Friedrich Burgmüller (1806-1874) 1851 A minor 2/4 Easy 1:03 Both hands
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Burgmüller's Arabesque is the piece many students remember as the first one that sounded fast. After two bars of crisp A minor chords, the right hand sets off on a little run, A B C B A, and climbs with it bar after bar before a short answer brings it back down to C. In the middle section the run moves to the left hand, under long notes in the right; then the opening returns, and a coda races down to the final chord. This page has the whole study, both hands as printed in the Litolff edition. Learn the run slowly in Practice mode until the five notes come out even, then raise the tempo: it is marked Allegro scherzando, lively and playful.
Bars 3 to 11: the run A B C B A in semiquavers, ending on a quaver, starting on A, then rising to E, to the A above and an octave higher; the answer E E F, D held, G D E leads to C. In the middle section the right hand plays long notes, each followed by a short one: E-B and C-A twice, then A-E, F-E, D C B A and G sharp-E. The coda brings the run back three times and ends with a quick E D C B A, both hands together.
In the first section, short chords, two per bar: A minor (A C E), D minor over A, C major over G and G7 (G B F). In the middle section the left hand takes the run: G sharp A B A G sharp, A B C D E, twice, then C sharp D E D C sharp and, in the treble clef, D E F G A, down G F E D, D sharp, E D C B. The return and the coda go back to the chords, and bar 32 runs down E D C B A with the right hand.
The change of hands in the middle section: the left hand must play the run as evenly as the right hand did, while the right hand holds its long notes. Practise bars 12 to 19 left hand alone first, and watch the G sharp, C sharp and D sharp. In the first section, stop exactly on the quaver after each run: the silence is part of the joke.
Right hand, run starting on A: 1-2-3-2-1; rising runs A B C D E and D E F G A: 1-2-3-4-5. Left hand, G sharp A B A G sharp: 3-2-1-2-3; A B C D E: 5-4-3-2-1. Keep the wrist loose and let each run land lightly on its last note.
The right-hand melody of this version, bar by bar, in letter names and in Do Ré Mi. Sharps are written #, flats b; a note held across a bar line is written once.
Melody: A B C B A A B C D E D E F G A A B C D E E E F D …
| Bar | Notes | Do Ré Mi |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | rest | rest |
| 2 | rest | rest |
| 3 | A B C B A | La Si Do Si La |
| 4 | A B C D E | La Si Do Ré Mi |
| 5 | D E F G A | Ré Mi Fa Sol La |
| 6 | A B C D E | La Si Do Ré Mi |
| 7 | E E F | Mi Mi Fa |
| 8 | D D | Ré Ré |
| 9 | G D E | Sol Ré Mi |
| 10 (1st ending) | C E | Do Mi |
| 11 (2nd ending) | C C | Do Do |
| 12 | E B | Mi Si |
| 13 | C A | Do La |
| 14 | E B | Mi Si |
| 15 | C A | Do La |
| 16 | A E | La Mi |
| 17 | F E | Fa Mi |
| 18 | D C B A | Ré Do Si La |
| 19 | G# E | Sol# Mi |
| 20 | A B C B A | La Si Do Si La |
| 21 | A B C D E | La Si Do Ré Mi |
| 22 | D E F G A | Ré Mi Fa Sol La |
| 23 | A B C D E | La Si Do Ré Mi |
| 24 | B B C | Si Si Do |
| 25 | A E | La Mi |
| 26 | B B C | Si Si Do |
| 27 (1st ending) | A | La |
| 28 (2nd ending) | A B C B A | La Si Do Si La |
| 29 | D E F G A | Ré Mi Fa Sol La |
| 30 | A B C B A | La Si Do Si La |
| 31 | D E F G A | Ré Mi Fa Sol La |
| 32 | E D C B A | Mi Ré Do Si La |
| 33 | A | La |
The chords this arrangement holds for at least two bars, read from the score with the root in the bass. Each one opens its page: the notes, every inversion and the fingering, playable on a piano.
The piece is in A minor: all the chords of the key
Arabesque is the second of the 25 Études faciles et progressives, Op. 100, that Friedrich Burgmüller published in Paris in 1851 for his piano pupils. In the original, the running semiquaver figure moves between the hands; it is one of the most played studies of the whole book.
An arabesque is an ornament of interlaced curves, and the title suits the music: a five-note figure that coils and uncoils, always a little higher. Debussy later used the same word for his two Arabesques for piano.
This transcription: Burgmüller, 25 Études faciles et progressives, Op. 100, No. 2 (1851), Litolff edition: Mutopia Project no. 203, typeset by Bas Wassink, placed in the public domain; complete, both hands as printed. Transcribed by GOONS Studio from the original work, which is in the public domain.
First Section, Op. 100 No. 1 · C major
First Section, Burgmüller Op. 100 No. 5 · F major
Easy Version · B minor
Easy Version · G majorThe full piano studio opens this score with your MIDI keyboard and sustain pedal, records what you play and exports it as a MIDI file. It comes with the GOONS Studio subscription - start with the 7-day free trial, no card required.
All of it: the two bars of chords, the first section with its repeat, the middle section and the return of the opening, repeated together, and the coda, both hands as printed in the Litolff edition. At the marked tempo it lasts about a minute.
Level 2 of 5 on this page: the notes are simple, the challenge is speed and evenness in both hands, since the left hand takes the run in the middle section. Practise slowly with a steady pulse, then raise the tempo step by step.
Op. 100, No. 2: the second of the 25 Easy and Progressive Studies, published in Paris in 1851, just after La Candeur (No. 1).
No. Debussy wrote two Arabesques for piano around 1890, much longer pieces in E major and G major. Burgmüller's is a short study in A minor, written about forty years earlier.