Prelude Op. 28 No. 16 in B♭ minor by Frédéric Chopin: play it with falling notes in your browser, on your computer keys, a touch screen or a MIDI keyboard. It is part of Klaviero Premium, and 49 pieces are free. The chart has 1,199 notes over 1:01, peaks at 21.4 notes per second, and Klaviero rates it tier 4 of 5.
Chopin's Prelude Op. 28 No. 16 in B flat minor is often called the Hades prelude, a name Hans von Bülow gave it, and many pianists consider it the hardest of the Op. 28 preludes. It was composed between 1836 and 1839, published in 1839 and dedicated to Camille Pleyel, who commissioned the Op. 28 preludes for 2,000 francs. It opens with six heavily accented chords and then becomes a stream of sixteenth notes in the right hand, four to six pages of them depending on the edition, at presto con fuoco in around a minute. Most pianists find the real difficulty is in the left hand, in the rapid follow-through of its three-note chord groups. The chart matches that pace: 1,199 notes in 1:01, 19.6 per second on average and 21.4 in the busiest 25 seconds, 0:20 to 0:45. The right hand plays 60% of the notes. The range runs from E flat1 to F7, and 75 notes fall outside a 61-key keyboard.
Chopin's Hades prelude, considered by many the hardest of his Op. 28 preludes.
It averages 19.6 notes per second against a peak of 21.4, so the busiest bar is barely harder than the rest and there is nowhere to recover. The right hand plays 60% of the 1,199 notes and the left 40%. The notes run E flat1 to F7, 6.2 octaves, which is past what a 61-key board reaches at one end or the other. Klaviero rates it tier 4 of 5.
Composer
Frédéric Chopin
Key
B flat minor
Notes
1,199
Length
1:01
Peak density
21.4 notes per second
Difficulty
tier 4 of 5
Access
Premium
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