Tarantelle, Op. 43
Frédéric Chopin (1810–1849) · sheet music
- Key A-flat major
- Time 6/8
- Levels 9
- Passages 2
Your turn · both hands
Preparing your passage…
Frédéric Chopin, Polish-French romantic (1810–1849). The reading release has 2 passages from this piece at level 9; the reader above opens on the easiest, bars 73–76 for both hands together.
The hardest stretch is bars 73–76 at level 9.
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 Tarantelle, Op. 43.
- Hands together · bars 73–76 level 9
How to play Tarantelle, Op. 43
- Tempo:Chopin marked it Presto, so the target is very fast, but start at a pace you can play evenly and count two big beats per bar, each divided in three.
- Right hand:Keep the fingers close to the keys and the wrist loose so the continuous quick notes sound light instead of pounded.
- Left hand:Play the left-hand figures in the same compound rhythm as the right and keep it steady, since it carries the dance.
- Hands together:Work in short groups of two or three bars with the metronome, speeding up by small steps only after a group is clean.
- Rhythm:Feel the 6/8 as two beats of three eighth notes, not as six separate notes, or the dance will sound stiff.
- Dynamics:Keep some sound in reserve in the opening pages so the coda can grow; starting at full volume leaves the ending nowhere to go.
- Practice:Practice the hardest passage on its own, in different rhythms (long-short, then short-long), before returning to the whole.
- Reading:Read ahead for accidentals: the key signature has four flats, and C flats and F flats appear often enough to give the music a minor-key tint.
Common mistakes
- Starting too fast and falling apart after the first page. Fix: Choose a tempo you can keep to the end and raise it a notch at a time.
- Letting tension build in the shoulder and forearm during the long run. Fix: Pause during practice to relax the arm, and play the passage again at a softer volume.
- Rushing the return of the main theme. Fix: Count the last beats of the middle section out loud so the theme comes back at the same tempo.
Structure: introduction, ternary dance, and coda
A short introduction leads into the main tarantella, which is followed by a contrasting middle section and a return of the main dance, and a coda closes the piece. The 6/8 motion never stops; the shape comes from changes of texture and harmony, including chromatic turns and frequent flats that give the major key a darker, minor-like shade.
- Intro · Opening (A-flat major)
- A brief lead-in that sets the rocking 6/8 pulse and prepares the entrance of the dance.
- A · Main tarantella
- The driving theme with its continuous rhythm in both hands; the reading challenge is the speed and the leaps.
- B · Contrasting middle section
- A contrasting section with new patterns for the hands to read, before the dance comes back.
- A · Return of the dance
- The main theme comes back, now familiar, so you can put your attention on clean fingerwork.
- Coda · Closing rush
- The closing section drives the moto perpetuo to its final chords, so keep the hand relaxed to avoid tension late in the piece.
About Tarantelle, Op. 43
Chopin wrote the Tarantelle in June 1841 and it was published in October of the same year. It has no dedication, and nothing suggests it was commissioned. He drew on Rossini's song La danza, which uses the same rocking 6/8 pulse, and the manuscript shows he changed the meter from 12/8 to 6/8; he asked his friend Julian Fontana to check Rossini's printed editions as a model.
The piece is a moto perpetuo, a continuous run of quick notes that hardly pauses from beginning to end. That makes it a showpiece for even, light fingerwork rather than for slow lyrical playing.
Reactions at the time were mixed. Robert Schumann wrote that it showed Chopin at his most extravagant and admitted that nobody could call it lovely, and Chopin himself is reported to have said he hoped not to write anything so dreadful soon. Today it is a recording favorite, though it turns up less often in recitals.
- The surviving manuscript shows that Chopin first thought of the meter as 12/8 and changed it to 6/8.
- Chopin's source of inspiration was a song, not a piano piece: Rossini's La danza, a tarantella setting.
- It is the only tarantella Chopin wrote for solo piano.
Why the first passage is level 9
That passage is level 9 rather than 8 because a hand covers more than one position, it leaps a octave plus an octave.
The piece never stops moving, so read in groups of three eighth notes and keep the hands relaxed. If the page you see is simplified, the rhythm will still feel like two big beats per bar.
Questions about Tarantelle, Op. 43
- How hard is Tarantelle, Op. 43 to play?
- Its passages grade from level 9 on Real Sight Reader's ten-level reading scale, so the full piece is intermediate to advanced reading. The hardest stretch is bars 73–76 at level 9.
- Is there an easy part of Tarantelle, Op. 43 for beginners?
- Its easiest passage is level 9, so it suits a reader past the beginner stage. Start with bars 73–76 for both hands together, the level-9 passage in the reader at the top of this page; it is level 9 because a hand covers more than one position and it leaps a octave plus an octave.
- What key and time signature is Tarantelle, Op. 43 in?
- Tarantelle, Op. 43 is in A-flat major, 4 flats. The engraving on this page is in 6/8 time.
- Who composed Tarantelle, Op. 43?
- Frédéric Chopin, Polish-French romantic (1810–1849). Chopin wrote the Tarantelle in June 1841 and it was published in October of the same year.
- Can I practice Tarantelle, Op. 43 online for free?
- Yes. The reader on this page plays any of the 2 graded passages from Tarantelle, Op. 43 in your browser, with an on-screen keyboard or a MIDI keyboard, and marks every note as you play. No signup.
- What is a tarantella?
- A fast Italian dance in 6/8 time; Chopin's piece keeps its rocking two-beat pulse going from start to finish.
- What inspired Chopin's Tarantelle?
- He modeled it on Rossini's song La danza, which also uses a tarantella rhythm, and even had his friend Julian Fontana check Rossini's editions to match the meter.
- How long does Chopin's Tarantelle take to play?
- A typical performance is about three minutes, at the Presto tempo Chopin marked.
Every passage, easiest first
The reading release grades 2 distinct passages of this piece. Open any of them in the reader:
- Level 9
- bars 73–76 both hands · bars 81–84 both hands
More pieces to sight-read
Score: public-domain engraving from the corpus (pdmx), graded by the piano-reading-v2-20261023-identity-audit reading release.