orchestrated by Michiru Oshima, are used in the final episodes of the Fullmetal Alchemist anime series that aired from 2003 to 2004. The arrangements are titled Wakare no Kyoku, or Song of Parting. The étude is also utilised in the anime series Baccano!. Katherine Jenkins recorded it as “L’Alba Verrà (The Dawn Will Come)” on her 2011 album Daydream. A section of the piece is played in the Futurama episode Meanwhile, during a montage while Fry and Leela explore the world as it is frozen in time. The song is also featured in the 2025 video game The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy, where it is performed by Masafumi Takada and used during the ending scenes of multiple routes.
