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Elementary Study, Op. 176 No. 7

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

  • Time 4/4
  • Levels 2–8
  • Passages 16

Your turn · both hands

 

 

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Jean-Baptiste Duvernoy, French romantic (1802–1880). The reading release has 16 passages from this piece at levels 2–8; the reader above opens on the easiest, bars 1–8 for the left hand alone.

Practice the hard bars →

The hardest stretch is bars 1–24 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 Elementary Study, Op. 176 No. 7.

  1. Right hand alone · bars 16–17 level 2
  2. Left hand alone · bars 1–8 level 2
  3. Hands together · bars 1–8 level 5
  4. The hardest bars · bars 1–24 level 8

How to play Elementary Study, Op. 176 No. 7

  1. Tempo:Count four steady beats and keep the eighth notes even; if they rush, the small back-and-forth steps blur into a smudge.
  2. Right hand:Finger each wave from a fixed hand position and shift only when the line moves on, so the neighbor notes stay smooth and connected.
  3. Left hand:Place each two-note chord as a shape on the first half of the bar and the single C on the second half, holding each for its full half note.
  4. Hands together:Check the points where the left hand changes harmony under the right-hand waves; the hands meet only on the half-note beats, so make those land together.
  5. Reading:Before playing, find every sharp and natural inside the phrases and mark them; most of them return each time the theme does.
  6. Dynamics:Keep the theme soft, make each rising line a gradual crescendo to the forte peak, and let the descent relax with the printed diminuendo.
  7. Practice:Loop each four-note wave a few times until the fingering is automatic, then join the waves into whole phrases.

Common mistakes

  • Playing the chromatic neighbor with the wrong finger and breaking the line. Fix: Write in one fingering for each chromatic note and use it every time.
  • Forgetting the B flat in the key signature on the way up. Fix: Name the B flat aloud on the first read-through each time it appears.
  • Letting the forte descent speed up. Fix: Keep the same pulse in the descent as in the quieter lines before it.

Structure: ternary (A–B–A)

The first section states the neighbor-note theme in F major twice, then climbs in a longer line to a forte peak and falls back to F. The middle section uses the same wave pattern in C major, with its own chromatic neighbors and a similar climb. The first section returns to close the study in F.

A · Neighbor-note theme (F major)
The right hand rocks between neighboring notes in eighths, with D sharp, C sharp and B natural as chromatic neighbors, over a left-hand pattern of a two-note chord followed by a single C. A longer rising line with two crescendos peaks at forte and falls back to F.
B · Theme in C (C major)
The same wave shape starts a fifth higher over C major harmony, now with A sharp, G sharp and F sharp as neighbors, and builds to a second forte peak.
A · Return (F major)
The opening section returns softly and ends with the same climb and descent to F.

About Elementary Study, Op. 176 No. 7

Study VII keeps the left hand simple so the right hand can learn a new kind of line. Instead of straight scales, the eighth notes rock back and forth between neighboring notes, A to B flat and back, then C to D, so the line inches upward in small waves.

It also asks for careful reading of accidentals. The neighbor notes are often chromatic, so D sharp, C sharp and B natural appear in the middle of phrases in F major, and the middle section moves to C major with its own sharps.

The 1895 Schirmer printing of Op. 176 appeared as volume 50 of Schirmer's Library of Musical Classics, with an English subtitle calling it elementary instruction for first beginners in pianoforte playing.

  • In the Schirmer edition, Study VII follows an Andante, Study VI in G major, which carries the marking dolce cantabile.
  • The Curci edition of Op. 176 on IMSLP was edited by Luigi Finizio and dates from 1944, while the Bülow edition dates from 1887.
  • Duvernoy, born around 1802, lived until about 1880, according to Wikipedia.

Why the first passage is level 2

That passage is level 2 rather than 1 because it leaps a minor third.

One flat in the key signature, plus sharps and naturals inside the phrases; the left hand reads simple two-note chords and single notes.

Questions about Elementary Study, Op. 176 No. 7

How hard is Elementary Study, Op. 176 No. 7 to play?
Its passages grade from level 2 to 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 1–24 at level 8.
Is there an easy part of Elementary Study, Op. 176 No. 7 for beginners?
Yes. Start with bars 1–8 for the left hand alone, the level-2 passage in the reader at the top of this page; it is level 2 because it leaps a minor third.
What key and time signature is Elementary Study, Op. 176 No. 7 in?
The engraving on this page is in 4/4 time.
Who composed Elementary Study, Op. 176 No. 7?
Jean-Baptiste Duvernoy, French romantic (1802–1880). Study VII keeps the left hand simple so the right hand can learn a new kind of line.
Can I practice Elementary Study, Op. 176 No. 7 online for free?
Yes. The reader on this page plays any of the 16 graded passages from Elementary Study, Op. 176 No. 7 in your browser, with an on-screen keyboard or a MIDI keyboard, and marks every note as you play. No signup.
What is a neighbor note?
A note a step above or below a main note that the line touches and then leaves; here the right hand moves through many of them, some of them chromatic.
How long does it take to learn Duvernoy Op. 176 No. 7?
Plan on one to two weeks of short daily practice for the chromatic passages to feel smooth.
Which edition should I use?
IMSLP offers free scans of the Bülow, Schirmer, Ruthardt and Finizio editions, and Schott sells a modern edition by Hans-Günter Heumann; choose the layout you read most easily.

Every passage, easiest first

The reading release grades 16 distinct passages of this piece. Open any of them in the reader:

Level 2
bars 1–8 left hand · bars 5–8 left hand · bars 16–17 right hand
Level 3
bars 9–12 left hand · bars 10–13 left hand
Level 5
bars 1–8 both hands · bars 5–8 both hands · bars 7–10 both hands · bars 9–12 both hands
Level 7
bars 1–16 both hands · bars 9–16 both hands · bars 13–16 both hands · bars 17–24 both hands · bars 17–20 both hands · bars 21–24 both hands
Level 8
bars 1–24 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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