11 Écossaises, D. 781
Franz Schubert (1797–1828) · sheet music
- Time 2/4
- Levels 8–10
- Passages 8
Your turn · both hands
Preparing your passage…
Franz Schubert, Austrian romantic (1797–1828). The reading release has 8 passages from this piece at levels 8–10; the reader above opens on the easiest, bars 129–132 for both hands together.
The hardest stretch is bars 153–156 at level 10.
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 11 Écossaises, D. 781.
- Hands together · bars 129–132 level 8
- The hardest bars · bars 153–156 level 10
How to play 11 Écossaises, D. 781
- Tempo:Keep a lively dance pace with two clear beats per measure, one step per beat. If a dance feels frantic, slow down until you can count it comfortably.
- Right hand:Phrase the melody in two-measure and four-measure groups, and lift briefly between them. Add a slightly detached touch where you see short notes.
- Left hand:The left hand is a simple, steady accompaniment. Keep it light and in time, with a slight weight on beat one.
- Hands together:Read hands together by looking at the shape of the whole measure. If you lose your place, stop on the next downbeat and start again from there.
- Reading:Each dance may change key, so spend a few seconds with the key signature before you begin. Say the sharps or flats aloud to prepare your hand.
- Dynamics:Contrast the repeated sections: play the second pass a touch softer or lighter. This is dance music, so small contrasts go a long way.
- Practice:Play one dance each day in a new key, and then string two or three together at performance tempo. This builds fluency in reading across different key signatures.
Common mistakes
- Rushing through the repeats and losing the dance pulse. Fix: Count two beats per measure aloud for one full pass.
- Missing the accidentals in the remote keys such as G-flat or B major. Fix: Write the key signature on a sticky note and say it before you start.
- Playing every beat with equal weight. Fix: Lean gently on beat one of each measure and let beat two lighten.
- Playing the left hand too loudly. Fix: Keep it at about half the right-hand volume.
Structure: set of miniature dances
The set is a string of independent dances, each only a few short phrases long and lasting about half a minute. There is no development from one dance to the next; the interest comes from the brisk two-beat pulse and the constantly changing keys.
- Nos. 2-6 · Opening dances (G-flat major to A-flat major)
- Cheerful dances in G-flat, D, G-flat, E-flat, and A-flat major. In the E-flat dance the right hand leaps through broken chords over an oom-pah left hand, and the A-flat dance doubles its tune in octaves.
- Nos. 7-9 · Middle dances (E-flat minor, B minor, D major)
- A darker turn to E-flat minor and B minor, then back to D major. The B minor dance leans on bright chords full of D sharps and A sharps, and the D major dance has a rising chromatic bass in octaves.
- Nos. 10-12 · Closing dances (B major, G-sharp minor, B minor)
- B major, G-sharp minor, and B minor. With five sharps, plus double sharps in the G-sharp minor dance, these are the hardest pages to read.
About 11 Écossaises, D. 781
An écossaise is a country dance that was fashionable in France and Britain around 1800. Despite the name, it is French in origin. It was usually danced in 2/4, with two lines of men and women facing one another, and most écossaises were written for solo piano so couples could dance to them. Beethoven, Schubert, and Chopin all wrote them.
Schubert wrote the set in January 1823. Only a few dances appeared in his lifetime, Nos. 4 and 7 in 1824 and No. 1 in 1825; the rest waited until 1889. The count varies because No. 1 is also the second écossaise of a separate collection, D. 783, and editions such as Henle and Wiener Urtext print Nos. 2-12, which is why the set is often called eleven écossaises.
The keys wander widely, from D major to G-flat major, E-flat minor, B major, and G-sharp minor. The passages on this page come from the eleven-dance numbering and sample several of them, including the E-flat and A-flat major dances, the B minor and D major pair, and the B major and G-sharp minor dances near the end, so the key signature keeps changing.
- The first écossaise appears again, note for note, as the second écossaise in Schubert's collection of German dances and écossaises, D. 783.
- Schubert's earlier six écossaises, D. 421, date from May 1816, written during a visit to Josef von Spaun, when Schubert was locked in his room as a prank until he finished a composition.
- The keys range from bright majors to dark minors such as E-flat minor and G-sharp minor.
- An écossaise is named for Scotland but is actually a French country dance.
Why the first passage is level 8
That passage is level 8 rather than 7 because it leaps a half step plus an octave, its chords go beyond simple triads.
Eight graded passages here run from level 8 to level 10, all in 2/4 but drawn from several dances, so the key signature swings between three or four flats and two or five sharps. Settle each new key signature before you start, then read by chord shape.
Questions about 11 Écossaises, D. 781
- How hard is 11 Écossaises, D. 781 to play?
- Its passages grade from level 8 to level 10 on Real Sight Reader's ten-level reading scale, so the full piece is intermediate to advanced reading. The hardest stretch is bars 153–156 at level 10.
- Is there an easy part of 11 Écossaises, D. 781 for beginners?
- Its easiest passage is level 8, so it suits a reader past the beginner stage. Start with bars 129–132 for both hands together, the level-8 passage in the reader at the top of this page; it is level 8 because it leaps a half step plus an octave and its chords go beyond simple triads.
- What key and time signature is 11 Écossaises, D. 781 in?
- The engraving on this page is in 2/4 time.
- Who composed 11 Écossaises, D. 781?
- Franz Schubert, Austrian romantic (1797–1828). An écossaise is a country dance that was fashionable in France and Britain around 1800.
- Can I practice 11 Écossaises, D. 781 online for free?
- Yes. The reader on this page plays any of the 8 graded passages from 11 Écossaises, D. 781 in your browser, with an on-screen keyboard or a MIDI keyboard, and marks every note as you play. No signup.
- What is an écossaise?
- An écossaise is a lively country dance in 2/4 that was popular in France and Britain around 1800. It is French in origin despite its name, and composers including Beethoven, Schubert, and Chopin wrote piano écossaises.
- Why do some sources say eleven and others twelve?
- Schubert's set has twelve dances, but No. 1 also appears as the second écossaise in D. 783, and editions such as Henle and Wiener Urtext print only Nos. 2-12. That gives the familiar title Eleven Écossaises.
- How long are Schubert's Écossaises?
- Each dance lasts about half a minute, and the whole set takes about six minutes according to Piano Library.
Every passage, easiest first
The reading release grades 8 distinct passages of this piece. Open any of them in the reader:
- Level 8
- bars 129–132 both hands
- Level 9
- bars 53–56 both hands · bars 57–60 both hands · bars 73–76 both hands · bars 109–112 both hands · bars 113–116 both hands · bars 149–152 both hands
- Level 10
- bars 153–156 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.