In 1877 Jean Louis Nicodé published a pair of piano etudes. That same year, Liszt produced this manuscript, which supplies a counter-melody in the left hand for a section of the second of Nicodé’s etudes. The eminent Liszt scholar Alan Walker has noted that a copy of the published etudes can be found in Liszt’s library (now located in Budapest), and that Nicodé’s music is known to have been performed in Liszt’s master classes.

Nicodé (1853–1919) was German, despite his French name. As a young man he was active as a pianist and conductor in Berlin. He later settled in Dresden, where he taught at the conservatory and conducted an orchestra and a choral society.