Black Key Etude (Chopin/Godowsky)

THE ORIGINAL

Background. The Black Key Etude or Etude Op. 10 No. 5 is an effervescent concert piece for piano by Frederic Chopin, the fifth in his first series of Etudes published in 1833. Etude is the French word for study, and each of the Chopin Etudes focuses on developing a specific skill on the keyboard. 

Italian Polka

The polka is a Central European dance which originated in the 19th century in Bohemia, according to Wikipedia.  It is a lively dance with a fast tempo. Many composers have written polkas, and piano versions of polkas are popular as encore pieces.

The great Russian composer Sergei Rachmaninoff wrote his Polka Italienne or Italian Polka in 1906 for four hands, i.e. two players on one piano. There original version is lively but with rather  straightforward harmony, which is quite uncharacteristic of Rachmaninoff.