Étude Op. 10, No. 6, in E minor, is a study for solo piano composed by Frédéric Chopin in 1830. It was preceded by the relative key. It was first published in 1833 in France, Germany, and England as the sixth piece of his Études, Op. 10. The tempo Andante in and con molto espressione indicate a more moderate playing speed than Chopin's other études with the exception of Op. 10, No. 3 and Op. 25, No. 7. This étude focuses on expressivity and chromatic structuring of the melody as well as polyphonic texture. Structure and stylistic traits Musicologist Hugo Leichtentritt (1874–1951) describes the three- (and sometimes four-) voice texture thus: "A melody of painful, elegiac expression over a slow, almost sluggish, bass, in-between a winding middle voice [in sixteenth notes] which, despite its narrow range adds a great inner agitation." A characteristic trait of the melody are the chromatic auxiliary notes played on the beat and approached by disjunct motion. Like all of Chopin's other études, this work is in ternary form A–B–A. The strict periodic structure contains eight-bar periods—two in the A section, forming a regular 16-bar period, three in the middle one and in the final A section a single eight-bar period expanded by five bars. The harmonic relationships in the first eight bars, marked by a deceptive twist to bar 4 and a Neapolitan chord in bar 7, are shown in a harmonic reduction. Bars 9–16 repeat the same progression, ending with an E minor perfect cadence. The three eight-bar periods of the middle section do each have a particular design. The first one is marked by a rise to the middle and a corresponding descent of the consequent. The irregular second one, leading to the climax, reveals its excited rhythmic nature especially in the consequent, while the third one is a steady chromatic descent from the climax. The effect of the harmonic progression of this middle section is described thus by Leichtentritt: "A magnificent transition from E minor (bar 16) to the mildly shining E major (bar 21) [Chopin has changed the key signature here]; the exciting chains of sequences with their cross-relations (bars 29–32); the wonderfully sonorous decline to E minor so delicately shaded with accents of timbre (bars 33–41)." The final A section is a shortened repeat of the first one. In the last seven bars a most beautiful effect is produced by