Dance macabre, S.555, R.240
Romantic Piano solo
In brief

This piece, 'Danse macabre', evokes a dark and mysterious atmosphere, characterized by striking contrasts that emphasize the theme of death and dance. Students will encounter technical challenges such as the speed of passages, note precision, and dynamic management to truly capture the intensity of the work. Composed during the Romantic period, Liszt drew inspiration from gothic themes and the collective imagination, striving to translate strong emotions through virtuosic piano playing.

Estimated difficulty
74/100
Advanced
Confidence : 35% · to confirm
BeginnerIntermediateAdvancedVirtuoso

Difficulty estimate by MusicCoach on a scale of 1 to 100.

Where this work sits
050100

Most works cluster between 45 and 65: a small score gap often marks a real step. The highlighted bar shows this work among those for the same instrument.

This score is an orientation guide aggregated from editorial and pedagogical sources (Henle, exam syllabuses, curation) — not an expert opinion on your situation. Read it alongside the sources, the confidence and the skills below, and discuss it with your teacher for the real choices about which level to tackle.

Difficulty sources
OpenAI_AI
74
74/100 normalised
Relative difficulty
46%
Among Franz Liszt
82%
Era Romantic
Genre
Skills developed
Pedaling
Sustain pedal
1
Rhythm
Tempo rubato
1
Style
Romantic style
1
Rhythm
General rhythm
1
Interpretation
Dynamics
1
Rhythm
Polyrhythm 2 against 3
1
What to play next?

Each suggestion combines difficulty gap, risk, confidence and skill overlap. The first two cards in each column are the most useful pedagogically.

See the whole progression