Waltz in A minor, B. 150 (Op. posth.)

Frédéric Chopin · Level 3 (Late beginner) · Romantic · Piano

One of Chopin’s simplest waltzes, rediscovered and published under his name only in 1955. A minor, 3/4, Allegretto: a melancholy ornamented theme, a livelier episode high up (repeated), the theme followed by a radiant passage in A major (repeated), then the return of the theme and a short coda. 56 bars plus a pickup, 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.
• Typical waltz left hand: bass on beat one, a light chord on beats two and three; let the bass ring with the pedal, changed every bar. Keep the melody singing, the eighth notes legato, without pushing beat two. The original ornaments (grace notes, turns, the trill in the second-to-last bar) are not in the playable score: add them once you know the notes well. Bars 21 to 24: the triplet and then the sixteenth-note quintuplet rise in one supple arm movement; what follows is played an octave higher (8va in the edition).

More pieces by Frédéric Chopin

• Prelude Op. 28 No. 9 in E major
• Prelude Op. 28 No. 4 in E minor
• Prelude Op. 28 No. 6 in B minor
• Prelude Op. 28 No. 20 in C minor
• Mazurka in G-sharp minor Op. 33 No. 1
• Prelude Op. 28 No. 10 in C-sharp minor
• Prelude Op. 28 No. 11 in B major
• Prelude Op. 28 No. 14 in E-flat minor

Source : Note after Note, d’après l’autographe (BnF) et les éditions du domaine public (IMSLP) · Public Domain