Innocence, Op. 100 No. 5
Friedrich Burgmüller (1806–1874) · sheet music
- Key F major
- Time 3/4
- Levels 8
- Passages 1
Your turn · both hands
Preparing your passage…
Friedrich Burgmüller, German-French romantic (1806–1874). The reading release has 1 passage from this piece at level 8; the reader above opens on the easiest, bars 1–8 for both hands together.
The hardest stretch is bars 1–8 at level 8.
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 Innocence, Op. 100 No. 5.
- Hands together · bars 1–8 level 8
How to play Innocence, Op. 100 No. 5
- Tempo:Moderato in three beats to the bar: choose a pulse at which the sixteenth-note groups are perfectly even, and remember the grazioso marking asks for grace rather than speed.
- Right hand:Most groups are four sixteenths slurred across one beat; let the first note of each group lead and the rest fall lightly, and plan the thumb-under moves inside the longer runs.
- Left hand:In the first half the left hand holds or repeats chords; in the second half it rocks between two notes in eighths, which the edition marks leggiermente, so keep it light and close to the keys.
- Hands together:Line up each left-hand beat with the first note of a right-hand group and practice slowly with a metronome clicking every beat before letting the groups flow.
- Fingering:Write in one fingering for each run, especially the long forte scale near the end, and use it every time so the hand memorizes the shape.
- Rhythm:In the second half, keep the eighth-and-two-sixteenths figures crisp so they do not turn into triplets.
- Practice:Practice each sixteenth-note group in long-short and then short-long dotted rhythms, then play it straight; add the left hand only when the run is steady.
- Reading:Read the runs by direction and landing note, and check for the ottava sign and the few accidentals, such as C-sharp and B-natural, that the key signature does not cover.
Common mistakes
- Rushing the sixteenth notes so they bunch up at the end of each beat. Fix: Count four sixteenths to each beat aloud and keep every beat the same length.
- Playing the repeated left-hand chords too heavily. Fix: Keep beat one slightly fuller and the other beats light so the chords stay in the background.
- Turning the dotted second-half figures into lazy triplets. Fix: Tap the rhythm on the closed lid first, then play it slowly with a metronome subdivided in sixteenths.
- Losing the place when the ottava sign begins. Fix: Mark where the ottava starts and ends, and say the first written note and the note you actually play aloud once.
Structure: binary (two repeated halves)
The first half spins slurred sixteenth-note groups over held and repeated chords and closes on the dominant. The second half changes texture to short dotted figures over a light alternating left hand, climbs into a forte run, and closes back in F major.
- A · Sixteenth-note groups (F major, moving to C major)
- The right hand plays falling groups of four sixteenths, slurred in beats, over left-hand chords that are either held or repeated on each beat. A first and second ending lead to the repeat and on to the next half.
- B · Rising figures and run (F major)
- Short eighth-and-two-sixteenth figures climb upward over a left hand marked leggiermente that rocks between two notes. A forte sixteenth-note run descends, a crescendo run climbs back, and the piece ends on a forte F chord.
About Innocence, Op. 100 No. 5
Innocence is the fifth of the 25 Études faciles et progressives, Op. 100, which Friedrich Burgmüller published in Paris in 1851. The French title of the set says the studies were composed and fingered for small hands.
The Litolff-based edition marks it Moderato and grazioso, so the sixteenth notes are meant to sound graceful and light rather than fast. It is the first study in the book built mainly on sixteenth-note groups, which makes it a natural step up from the opening pieces.
Burgmüller moved from his native Regensburg to Paris in 1832 and stayed there for the rest of his life, writing salon music and teaching pieces. Op. 100 is aimed at early intermediate students.
- The Op. 100 set was registered in the Bibliographie de la France on 27 December 1851, according to IMSLP.
- In the second half of Innocence the right hand climbs high enough that the Litolff-based edition switches to an ottava sign.
- Burgmüller's Peasant Pas de Deux was added to Adolphe Adam's Giselle for its 1841 premiere.
Why the first passage is level 8
That passage is level 8 rather than 7 because its chords go beyond simple triads.
The sixteenth-note groups move mostly by step, so read their direction and the note each group lands on, and scan for the few accidentals outside the F major key signature.
Questions about Innocence, Op. 100 No. 5
- How hard is Innocence, Op. 100 No. 5 to play?
- Its passages grade from level 8 on Real Sight Reader's ten-level reading scale, so the full piece is intermediate to advanced reading. The hardest stretch is bars 1–8 at level 8.
- Is there an easy part of Innocence, Op. 100 No. 5 for beginners?
- Its easiest passage is level 8, so it suits a reader past the beginner stage. Start with bars 1–8 for both hands together, the level-8 passage in the reader at the top of this page; it is level 8 because its chords go beyond simple triads.
- What key and time signature is Innocence, Op. 100 No. 5 in?
- Innocence, Op. 100 No. 5 is in F major, 1 flat. The engraving on this page is in 3/4 time.
- Who composed Innocence, Op. 100 No. 5?
- Friedrich Burgmüller, German-French romantic (1806–1874). Innocence is the fifth of the 25 Études faciles et progressives, Op.
- Can I practice Innocence, Op. 100 No. 5 online for free?
- Yes. The reader on this page plays any of the one graded passage from Innocence, Op. 100 No. 5 in your browser, with an on-screen keyboard or a MIDI keyboard, and marks every note as you play. No signup.
- What does the title Innocence mean here?
- Burgmüller gave each Op. 100 study a descriptive title; this one asks for a simple, unaffected character, matching the grazioso marking in the score.
- Which book is Innocence from?
- It is No. 5 of Burgmüller's 25 Études faciles et progressives, Op. 100, published in Paris in 1851.
- Is Innocence in the public domain?
- Yes. Burgmüller died in 1874, and free public-domain editions of Op. 100 are available on IMSLP and from the Mutopia Project.
Every passage, easiest first
The reading release grades one passage of this piece. Open any of them in the reader:
- Level 8
- bars 1–8 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.