Noctave
The piece
The nickname “Heroic” did not come from Chopin. Composed in 1842, the polonaise opens with a Maestoso introduction of chromatically rising chords before the theme enters, proud and rhythmic, in the stride of the Polish dance. In the middle section, in E major, the left hand launches an octave ostinato, four descending notes repeated sotto voce and staccato, over which a long crescendo builds. The version played here reproduces the first edition, printed in Leipzig in 1843.
With 1,370 octave attacks, 842 of them in the left hand, octave stamina decides everything. The central ostinato, E, D-sharp, C-sharp, B, in sixteenth notes, returns bar after bar: learn it on its own, starting slowly, and stop as soon as your forearm stiffens. Looping a few bars of this passage helps you measure the effort. The rest calls for full chords, often wider than an octave, and 99 rolled chords to place without delaying the beat; 31 trills and the left-hand leaps complete the picture. Do not reach for power straight away: a full sound comes from weight, not from arm speed.