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Concert Étude after Paganini, Op. 10 No. 5

Robert Schumann (1810–1856) · sheet music

  • Time 6/8
  • Levels 8
  • Passages 1

Your turn · both hands

 

 

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Robert Schumann, German romantic (1810–1856). The reading release has 1 passage from this piece at level 8; the reader above opens on the easiest, bars 25–28 for both hands together.

Practice the hard bars →

The hardest stretch is bars 25–28 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 Concert Étude after Paganini, Op. 10 No. 5.

  1. Hands together · bars 25–28 level 8

How to play Concert Étude after Paganini, Op. 10 No. 5

  1. Tempo:Start well below concert speed and set a tempo where every note speaks. These are virtuoso pieces, and clean notes matter far more than speed at first.
  2. Right hand:Treat the right hand as the violin. Shape its line in long phrases, and keep the fastest notes light and even rather than pressed.
  3. Left hand:Schumann often adds an inner or bass voice that the violin did not have. Practice the left hand alone until that line sounds like a melody.
  4. Hands together:Rehearse hands together in short phrases at a slow tempo. Listen for the two lines as separate voices, not a blur of notes.
  5. Rhythm:The 6/8 meter on this page moves in two big beats of three. Tap the two beats with your foot and fit the six eighth notes around them.
  6. Reading:Expect accidentals and chromatic spellings, plus wide hand leaps. Read the harmony by chord shapes, and write in cautionary accidentals.
  7. Practice:Break difficult passages into rhythms or groups, then rebuild them at speed. Take breaks to avoid tension; these pieces are tiring.

Common mistakes

  • Treating the piece as pure speed work and ignoring the singing line. Fix: Practice the melody alone, shaped like a violin phrase.
  • Playing all voices at the same volume. Fix: Choose the leading voice in each phrase and play the others softer.
  • Counting 6/8 as six slow beats. Fix: Feel two pulses per measure, each divided into three.
  • Practicing with tense shoulders and forearms. Fix: Practice in short sessions and shake out the arms between runs.

Structure: set of six concert études

The set is a group of six independent studies, each built on a different Paganini caprice. The pieces differ in key and character, but all show Schumann taking a violin line and enriching it with piano harmony and counter-voices.

No. 1 · After Caprice No. 12 (A-flat major)
The opening study of the set, in A-flat major and based on one of Paganini's caprices (sources differ on whether it is No. 12 or No. 14).
No. 2 · After Caprice No. 6 (G minor)
A cantabile melody over repeated notes that stand in for the violin's tremolos, with a singing bass voice added by Schumann.
No. 3 · After Caprice No. 10 (G minor)
A second G minor study, based on Caprice No. 10, and one of the hardest in the set by Piano Library's rating.
No. 4 · After Caprice No. 4 (C minor)
The longest of the six at about ten minutes, in C minor and based on Caprice No. 4.
No. 5 · After Caprice No. 2 (B minor)
A short but demanding study in B minor, based on Paganini's second caprice. The page's passage seems to come from here: rising sixteenth-note chords in the right hand over a repeated D and A in the bass.
No. 6 · After Caprice No. 3 (E minor)
The finale of the set, in E minor and based on Caprice No. 3, rated among the most demanding by Piano Library.

About Concert Étude after Paganini, Op. 10 No. 5

Robert Schumann first heard Niccolò Paganini play on April 11, 1830, when he was twenty, and the experience bore fruit two years later in his Paganini Studies, Op. 3. Those arrange six of Paganini's 24 solo-violin caprices with only light changes. Op. 10, written soon after, takes a bolder path.

In the Op. 10 études Schumann reworks six other caprices, numbers 12, 6, 10, 4, 2, and 3, into concert pieces. He enriches the violin lines with chords, counter-voices, and imitative fragments, and one booklet note says his imagination here is more orchestral than keyboard-minded. They were meant for the concert hall, though they are heard there rarely.

The set was composed in 1833 and published in 1835. Henle's edition notes that Op. 3 follows Paganini closely with a teaching purpose, while Op. 10 treats the models more freely and is designed for effective performance. The passage on this page appears to come from No. 5 in B minor, after Paganini's second caprice, which Piano Library times at about two minutes and rates among the hardest of the six.

  • Schumann first heard Paganini on April 11, 1830, aged twenty.
  • In his version of Caprice No. 6, Schumann treats the violin's tremolos as calmly repeated notes and adds an expressive bass voice, turning the caprice into a duet for treble and bass.
  • Schumann later wrote piano accompaniments to all 24 Paganini caprices.
  • Liszt also transcribed Paganini's Caprice No. 6, and a recording booklet contrasts his keyboard-minded version with Schumann's more orchestral one.

Why the first passage is level 8

That passage is level 8 rather than 7 because it leaps a major third plus an octave, its chords go beyond simple triads.

One graded passage here sits at level 8, in 6/8 with two sharps, which points to the B minor fifth study. The right hand climbs in sixteenth-note chords over a pedal bass, so count in two big beats and read each chord as a shape.

Questions about Concert Étude after Paganini, Op. 10 No. 5

How hard is Concert Étude after Paganini, Op. 10 No. 5 to play?
Its passages grade from 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 25–28 at level 8.
Is there an easy part of Concert Étude after Paganini, Op. 10 No. 5 for beginners?
Its easiest passage is level 8, so it suits a reader past the beginner stage. Start with bars 25–28 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 major third plus an octave and its chords go beyond simple triads.
What key and time signature is Concert Étude after Paganini, Op. 10 No. 5 in?
The engraving on this page is in 6/8 time.
Who composed Concert Étude after Paganini, Op. 10 No. 5?
Robert Schumann, German romantic (1810–1856). Robert Schumann first heard Niccolò Paganini play on April 11, 1830, when he was twenty, and the experience bore fruit two years later in his Paganini Studies, Op.
Can I practice Concert Étude after Paganini, Op. 10 No. 5 online for free?
Yes. The reader on this page plays any of the one graded passage from Concert Étude after Paganini, Op. 10 No. 5 in your browser, with an on-screen keyboard or a MIDI keyboard, and marks every note as you play. No signup.
What is the difference between Schumann's Op. 3 and Op. 10 Paganini studies?
Op. 3 (1832) stays close to Paganini's originals and was meant for teaching, while Op. 10 takes more liberties and was written for concert performance. The two sets use different caprices.
Which Paganini caprices did Schumann use in Op. 10?
A booklet note and Piano Library list Caprices Nos. 12, 6, 10, 4, 2, and 3. IMSLP gives No. 14 for the first study, so there is a discrepancy.
Are these the same as Liszt's Paganini études?
No. Liszt wrote his own set of Paganini études (S. 140), and his version of the same Caprice No. 6 is quite different from Schumann's.

Every passage, easiest first

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

Level 8
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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