2 Waltzes, D.980
Romantic Waltz Piano solo ~4 min
In brief

These two waltzes convey a dance-like yet slightly nostalgic mood, alternating between salon lightness and intimate sighs rather than a steady march. Technically, you will need to work on Tempo rubato (3.1/5) by learning to imperceptibly delay or hasten certain phrases without breaking the flow, and on the Pédale de sustain (3.1/5) to connect harmonies while avoiding blurring of inner voices; these require fine control of right-hand timing and right-foot pedal adjustments. From a contextual point of view, they belong to the Romantic period and are typical of the short piano miniatures in which Schubert treats the waltz as both dance and reflection. I do not give a reference recording here to avoid providing a possibly incorrect attribution.

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MusicCoach difficulty
30/100
Elementary
Likely range : 18–42/100
Confidence : 42% · to confirm
BeginnerIntermediateAdvancedVirtuoso
Exam grade
About grade 3

Estimated from our difficulty score, not taken from an exam syllabus. Checked against 333 works on the ABRSM syllabus: the exact grade is right 7 times out of 10, and within one grade 99 times out of 100.

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.

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Relative difficulty
11%
Among Franz Schubert
5%
Era Romantic
10%
Genre
Estimated skills
Pedaling
Sustain pedal
1
Style
Romantic style
1
Rhythm
Tempo rubato
1
Technique
Legato
1
Interpretation
Phrasing
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.

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