Famous classical piano pieces
The classical pieces almost everyone knows by ear, to read at the keyboard: from the Ode to Joy and the Blue Danube at level 2 to Für Elise at level 4 and the Moonlight Sonata at level 5. Each piece has easier versions made from the score itself (the right-hand melody alone, then with left-hand roots), so a famous piece above your reading level can still be the next one you play.
- Pieces
- 21
- Levels
- 2 to 5
- Key signatures
- 4 flats to 4 sharps
- Length
- 16 to 145 bars
Level 2
A tune over a simple left hand, mostly in one hand position. Minuets, carols, Ode to Joy, Czerny's first studies.
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Ode to Joy
Ludwig van Beethoven no sharps or flats, 4/4, 16 bars -
Theme from the Surprise Symphony
Joseph Haydn no sharps or flats, 4/4, 24 bars -
Spring, from The Four Seasons (simple arrangement)
Antonio Vivaldi 3 sharps, 4/4, 27 bars -
The Blue Danube (theme)
Johann Strauss II no sharps or flats, 3/4, 32 bars
Level 3
Both hands busy, the hand moves around, a sharp or flat or two. Most of the Notebook minuets, sonatinas, The Entertainer.
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Swan Lake (theme)
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky 2 sharps, 4/4, 27 bars -
Canon in D
Johann Pachelbel 2 sharps, 4/4, 33 bars -
The Entertainer
Scott Joplin no sharps or flats, 4/4, 37 bars -
Morning Mood, from Peer Gynt
Edvard Grieg no sharps or flats, 6/8, 38 bars -
Gnossienne No. 1
Erik Satie no sharps or flats, 4/4, 54 bars -
Minuet in G, BWV Anh. 114
Christian Petzold 1 sharp, 3/4, 64 bars -
Rondo alla turca (Turkish March)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart no sharps or flats, 2/4, 65 bars
Level 4
Real independence between the hands and more accidentals. Bach's inventions and little preludes, Für Elise, Chopin's easier preludes.
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Prelude in E minor, Op. 28 No. 4
Frédéric Chopin 1 sharp, 4/4, 26 bars -
Prelude in C, BWV 846
Johann Sebastian Bach no sharps or flats, 4/4, 35 bars -
Ständchen (Serenade)
Franz Schubert 1 flat, 3/4, 82 bars -
The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba
George Frideric Handel 2 flats, 4/4, 89 bars -
Für Elise, WoO 59
Ludwig van Beethoven no sharps or flats, 3/8, 126 bars -
Hungarian Dance No. 5
Johannes Brahms 2 flats, 2/4, 142 bars
Level 5
The edge of early intermediate: dense textures, fast passages and far keys. The Moonlight Sonata, Maple Leaf Rag, Solfeggietto.
Open a piece to print any of its versions free, or to play it at your MIDI keyboard with every note marked. New to reading? The level 2 sight-reading exercises are a good warm-up.