Piano Sonata no. 1 in F minor, op. 6
Romantic Sonata Piano solo 12 min
In brief

This F minor Sonata feels compactly dramatic and taut: abrupt gestures, energetic contrasts and frequent arpeggiated passages that suggest contained agitation rather than straightforward melancholy. Technically, focus on the Analysis harmonique (3.6/5) — you must track modulations and chordal shifts to bring out inner lines — and on the Pedal de sustain (3.1/5), where the practical gesture is precise pedaling to sustain sonorities without blurring chromatic inner voices. Placed in the Romantic period, it is one of Scriabin's early sonatas and shows his late-Romantic piano language while hinting at the directions he would later take.

MusicCoach difficulty
82/100
Master repertoire
Likely range : 74–89/100
Confidence : 55% · fair confidence
BeginnerIntermediateAdvancedVirtuoso
Exam grade
About grade 8

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.

Difficulty sources
Henle Verlag
8
85/100 normalised · 2 obs.
Relative difficulty
86%
Among Alexander Scriabin
93%
Era Romantic
94%
Genre
Estimated skills
Theory
Harmonic analysis
1
Theory
Knowledge of forms
1
Pedaling
Sustain pedal
1
Style
Romantic style
1
Rhythm
Tempo rubato
1
Technique
Hand crossings
1
Interpretation
Dynamics
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.

See the whole progression