Waltz in A flat major, D.978
Romantic Waltz Piano solo 1 min
In brief

This A-flat waltz has an intimate, slightly wistful dance character, with detached accents that call for a clear pulse rather than flamboyance. You will need to focus especially on Phrasing (3.9/5), shaping each short phrase with precise finger pressure and subtle connections so the tune sings, and on Tempo rubato (3.9/5), practicing very small delays and anticipations inside the bar without losing the underlying waltz regularity. The piece belongs to the Romantic period and is part of Schubert’s large body of piano miniatures that explore poetic, dance-like expression.

Listen to this work

No verified recording for this work yet. We add more every week.

Sheet music

Public-domain sheet music on IMSLP ↗

Is this the right work?
MusicCoach difficulty
30/100
Elementary
Likely range : 18–42/100
Confidence : 30% · 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.

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.

Does this rating look right to you?

This rating is computed automatically from heterogeneous sources. It gets things wrong, sometimes badly. If you know this work, your answer is worth more than our computation: it tells us which ratings to review.

Add a note (optional)

Your note is not published on the site: it is read in review.

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