Waltz in A-flat major Op. 39 No. 15

Johannes Brahms · Level 5 (Advanced) · Romantic · Piano

The most famous of Brahms’s waltzes, often played as a lullaby. One of Brahms’s sixteen Waltzes Op. 39 (1865), a tribute to Schubert’s Viennese waltzes. A♭ major, 3/4, 44 bars (about one minute), complete score.

▶ Play this piece with the interactive score

How to practise it

• Listen first: the site plays it while the score scrolls.
• Wait mode: the score waits for you at every note, at your own pace.
• Tempo challenge: play in time, with a score and a map of the bars you got right.
• Key signature with 4 flats: name them aloud before playing and spot the places where accidentals cancel them. One hand sometimes plays two voices: hold the long notes for their full value and let the main line sing louder than the accompaniment. Triplets and other tuplets must be perfectly even: count them aloud with the metronome. The left hand makes wide leaps: look at the landing note in advance and move early, without rushing the rhythm.

More pieces by Johannes Brahms

• Waltz in G major Op. 39 No. 10
• Intermezzo in A major Op. 118 No. 2

Source : Mutopia Project · Public Domain