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Elementary Study, Op. 176 No. 18

Jean-Baptiste Duvernoy (1802–1880) · sheet music

  • Time 3/4
  • Levels 2–7
  • Passages 11

Your turn · both hands

 

 

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Jean-Baptiste Duvernoy, French romantic (1802–1880). The reading release has 11 passages from this piece at levels 2–7; the reader above opens on the easiest, bars 4–5 for the right hand alone.

Practice the hard bars →

The hardest stretch is bars 1–12 at level 7.

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 Elementary Study, Op. 176 No. 18.

  1. Right hand alone · bars 4–5 level 2
  2. Hands together · bars 1–4 level 5
  3. The hardest bars · bars 1–12 level 7

How to play Elementary Study, Op. 176 No. 18

  1. Tempo:Choose a pace where the eighths stay perfectly even at a relaxed three-beat pulse; the study is about smoothness, so there is nothing to gain from speed.
  2. Right hand:Think of each run as one slurred gesture. Pass the thumb under without a bump and let the line lean gently toward its top note.
  3. Left hand:Play the broken-chord quarters smoothly, letting the hand rest on the chord shape so each note is already under a finger, and keep them quieter than the runs; in the middle section, switch to light, even eighths.
  4. Hands together:Count 'one-and-two-and-three-and' and place each left-hand quarter on a number, with the right hand's eighths filling the gaps between.
  5. Fingering:Pencil in finger numbers at the point where each run turns around, and reuse the same fingering every time the run comes back.
  6. Reading:Spot the raised G in the opening runs and the D sharps in the transition; once a note is sharped, it stays sharp for the rest of that measure.
  7. Practice:Learn the middle section separately: right hand staccato alone, then the left-hand eighths alone, then join them slowly before linking back to the opening.

Common mistakes

  • Speeding up on the descending runs because they feel easier. Fix: Count aloud through the falling lines so the eighths stay level with the rising ones.
  • Letting the thumb land with an accent after it crosses under. Fix: Practice the crossing slowly, keeping the hand quiet so the thumb note matches its neighbors.
  • Playing G natural where the leading tone is called for. Fix: Circle every G sharp on the page and play only those measures until the sharp is automatic.
  • Playing the middle-section staccato notes legato out of habit from the opening. Fix: Practice that passage with a deliberate lift after every right-hand note before adding the left-hand runs.

Structure: ternary (A-B-A)

A flowing A minor section of right-hand runs over broken chords frames a louder middle section in which the hands trade roles. A quiet transition leads back to the opening, which returns to close in A minor.

A · Runs over broken chords (A minor)
The right hand moves in stepwise eighth-note runs while the left plays a broken triad in quarter notes; the G sharp leading tone is the main thing to catch.
B · Forte marcato
The right hand plays detached, accented notes and short leaps while the left hand runs in eighths, and the music leans toward C major.
Transition · Quiet return
A soft passage with chromatic runs, including D sharp and F sharp, steers back toward A minor.
A · Opening returns (A minor)
The runs and broken chords come back, now with a forte climb before the final cadence.

About Elementary Study, Op. 176 No. 18

Jean-Baptiste Duvernoy was a French pianist who taught at the Paris Conservatoire and left more than 300 works, many of them teaching studies. Op. 176 is the set most players meet first: 25 short studies for beginners who can already read notes.

Publishers describe the set as covering the fundamentals, from right-hand legato to melody in the left hand. This number gives one clear job: shape a smooth eighth-note line in the right hand while the left hand spells out each chord one note per beat.

The study has no key signature and leans on a G sharp from the start, so it sits in A minor. Its middle section flips the texture, with forte marcato staccato notes on top and running eighths in the left hand.

  • The set's German subtitle promised elementary instruction for first beginners at the piano in 25 easy and progressive studies.
  • Hans von Bülow edited an American edition of Op. 176 published in St. Louis in 1887, and Adolf Ruthardt prepared a Peters edition in 1903.
  • In the middle section the left hand takes over the running eighth notes, a first taste of the melody-in-the-left-hand skill the set promises.

Why the first passage is level 2

That passage is level 2 rather than 1 because notes come faster than one per beat, it is in 3/4, not 4/4, it moves in eighth notes.

Read the right hand as a string of scale fragments: find where each run starts and which way it travels, rather than naming every note. For the left hand, read the chord shape first, then play its notes in order.

Questions about Elementary Study, Op. 176 No. 18

How hard is Elementary Study, Op. 176 No. 18 to play?
Its passages grade from level 2 to level 7 on Real Sight Reader's ten-level reading scale, so the full piece is intermediate to advanced reading. The hardest stretch is bars 1–12 at level 7.
Is there an easy part of Elementary Study, Op. 176 No. 18 for beginners?
Yes. Start with bars 4–5 for the right hand alone, the level-2 passage in the reader at the top of this page; it is level 2 because notes come faster than one per beat and it is in 3/4, not 4/4.
What key and time signature is Elementary Study, Op. 176 No. 18 in?
The engraving on this page is in 3/4 time.
Who composed Elementary Study, Op. 176 No. 18?
Jean-Baptiste Duvernoy, French romantic (1802–1880). Jean-Baptiste Duvernoy was a French pianist who taught at the Paris Conservatoire and left more than 300 works, many of them teaching studies.
Can I practice Elementary Study, Op. 176 No. 18 online for free?
Yes. The reader on this page plays any of the 11 graded passages from Elementary Study, Op. 176 No. 18 in your browser, with an on-screen keyboard or a MIDI keyboard, and marks every note as you play. No signup.
What is Duvernoy's Op. 176?
It is the Ecole primaire, a set of 25 easy, progressive piano studies for beginners, listed by 1848 in Hofmeister's Monatsbericht.
Is there an exam grade for Duvernoy Op. 176?
No exam-board grade turned up in the sources checked. Publishers pitch the set at confident beginners who can already read music.
Do I have to play Op. 176 in order?
The set is titled as progressive, so earlier numbers build skills later ones assume, but you can jump to a study that matches a skill you want to train.

Every passage, easiest first

The reading release grades 11 distinct passages of this piece. Open any of them in the reader:

Level 2
bars 4–5 right hand
Level 3
bars 4–7 right hand · bars 5–8 right hand
Level 5
bars 1–4 both hands · bars 1–8 both hands · bars 5–8 both hands · bars 9–12 both hands · bars 9–16 both hands · bars 10–13 both hands · bars 13–16 both hands
Level 7
bars 1–12 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.

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