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Ballade, Op. 100 No. 15

Friedrich Burgmüller (1806–1874) · sheet music

  • Time 3/8
  • Levels 5–6
  • Passages 3

Your turn · both hands

 

 

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Friedrich Burgmüller, German-French romantic (1806–1874). The reading release has 3 passages from this piece at levels 5–6; the reader above opens on the easiest, bars 53–56 for both hands together.

Practice the hard bars →

The hardest stretch is bars 45–48 at level 6.

Your practice path

Learn it the way teachers do: each hand on its own, then together, then the hard bars. Each step is a real graded passage of Ballade, Op. 100 No. 15.

  1. Hands together · bars 53–56 level 5
  2. The hardest bars · bars 45–48 level 6

How to play Ballade, Op. 100 No. 15

  1. Tempo:The metronome mark is a quick dotted quarter = 104, one beat per bar, and many players settle below it. Choose a speed at which the left-hand sixteenths stay perfectly even, and raise it only when they do.
  2. Right hand:Keep the repeated staccato chords light and as regular as a clock, with a loose wrist and fingers close to the keys. In the middle section, switch to a connected, singing tone.
  3. Left hand:The curling sixteenth-note figure is the hard part and tends to drag the whole piece. Practice it alone with a metronome, then drill the finger changes that trouble you.
  4. Hands together:The left-hand tune must land exactly with the right-hand chords, especially on the accented long notes. Play the note just before each accent firmly so the arrival lines up.
  5. Rhythm:Count in one and keep the pulse steady through the rests and held notes; the silences are part of the drama. In the middle section, hold each long note its full three eighths.
  6. Dynamics:Begin softly and mysteriously, make the sudden accents in the left hand bite, keep the C major middle sweet, and let the coda start loud and fade before the final accented chord.
  7. Reading:The outer sections carry three flats, but the middle section has no key signature, and the chromatic slide back to the minor is full of flats and naturals. Check each accidental as you read.
  8. Practice:Learn the left-hand figure first, then add the right-hand chords a few beats at a time. Join the sections only when each is steady at a slow tempo.

Common mistakes

  • Playing the left-hand sixteenth notes unevenly or slowing down through them. Fix: Practice them with a metronome set slower than the target and speed it up gradually.
  • Letting the repeated right-hand chords stiffen the wrist and grow louder. Fix: Keep the wrist loose, play the chords short and soft, and let the left-hand tune lead.
  • Rushing the rests and held notes between phrases. Fix: Count the rests aloud and give each held note its full value.
  • Making the major-key middle section as loud as the minor sections. Fix: Play the middle softer to give the story its calm moment.

Structure: ternary with coda (A-B-A-coda)

A hushed C minor opening, built on repeated staccato chords over a left-hand melody, gives way to a gentle C major middle section that is repeated. A chromatic slide leads back to the opening music, and a loud coda moves the running figure into the right hand before the piece dies away to a final accented chord.

A · Misterioso opening (C minor)
The right hand ticks out soft staccato C minor chords while the left hand carries the tune, a quick curling sixteenth-note figure followed by sudden accented notes. Reading here means two very different jobs at once.
B · Dolce middle (C major)
The key signature drops away for C major, and the right hand sings a slow, connected melody over light offbeat chords in the left hand. A chromatic line with sighing two-note figures leads back toward the minor.
A · Return (C minor)
The opening chords and left-hand figure come back in C minor, as dark and restless as before.
Coda · Coda (C minor)
The running sixteenth figure jumps to the right hand at full volume, then thins out into soft, high staccato chords before a last accented chord low in the bass.

About Ballade, Op. 100 No. 15

Friedrich Burgmüller was born in Regensburg in 1806 and settled in Paris in 1832, where he lived until his death in 1874. He is best known for his children's piano studies, and the Op. 100 set of 25 Easy and Progressive Studies has been a teaching staple ever since it was published in Paris in 1851 by Benoît aîné.

The set's French subtitle says the studies were composed and fingered expressly for small hands. Each piece has a character title, and No. 15, Ballade, is among the most dramatic.

A ballade is a narrative piece, and this one tells its story with urgency. A Japanese piano encyclopedia compares its mood to Schubert's Erlkönig: steady repeated chords in the right hand, a twisting left-hand figure underneath, and a constant sense of hurry, broken by one gentle major-key episode.

  • The Peasant Pas de Deux added to the ballet Giselle for its 1841 premiere was composed by Burgmüller.
  • Burgmüller's father and his younger brother Norbert were composers too.
  • Op. 100 has 25 pieces, and the Ballade is the fifteenth, after La Styrienne and before Douce plainte.
  • The metronome mark given for the Ballade is a fast dotted quarter = 104, and a teaching commentary notes that many players slow down because the left-hand sixteenths are so hard to keep even.

Why the first passage is level 5

That passage is level 5 rather than 4 because it is in 3/8, not 4/4.

The passages here come from the C major middle section and the chromatic link back to the minor: a sliding line with sighing two-note figures over offbeat left-hand chords. Count three eighths in every bar, even through the held notes.

Questions about Ballade, Op. 100 No. 15

How hard is Ballade, Op. 100 No. 15 to play?
Its passages grade from level 5 to level 6 on Real Sight Reader's ten-level reading scale, so the full piece sits around early intermediate. The hardest stretch is bars 45–48 at level 6.
Is there an easy part of Ballade, Op. 100 No. 15 for beginners?
Its easiest passage is level 5, so it suits a reader past the beginner stage. Start with bars 53–56 for both hands together, the level-5 passage in the reader at the top of this page; it is level 5 because it is in 3/8, not 4/4.
What key and time signature is Ballade, Op. 100 No. 15 in?
The engraving on this page is in 3/8 time.
Who composed Ballade, Op. 100 No. 15?
Friedrich Burgmüller, German-French romantic (1806–1874). Friedrich Burgmüller was born in Regensburg in 1806 and settled in Paris in 1832, where he lived until his death in 1874.
Can I practice Ballade, Op. 100 No. 15 online for free?
Yes. The reader on this page plays any of the 3 graded passages from Ballade, Op. 100 No. 15 in your browser, with an on-screen keyboard or a MIDI keyboard, and marks every note as you play. No signup.
What does Ballade mean in Burgmüller's Op. 100?
A ballade is a narrative piece. Burgmüller's Ballade tells a short, dramatic story in music, moving from a stormy minor key to a brief bright major middle and back.
Which number is Burgmüller's Ballade in Op. 100?
It is No. 15 of the 25 Easy and Progressive Studies, after La Styrienne and before Douce plainte.
Where did Burgmüller publish Op. 100?
The first edition appeared in Paris in 1851, published by Benoît aîné, according to IMSLP.

Every passage, easiest first

The reading release grades 3 distinct passages of this piece. Open any of them in the reader:

Level 5
bars 53–56 both hands
Level 6
bars 45–48 both hands · bars 49–52 both hands

More pieces to sight-read

Score: public-domain engraving from the corpus (mutopia-ly), graded by the piano-reading-v2-20261023-identity-audit reading release.

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