Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849) 1839 A major 3/4 Intermediate 0:45 Both hands
Loading the score…
This is one of the shortest pieces Chopin ever wrote, and you can learn it complete: sixteen bars, a gentle dance in three-four time that asks the same small question eight times over a few simple chords. Every phrase is a dotted upbeat, a chord, the same chord again, and a held note - like a slow mazurka. The page has both hands as printed in the Peters edition; the notes Chopin holds inside the chords in bars 5, 9 and 11 are played with the melody, and the pedal is left out. Bar 12 brings the surprise: a wide, rich chord with A sharp. Play it softly, Andantino, and give each chord time to ring.
Each two-bar phrase: a dotted upbeat (E, or C sharp D), then the same three-note chord three times. Bars 1 and 2 are on the E7 chord D G sharp B, bars 3 and 4 on A major. Bar 12 is the big F sharp chord with A sharp, the high point; bars 13 to 16 lead home to A.
A low bass note on the first beat, then a chord on beats two and three: E with E, A with E, and the low A or B on the way back. Hold the chord for its full value.
The dotted upbeat: a long note and a very short one before the chord. Give the short note its exact value - a semiquaver - and do not let the chords that follow get louder.
Bar 1: C sharp D with 2-3, the chord D G sharp B with 1-3-5. Bar 3: the chord C A with 1-5. Bar 12: both hands spread on the big chord - prepare it during bar 11.
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: E C# D B B B F# D# E A A A C# A# B D D D G# G# A C# C# C# …
| Bar | Notes | Do Ré Mi |
|---|---|---|
| Pickup | E | Mi |
| 1 | C# D B B | Do# Ré Si Si |
| 2 | B F# | Si Fa# |
| 3 | D# E A A | Ré# Mi La La |
| 4 | A C# | La Do# |
| 5 | A# B D D | La# Si Ré Ré |
| 6 | D G# | Ré Sol# |
| 7 | G# A C# C# | Sol# La Do# Do# |
| 8 | C# E | Do# Mi |
| 9 | C# D B B | Do# Ré Si Si |
| 10 | B F# | Si Fa# |
| 11 | D# E C# C# | Ré# Mi Do# Do# |
| 12 | C# C# | Do# Do# |
| 13 | C# D F# F# | Do# Ré Fa# Fa# |
| 14 | F# G# | Fa# Sol# |
| 15 | B A A A | Si La La La |
| 16 | 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 major: all the chords of the key
The Prelude in A major is No. 7 of Chopin's 24 Preludes, Op. 28, a cycle through all the major and minor keys that he completed in Majorca in 1839. At sixteen bars, it is one of the shortest pieces in the whole set.
Its rhythm is that of a mazurka, the Polish dance Chopin wrote dozens of. The Catalan composer Federico Mompou built his Variations on a Theme of Chopin (1938-1957) on this little prelude.
This transcription: Chopin, Préludes, Op. 28, No. 7 (1839), Edition Peters: Mutopia Project no. 470, typeset by Magnus Lewis-Smith, placed in the public domain; complete, both hands as printed, the held inner notes of bars 5, 9 and 11 struck with the melody, pedal left out. Transcribed by GOONS Studio from the original work, which is in the public domain.
Easy Version, Bars 1-12 · E minor
Easy Version, Op. 28 No. 15 · D-flat major
Easy Version, Op. 28 No. 20 · C minor
First Section · B minorThe 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.
Sixteen bars, usually played in 45 seconds to a minute. This page has it complete, both hands.
Level 3 of 5: the notes are few, but the chords need clean, soft voicing and bar 12 needs a wide stretch. It is one of the first Chopin pieces many students learn.
It has the rhythm of one, a slow Polish dance in three-four with a dotted upbeat, but Chopin published it as a prelude, No. 7 of his Op. 28.