Waltz No. 15 in E major, Op. posth.
Waltz Piano solo
In brief

This Chopin waltz has a light, dance-like character, alternating singing melodic lines with sprightly figuration that requires keeping a sense of ballroom pulse despite ornamental flourishes. Technical challenges include specifically Rhythm overall (2.5/5) — you must sustain a steady dance pulse and clearly shape the metric accents while allowing musical phrasing to breathe — and Staccato (2.5/5), which calls for crisp, short attacks achieved by precise finger release and coordinated hand support so the sound stays articulate without becoming harsh. The piece is listed as posthumous in Chopin’s catalogue and belongs to his corpus of solo piano waltzes, more intimate salon pieces than large-scale showworks.

MusicCoach difficulty
54/100
Intermediate
Likely range : 42–66/100
Confidence : 39% · to confirm
BeginnerIntermediateAdvancedVirtuoso
Exam grade
About grade 6

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.

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Relative difficulty
28%
Among Frédéric Chopin
60%
Era
54%
Genre
Estimated skills
Style
Character and style
1
Technique
Legato
1
Interpretation
Dynamics
1
Rhythm
General rhythm
1
Technique
Staccato
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