Symphonic Études Op.13
Étude Piano solo 2 min
In brief

These Symphonic Études have a dramatic, highly contrasted character: they alternate harsh virtuosic episodes with lyrical, almost song-like digressions, giving the sense of a compressed orchestral discourse on the piano. Concretely, you will face Octaves (4.6/5), which require alternating power and precision through coordinated wrist and forearm control to maintain tone and regularity, and Rapid passages (Passages rapides) (4.6/5), which call for economy of motion in the fingers, clear articulation and anticipatory fingering organization to preserve continuity. This solo piano work (Op.13) belongs to Schumann's study pieces and occupies a distinctive place between technical étude and concert piece in his output. I do not provide a recommended recording because I am not certain enough to name one with confidence.

Listen to this work

These recordings are found automatically, and the machine still gets it wrong. One click from you — yes or no — fixes the catalogue for every musician who opens this page after you. Across our 10,000 works, your answer is our only real quality check.

An arrangement or transcription is fine: if you recognise the work, answer yes. Answer no if it is a different work, a different composer, or if the recording does not play.

  • Play — Robert Schumann - Symphonic Etudes, Op. 13 · olla-vogala (the player loads on click)

    Open on Youtube ↗

    Is this the right work?
  • Play — XII Études symphoniques, Op. 13 "Symphonic Etudes": Etude 7. Allegro Molto · Robert Schumann, Jimin Oh-Havenith (the player loads on click)

    Open on Spotify ↗

    Is this the right work?

No account is required and no personal data is collected.

Sheet music

Public-domain sheet music on IMSLP ↗

Is this the right work?
MusicCoach difficulty
83/100
Master repertoire
Likely range : 74–92/100
Confidence : 73% · fair confidence
BeginnerIntermediateAdvancedVirtuoso
Exam grade
On the syllabus: Grade 8 ABRSM

Official level, taken from the exam syllabus.

Other syllabi : ABRSM Grade 8

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
9
95/100 normalised · 5 obs.
ABRSM (syllabus)
Grade 8
76/100 normalised
Combined exam syllabi
Grade 8
76/100 normalised
Relative difficulty
96%
Among Robert Schumann
98%
Era
90%
Genre
Estimated skills
Theory
Knowledge of forms
1
Technique
Double notes
1
Technique
Octaves
1
Technique
Fast passages
2
Tone
Touch control
1
Pedaling
Half-pedalling
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