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Liebestraum No. 3

Franz Liszt (1811–1886) · sheet music

  • Time 6/8
  • Levels 6–8
  • Passages 19

Your turn · both hands

 

 

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Franz Liszt, Hungarian romantic (1811–1886). The reading release has 19 passages from this piece at levels 6–8; the reader above opens on the easiest, bars 1–4 for both hands together.

Practice the hard bars →

The hardest stretch is bars 1–16 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 Liebestraum No. 3.

  1. Right hand alone · bars 1–8 level 6
  2. Left hand alone · bars 1–4 level 6
  3. Hands together · bars 1–4 level 6
  4. The hardest bars · bars 1–16 level 8

How to play Liebestraum No. 3

  1. Feel two flowing beats per bar rather than six eighths, at a gentle moving tempo; the accompaniment should ripple while the melody sings in long lines.
  2. When the melody sits in the middle of the texture, it is usually under a thumb; give that thumb more weight and keep the surrounding arpeggio notes soft so the tune stands out.
  3. Treat the cadenzas as free rather than counted; group the notes into the repeating patterns they are built from and practice each group slowly before linking them.
  4. Practice by playing only the melody notes with the fingers you will use in the full texture, then add the accompaniment one hand at a time.

Structure

Marked Poco allegro, con affetto, the piece states its long melody three times, each statement fuller and more richly accompanied than the last. Two free, flowing cadenzas link the sections. The middle statement moves through distant keys to a passionate climax, after which the music settles back into A-flat major in the original for a quiet, fading close. A performance lasts about four to five minutes.

About Liebestraum No. 3

Liszt published his three Liebesträume, or Dreams of Love, in 1850 as piano versions of three of his own songs. The poem behind No. 3 is by Ferdinand Freiligrath, and this third piece became by far the most popular of the set and one of the best-known Romantic piano pieces.

Why the first passage is level 6

That passage is level 6 rather than 5 because it is in 6/8, not 4/4.

Liebestraum No. 3 hands its melody between the hands and the middle of the keyboard while broken chords surround it. Read the melody notes first, often stemmed separately, and treat the surrounding notes as harmony. Liszt adapted it from his own song about lasting love.

Questions about Liebestraum No. 3

How hard is Liebestraum No. 3 to play?
Its passages grade from level 6 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 1–16 at level 8.
Is there an easy part of Liebestraum No. 3 for beginners?
Its easiest passage is level 6, so it suits a reader past the beginner stage. Start with bars 1–4 for both hands together, the level-6 passage in the reader at the top of this page; it is level 6 because it is in 6/8, not 4/4.
What key and time signature is Liebestraum No. 3 in?
The engraving on this page is in 6/8 time.
Who composed Liebestraum No. 3?
Franz Liszt, Hungarian romantic (1811–1886). Liszt published his three Liebesträume, or Dreams of Love, in 1850 as piano versions of three of his own songs.
Can I practice Liebestraum No. 3 online for free?
Yes. The reader on this page plays any of the 19 graded passages from Liebestraum No. 3 in your browser, with an on-screen keyboard or a MIDI keyboard, and marks every note as you play. No signup.

Every passage, easiest first

The reading release grades 19 distinct passages of this piece. Open any of them in the reader:

Level 6
bars 1–4 both hands · bars 1–4 left hand · bars 1–8 right hand · bars 5–6 left hand · bars 7–10 both hands · bars 13–16 both hands · bars 17–24 both hands · bars 17–20 both hands · bars 21–24 both hands · bars 25–28 both hands
Level 7
bars 1–8 both hands · bars 1–12 both hands · bars 5–8 both hands · bars 9–16 both hands · bars 9–12 both hands · bars 25–32 both hands · bars 29–32 both hands · bars 33–36 both hands
Level 8
bars 1–16 both hands

More pieces to sight-read

Score: public-domain engraving from the corpus (pdmx), graded by the piano-reading-v2-20261001-mutopia-ly reading release.

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