In Robert Schumann's 1836 article on piano études in "Neue Zeitschrift für Musik", the study is classified under the category "stretches: right hand" ("Spannungen. Rechte Hand"). The novelty of this étude is its broad right hand arpeggios in sixteenth notes. These nonstop arpeggios, based mostly on chords of a tenth and covering up to six octaves, surpass the drier octave arpeggios of earlier piano composers such as Ludwig van Beethoven, Muzio Clementi or Carl Czerny in richness of overtones as well as in difficulty. The left hand plays a melody in slow legato octaves.