Mephisto Waltz no. 4, S.696
Romantic Waltz Piano solo ~7 min
In brief

This Mephisto Waltz No. 4 projects a sly, sinuous mood where the dancing waltz gesture is warped by demonic accents and sudden flashes of virtuosity. You will face particular challenges with Trills (4.6/5) and Octaves (4.6/5): the trills require a rapid, even finger alternation to sustain rhythmic drive and color, while the octaves demand strong wrist extension and precise placement to deliver clean attacks without excess tension. Situated in the Romantic period, the piece belongs among Liszt’s virtuosic solo piano works, written to combine technical brilliance with theatrical expression. I do not provide a reference performance here out of caution when not fully certain of specific recordings.

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Sheet music

Public-domain sheet music on IMSLP ↗

Is this the right work?
MusicCoach difficulty
92/100
Master repertoire
Likely range : 80–100/100
Confidence : 45% · to confirm
BeginnerIntermediateAdvancedVirtuoso
Exam grade
Beyond grade 8

The grade scale stops at 8; this work belongs to concert or diploma repertoire.

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.

The MusicCoach difficulty measures a work's overall demands (technique, reading, stamina) on a shared 0-100 scale, consolidated from editorial and pedagogical reference points (Henle, exam syllabuses, curation) and our own analyses. It measures neither musical value nor the practice time YOU will need: two musicians of the same level can experience the same work very differently depending on their strengths (hands used to octaves, quick sight-reading…). The confidence reflects how many reference points sit behind the score and how well they agree — a lightly documented score is flagged “to validate”. For a truly personal bearing, the diagnostic and your space compare each work to YOUR estimated level, which the score alone cannot do.

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Relative difficulty
95%
Among Franz Liszt
99%
Era Romantic
99%
Genre
Estimated skills
Technique
Hand crossings
1
Technique
Hand independence
1
Technique
Octaves
1
Technique
Trills
1
Interpretation
Phrasing
1
Rhythm
Tempo rubato
1
Technique
Fast passages
2
Pedaling
Sustain pedal
1
Style
Romantic style
1
Interpretation
Dynamics
1
Rhythm
Dotted rhythms
1
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