To Chopin the piano was as natural and instinctive a means of expression as speech or writing are to others. He thought in terms of the instrument, and all his music is designed to fit the character of human hands at the keyboard. But they were hands developed beyond anything previously achieved in terms of technique, taking advantage of improvements in piano manufacture that allowed wider range and more capacity for varied dynamics and ‘colour’. His first Etudes were composed precisely for this end, partly under the spell of hearing Paganini’s dazzling violin virtuosity on a visit to Warsaw in 1829, when Chopin was aged 19, end partly to help him in relation to his own F minor Piano Concerto which he was then writing. He completed this the following year, shortly before he left Poland, to seek his fame in Vienna and then in Paris.