How hard is Hunters' Chorus (Der Freischütz) to play?

Its passages grade from level 2 to level 3 on Real Sight Reader's ten-level reading scale, which keeps all of it within beginner reading. The hardest stretch is bars 7–10 at level 3.

Is there an easy part of Hunters' Chorus (Der Freischütz) for beginners?

Yes. Start with bars 19–22 for the right hand alone, the level-2 passage in the reader at the top of this page; it is level 2 because notes come faster than one per beat and it moves in eighth notes.

What key and time signature is Hunters' Chorus (Der Freischütz) in?

The engraving on this page is in 2/4 time.

Can I practice Hunters' Chorus (Der Freischütz) online for free?

Yes. The reader on this page plays any of the 5 graded passages from Hunters' Chorus (Der Freischütz) in your browser, with an on-screen keyboard or a MIDI keyboard, and marks every note as you play. No signup.

Which opera is the Hunters' Chorus from?

It is from Act 3 of Der Freischütz by Carl Maria von Weber, which premiered in Berlin on 18 June 1821.

What are the German words?

The chorus begins Was gleicht wohl auf Erden, and the libretto of the opera is by Friedrich Kind.

Is the Hunters' Chorus a folk song?

No, Weber composed it for the opera, but it became so popular at festivals and singing clubs that it came to be treated as a folk song.

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Hunters' Chorus (Der Freischütz)

Carl Maria von Weber (1786–1826) · sheet music

Time 2/4
Levels 2–3
Passages 5

Your turn · both hands

Preparing your passage…

Carl Maria von Weber, German romantic (1786–1826). The reading release has 5 passages from this piece at levels 2–3; the reader above opens on the easiest, bars 19–22 for the right hand alone.

Practice the hard bars →

The hardest stretch is bars 7–10 at level 3.

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 Hunters' Chorus (Der Freischütz).

Right hand alone · bars 19–22 level 2
The hardest bars · bars 7–10 level 3

How to play Hunters' Chorus (Der Freischütz)

Tempo:Choose a brisk two-beat pace, but only as fast as you can keep the quick repeated sixteenths in the refrain clean.
Right hand:Shape the opening run up to the top note as one gesture and let the chord outlines ring like a horn call.
Fingering:On the fast repeated-note pairs, try changing fingers, for example 3-2 or 2-1, so the notes stay crisp instead of stuck.
Hands together:The page gives only the melody; once it is secure, add a left-hand G and D on the beats to hear the chorus's strong two-beat swing.
Rhythm:Count two beats per bar and say the eighth-plus-two-sixteenths pattern aloud before playing the refrain.
Dynamics:Play the opening boldly, keep the repeated-note phrase a little lighter, and build through the refrain to a strong finish.
Reading:Read the refrain's leaps as chord shapes rather than single notes, and keep your eyes a bar ahead.
Practice:Isolate the repeated-sixteenth figures and play them slowly with a metronome, then speed up in small steps.

Common mistakes

Rushing the quick repeated notes in the refrain. Fix: Count the sixteenths aloud and keep the eighth note before them full length.
Letting the repeated-note phrase sound flat and mechanical. Fix: Lean slightly on the first note of each group and lighten the others.
Missing the high note after a wide leap. Fix: Look at the leap before playing and move the hand early, landing on the note in time.

Structure: strophic chorus with refrain

In the opera the chorus has two stanzas sung to the same music. The version on this page is a single melody line: an opening tune that rises through the chord, a phrase of repeated notes, and a lively refrain built from quick repeated notes and horn-like broken chords.

A · Opening tune (D major): A bold tune that climbs by a quick run and outlines the chord like a hunting horn.
B · Repeated-note phrase: Short phrases of repeated notes that step up and down; keep them even and clearly spoken.
Refrain · Hunting-call refrain: Quick pairs of repeated sixteenths and wide broken-chord leaps imitate horns, ending in running sixteenth figures before the final note.

About Hunters' Chorus (Der Freischütz)

The Hunters' Chorus, known in German as the Jägerchor and by its opening words Was gleicht wohl auf Erden, comes from Act 3 of Carl Maria von Weber's opera Der Freischütz. The libretto is by Friedrich Kind, and the opera was first staged on 18 June 1821 at the Schauspielhaus in Berlin, with Weber conducting.

Der Freischütz is regarded as the first German Romantic opera, and it helped build a German operatic tradition as an alternative to the long dominance of Italian opera. It spread across Europe within a few years, reaching four London theaters in 1824.

The chorus has outlived the opera's plot of marksmen and magic bullets. Along with the overture it is often performed as a concert piece, and it became a favorite of singing clubs and festivals, so much so that it came to be treated almost as a folk song.

After the Berlin premiere, productions followed the same year in Vienna, and in 1824 four London theaters staged the opera in four different adaptations.
In 1841 Berlioz prepared a French version of the opera with recitatives, and added his orchestration of Weber's Invitation to the Dance as a ballet.
The Wolf's Glen scene in the same opera has been described as the most expressive rendering of the gruesome to be found in a musical score.

Why the first passage is level 2

That passage is level 2 rather than 1 because notes come faster than one per beat, it moves in eighth notes.

A bright hunting song written as a single melody line. Read the leaps as chord shapes and keep the quick repeated notes exact.

Questions about Hunters' Chorus (Der Freischütz)

How hard is Hunters' Chorus (Der Freischütz) to play?: Its passages grade from level 2 to level 3 on Real Sight Reader's ten-level reading scale, which keeps all of it within beginner reading. The hardest stretch is bars 7–10 at level 3.
Is there an easy part of Hunters' Chorus (Der Freischütz) for beginners?: Yes. Start with bars 19–22 for the right hand alone, the level-2 passage in the reader at the top of this page; it is level 2 because notes come faster than one per beat and it moves in eighth notes.
What key and time signature is Hunters' Chorus (Der Freischütz) in?: The engraving on this page is in 2/4 time.
Who composed Hunters' Chorus (Der Freischütz)?: Carl Maria von Weber, German romantic (1786–1826). The Hunters' Chorus, known in German as the Jägerchor and by its opening words Was gleicht wohl auf Erden, comes from Act 3 of Carl Maria von Weber's opera Der Freischütz.
Can I practice Hunters' Chorus (Der Freischütz) online for free?: Yes. The reader on this page plays any of the 5 graded passages from Hunters' Chorus (Der Freischütz) in your browser, with an on-screen keyboard or a MIDI keyboard, and marks every note as you play. No signup.
Which opera is the Hunters' Chorus from?: It is from Act 3 of Der Freischütz by Carl Maria von Weber, which premiered in Berlin on 18 June 1821.
What are the German words?: The chorus begins Was gleicht wohl auf Erden, and the libretto of the opera is by Friedrich Kind.
Is the Hunters' Chorus a folk song?: No, Weber composed it for the opera, but it became so popular at festivals and singing clubs that it came to be treated as a folk song.

Every passage, easiest first

The reading release grades 5 distinct passages of this piece. Open any of them in the reader:

Level 2: bars 19–22 right hand · bars 21–24 right hand
Level 3: bars 7–10 right hand · bars 17–24 right hand · bars 22–27 right hand

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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