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Étude in D-flat Major, Op. 25 No. 8 ("Sixths")

Frédéric Chopin (1810–1849) · sheet music

  • Key D-flat major
  • Time 4/4
  • Levels 10
  • Passages 1

Your turn · both hands

 

 

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Frédéric Chopin, Polish-French romantic (1810–1849). The reading release has 1 passage from this piece at level 10; the reader above opens on the easiest, bars 13–16 for both hands together.

Practice the hard bars →

The hardest stretch is bars 13–16 at level 10.

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 Étude in D-flat Major, Op. 25 No. 8 ("Sixths").

  1. Hands together · bars 13–16 level 10

How to play Étude in D-flat Major, Op. 25 No. 8 ("Sixths")

  1. Tempo:Vivace means lively, but never start at that speed. Begin slowly enough to connect every sixth with a smooth finger change and raise the tempo only when it stays even.
  2. Fingering:In the right hand, fingers 1 and 2 take the lower note of each sixth and 3, 4 and 5 take the upper note. The left hand is the mirror: 3, 4 and 5 play the lower note, 1 and 2 the upper.
  3. Right hand:Keep the top line of the sixths legato, since it is the melody. Change fingers on the held note without a bump, so the sixths flow.
  4. Left hand:The left hand leaps from a bass note on the beat to the following double sixth. Practice the leap alone, landing both notes of the sixth at the same instant.
  5. Hands together:Put hands together in short pieces, no more than a phrase at a time. Listen to the top voice of each hand to make sure the line is shaped and not just a series of notes.
  6. Rhythm:Treat the running sixths as evenly spaced pulses within the beat. Play them with a metronome set slower than you think you need.
  7. Reading:The key signature has five flats and the chromatic sixths introduce many accidentals. Read each pair of notes as an interval, not as two separate notes.
  8. Practice:Practice each hand separately on the top voice alone, then on the sixths, then add the bass note. Use short sessions to avoid tension in the forearm.

Common mistakes

  • Playing the sixths with a stiff wrist and a tight forearm. Fix: Keep the wrist loose and stop at the first sign of tension, then restart slower.
  • Letting the top voice of the sixths break into separate notes. Fix: Practice the top voice with the finger changes alone until it sounds legato.
  • Missing the left-hand leap because the eyes stay on the right hand. Fix: Practice the leap with eyes on the left hand and land both notes together.
  • Rushing the chromatic climb at the end. Fix: Practice it slowly with a metronome and keep the notes even all the way up.

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

The etude is in three-part form: a main section, a contrasting middle, and a return of the opening, followed by a short coda. In the coda a rapid chromatic scale of double sixths climbs to the highest note of the piece.

A · Main section (D-flat major)
A brisk, even stream of double sixths in the right hand with leaping bass notes in the left. This is where the finger patterns for the sixths are set.
B · Middle section
The stream of sixths continues while the harmony wanders away from the home key. Accidentals pile up, so reading each pair as an interval becomes even more important.
A · Return (D-flat major)
The main material comes back, now with the player's knowledge of its finger patterns.
Coda · Chromatic climb (D-flat major)
A chromatic scale in double sixths races to the top and finishes the piece. Finger independence and clean connection matter most here.

About Étude in D-flat Major, Op. 25 No. 8 ("Sixths")

The twelve Etudes of Op. 25 were written between 1832 and 1835 and published in 1837. Chopin dedicated them to Marie d'Agoult, the writer who was Franz Liszt's partner; his first set of etudes, Op. 10, had been dedicated to Liszt himself.

Op. 25 No. 8 is built almost entirely from sixths in both hands, rising, falling and sliding chromatically without a break. It follows the melancholy No. 7 in the set and answers it with a bright, brilliant character.

Its technical demands make it one of the harder studies in Op. 25, and it remains a standard test of legato and finger control for advanced pianists.

  • Op. 25 No. 8 is nicknamed Sixths, since nearly every moment is a pair of notes a sixth apart.
  • The whole etude lasts only about a minute and twenty seconds.
  • The first etude of the set, No. 1, was nicknamed Aeolian Harp by the critic Robert Schumann.
  • The study ends with a chromatic scale of double sixths that rushes to the top of the keyboard.

Why the first passage is level 10

That passage is level 10 rather than 9 because it uses double sharps or flats.

The passage on this page is at the top level: five flats, double flats among the chromatic sixths, and a left-hand leap of more than an octave. Read each sixth as one interval shape, and name the accidentals before you play.

Questions about Étude in D-flat Major, Op. 25 No. 8 ("Sixths")

How hard is Étude in D-flat Major, Op. 25 No. 8 ("Sixths") to play?
Its passages grade from level 10 on Real Sight Reader's ten-level reading scale, so the full piece is intermediate to advanced reading. The hardest stretch is bars 13–16 at level 10.
Is there an easy part of Étude in D-flat Major, Op. 25 No. 8 ("Sixths") for beginners?
Its easiest passage is level 10, so it suits a reader past the beginner stage. Start with bars 13–16 for both hands together, the level-10 passage in the reader at the top of this page; it is level 10 because it uses double sharps or flats.
What key and time signature is Étude in D-flat Major, Op. 25 No. 8 ("Sixths") in?
Étude in D-flat Major, Op. 25 No. 8 ("Sixths") is in D-flat major, 5 flats. The engraving on this page is in 4/4 time.
Who composed Étude in D-flat Major, Op. 25 No. 8 ("Sixths")?
Frédéric Chopin, Polish-French romantic (1810–1849). The twelve Etudes of Op.
Can I practice Étude in D-flat Major, Op. 25 No. 8 ("Sixths") online for free?
Yes. The reader on this page plays any of the one graded passage from Étude in D-flat Major, Op. 25 No. 8 ("Sixths") in your browser, with an on-screen keyboard or a MIDI keyboard, and marks every note as you play. No signup.
Why is it called the Sixths Etude?
Almost the whole piece is made of pairs of notes a sixth apart, played by both hands, so its nickname names the technique it trains.
Who was Chopin's Op. 25 dedicated to?
Chopin dedicated Op. 25 to the Comtesse Marie d'Agoult, the French writer who was Franz Liszt's partner.
How should I practice double sixths?
Start with the top voice alone, then add the lower note slowly, keeping the top line legato. Use the finger pattern 1-2 for the lower note and 3-4-5 for the upper in the right hand.

Every passage, easiest first

The reading release grades one passage of this piece. Open any of them in the reader:

Level 10
bars 13–16 both hands

More pieces to sight-read

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

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