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German Dance in D Major, D. 420 No. 5

Franz Schubert (1797–1828) · sheet music

  • Time 3/4
  • Levels 9
  • Passages 1

Your turn · both hands

 

 

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Franz Schubert, Austrian romantic (1797–1828). The reading release has 1 passage from this piece at level 9; the reader above opens on the easiest, bars 7–10 for both hands together.

Practice the hard bars →

The hardest stretch is bars 7–10 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 German Dance in D Major, D. 420 No. 5.

  1. Hands together · bars 7–10 level 9

How to play German Dance in D Major, D. 420 No. 5

  1. Tempo:Aim for a danceable tempo where you can feel one big beat per bar rather than three small ones. Slow down for chord changes if they are not secure.
  2. Right hand:The melody moves in clear phrases above the chords. Shape each phrase to a gentle peak and let the end taper.
  3. Left hand:The left hand plays a bass note then chords. Keep your hand in a relaxed position and hop from bass to chord with small motions.
  4. Hands together:In No. 5 the right hand plays a single melody line while the left hand jumps from bass note to chord. Practice the left hand alone first, then add the tune one strain at a time.
  5. Rhythm:The pulse is three in each bar with a strong first beat. Practice with a metronome clicking on beat one only to feel the swing.
  6. Practice:Choose one dance, learn it fully, then pair it with the next in the other key. Playing in pairs shows how the key plan sounds.
  7. Reading:Two sharps for D major (F#, C#). Notice how many of the notes in a chord are on the staff lines, and read chords as shapes.

Common mistakes

  • Treating all three beats of the bar equally. Fix: Lean on beat one and lighten beats two and three.
  • Missing chord notes on the left-hand upbeats. Fix: Play the left-hand chords alone until the shape feels familiar.
  • Rushing through the short dances. Fix: Choose one tempo and hold it through the whole dance, and keep it if you go straight on to the next one.

Structure: suite of short dances (a key-plan of D, A and E major)

Twelve dances follow one another with a plan of alternating keys: D major, A major, D major, A major and so on, with a single E major dance as a surprise. A coda follows the twelfth dance. Each piece is brief and independent, so you can play one on its own or the whole set.

D major · Dances 1, 3, 5, 9 and 11 (D major)
The home-key dances, with tunes over a bass-and-chords accompaniment. The page's passage is the close of the first strain of No. 5 in D major.
A major · Dances 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12 (A major)
The dominant-key dances, lighter in color. Three sharps appear in the signature.
E major · Dance 7 (E major)
The only dance in a third key, a small color change with four sharps.
Coda · Closing dance
A longer final piece, about two minutes, that wraps up the set.

About German Dance in D Major, D. 420 No. 5

Schubert composed his Twelve German Dances, D. 420, in 1816. There are twelve numbered dances followed by a coda, and the whole set takes about nine minutes; each dance lasts roughly half a minute to a minute.

The set is organized by key: D major and A major take turns, with one dance, number seven, in E major. The D major dances are numbers 1, 3, 5, 9 and 11, and the A major ones are 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12. A version of number 10 also serves as the first of two Ländler listed as D. 980B.

German Dance was a broad label of Schubert's era that could include the Ländler, a 3/4 folk dance that grew quicker and more elegant in 19th-century dance halls and is thought to have helped shape the waltz. The passage on this page comes from No. 5 in D major, a tune with a grace-note turn over a bass-and-chords left hand.

  • The coda of D. 420 lasts about two minutes, more than any single dance in the set.
  • Piano Library rates the individual dances from 1.5 to 2.5 in difficulty, with number 12 the hardest.
  • Breitkopf and Härtel printed D. 420 in 1889 in the Schubert complete works, edited by Julius Epstein.
  • Wiener Urtext (UT 50022), Henle (HN 74) and the Neue Schubert-Ausgabe all publish the set.

Why the first passage is level 9

That passage is level 9 rather than 8 because it leaps a fourth plus an octave, the clef changes partway through.

Two sharps (D major), with the set also visiting A and E major. The left hand repeats a bass-and-chords pattern, so read the right hand more closely.

Questions about German Dance in D Major, D. 420 No. 5

How hard is German Dance in D Major, D. 420 No. 5 to play?
Its passages grade from 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 7–10 at level 9.
Is there an easy part of German Dance in D Major, D. 420 No. 5 for beginners?
Its easiest passage is level 9, so it suits a reader past the beginner stage. Start with bars 7–10 for both hands together, the level-9 passage in the reader at the top of this page; it is level 9 because it leaps a fourth plus an octave and the clef changes partway through.
What key and time signature is German Dance in D Major, D. 420 No. 5 in?
The engraving on this page is in 3/4 time.
Who composed German Dance in D Major, D. 420 No. 5?
Franz Schubert, Austrian romantic (1797–1828). Schubert composed his Twelve German Dances, D.
Can I practice German Dance in D Major, D. 420 No. 5 online for free?
Yes. The reader on this page plays any of the one graded passage from German Dance in D Major, D. 420 No. 5 in your browser, with an on-screen keyboard or a MIDI keyboard, and marks every note as you play. No signup.
How many dances are in Schubert's D. 420?
Twelve dances plus a coda, about nine minutes in total.
Which dance is the passage on this page from?
It matches No. 5 in D major, the end of its first strain, as printed in the Breitkopf and Härtel complete-works edition.
Where can I find an edition?
Editions include the Neue Schubert-Ausgabe from Bärenreiter, Henle HN 74 and Wiener Urtext UT 50022. The 1889 Breitkopf and Härtel volume is on IMSLP.

Every passage, easiest first

The reading release grades one passage of this piece. Open any of them in the reader:

Level 9
bars 7–10 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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