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Étude enfantine, Op. 37 No. 22

Henry Lemoine (1786–1854) · sheet music

  • Time 6/8
  • Levels 8–9
  • Passages 12

Your turn · both hands

 

 

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Henry Lemoine, French romantic (1786–1854). The reading release has 12 passages from this piece at levels 8–9; the reader above opens on the easiest, bars 1–4 for both hands together.

Practice the hard bars →

The hardest stretch is bars 1–12 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 Étude enfantine, Op. 37 No. 22.

  1. Hands together · bars 1–4 level 8
  2. The hardest bars · bars 1–12 level 9

How to play Étude enfantine, Op. 37 No. 22

  1. Tempo:Moderato in 6/8 should feel like two calm beats per bar, each divided into six sixteenths; start slowly enough to feel those two beats clearly.
  2. Right hand:The falling figure is a chain of steps that drop and climb back; keep it legato, as marked, and let each group of six sixteenths lead toward the next beat.
  3. Left hand:In the outer sections the left hand plays a short bass note and a short chord on each beat; keep them staccato and light so the right hand's line stays smooth on top.
  4. Hands together:The left-hand bass note and the first sixteenth of each beat must land together; practice slowly with the metronome clicking the two main beats.
  5. Dynamics:Follow the quick changes between piano and forte phrase by phrase, and save the real power for the fortissimo chords in the middle section and the final bars.
  6. Practice:Loop each pair of beats until the sixteenths are even, then practice the middle section's left-hand runs on their own before adding the right-hand chords.
  7. Reading:Watch the high right-hand notes above the staff and the left hand's move into the treble clef near the end, and note the D-sharps and C-sharps that the key signature does not show.

Common mistakes

  • Hurrying the sixteenth notes so the two-beat 6/8 pulse disappears. Fix: Count two beats per bar aloud and fit each group of six sixteenths inside one beat.
  • Letting the left-hand chords sound long and heavy. Fix: Play them staccato from close to the keys and keep them softer than the right hand.
  • Rushing through the fermata before the return. Fix: Hold the fermata chord, breathe, and restart the opening figure at the original tempo.
  • Missing the D-sharps in the falling figure. Fix: Circle them before you start and play those beats slowly on their own.

Structure: ternary (A–B–A')

An E minor opening spins the falling sixteenth-note figure over detached chords. A middle section turns to G major with loud chords and runs passed between the hands, pausing on a held dominant chord. The opening returns in E minor and ends with a short, loud cadence.

A · Falling figure (E minor)
The right hand plays a falling sixteenth-note pattern two beats at a time while the left hand plays a staccato bass note and chord on each beat. Dynamics alternate between piano and forte phrase by phrase.
B · G major interlude (G major)
Held chords, a fortissimo cadence in G major, and sixteenth-note runs that pass from the left hand to the right. The section stops on a held chord with a fermata that prepares the return.
A' · Return and close (E minor)
The falling figure comes back in E minor with crescendos, and the left hand moves up into the treble clef for the final bars before a fortissimo ending.

About Étude enfantine, Op. 37 No. 22

Henry Lemoine (1786–1854) was a Parisian piano teacher, composer, and music publisher. He studied with Anton Reicha, took over his father's publishing business in 1816, and published music by Chopin among others; the firm still exists as Éditions Henry Lemoine.

His Études enfantines, Op. 37, are fifty short studies dedicated to young pupils and first published in 1841. The original edition says they were written expressly for small hands, and that they were meant to accompany and complete Henri Bertini's own set of studies, Op. 100.

No. 22, marked Moderato and legato, is built on a single falling sixteenth-note figure in the right hand over detached left-hand chords. It trains evenness and a steady compound-meter pulse, with a brighter G major middle section where the left hand gets running notes of its own.

  • The original edition of Op. 37 presented the studies as a companion to Henri Bertini's Op. 100 studies, according to IMSLP.
  • The firm Lemoine took over from his father in 1816 had been founded in 1772, and it still publishes music today as Éditions Henry Lemoine.
  • In the 1904 Carl Fischer edition of Op. 37, No. 22 fits on a single page.

Why the first passage is level 8

That passage is level 8 rather than 7 because its chords go beyond simple triads.

The right-hand sixteenths repeat one falling shape that moves to new starting notes, so read the first note of each group and its direction; the left hand alternates a bass note and a chord that can be read as a pattern.

Questions about Étude enfantine, Op. 37 No. 22

How hard is Étude enfantine, Op. 37 No. 22 to play?
Its passages grade from level 8 to 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 1–12 at level 9.
Is there an easy part of Étude enfantine, Op. 37 No. 22 for beginners?
Its easiest passage is level 8, so it suits a reader past the beginner stage. Start with bars 1–4 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 Étude enfantine, Op. 37 No. 22 in?
The engraving on this page is in 6/8 time.
Who composed Étude enfantine, Op. 37 No. 22?
Henry Lemoine, French romantic (1786–1854). Henry Lemoine (1786–1854) was a Parisian piano teacher, composer, and music publisher.
Can I practice Étude enfantine, Op. 37 No. 22 online for free?
Yes. The reader on this page plays any of the 12 graded passages from Étude enfantine, Op. 37 No. 22 in your browser, with an on-screen keyboard or a MIDI keyboard, and marks every note as you play. No signup.
Who was Henry Lemoine?
A French piano teacher, composer, and music publisher who lived from 1786 to 1854; he studied with Anton Reicha and ran the family publishing firm.
How many studies are in Lemoine's Op. 37?
Fifty; IMSLP lists the Études enfantines as a set of 50 studies.
What does Études enfantines mean?
It is French for children's studies; the set is dedicated to young pupils.

Every passage, easiest first

The reading release grades 12 distinct passages of this piece. Open any of them in the reader:

Level 8
bars 1–4 both hands · bars 21–24 both hands
Level 9
bars 1–12 both hands · bars 1–8 both hands · bars 5–8 both hands · bars 9–16 both hands · bars 9–12 both hands · bars 13–16 both hands · bars 13–24 both hands · bars 17–24 both hands · bars 17–20 both hands · bars 25–28 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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