Piano Sonata in C-sharp minor, D. 655
Sonata Piano solo
In brief

This C-sharp minor sonata feels tense and inward-looking, alternating lyrical episodes with sharper, more abrupt passages that require continuous control of balance between melody and accompaniment. Technically, you will need to focus on Passages rapides (2.5/5) — here that means reducing finger tension and achieving evenness in rapid figures — and on Phrasing (Phrasé) (2.5/5), which involves shaping melodic lines with subtle wrist inflections and finger changes to preserve legato. The precise place of this piece in Schubert's chronology is listed as unknown, but it belongs to his piano sonata output and shows the exploratory character of his keyboard writing. I am not providing a specific reference recording because I am not fully certain of a widely recognized definitive interpretation for this exact work.

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MusicCoach difficulty
57/100
Intermediate
Likely range : 45–69/100
Confidence : 42% · 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
68%
Among Franz Schubert
66%
Era
44%
Genre
Estimated skills
Theory
Knowledge of forms
1
Technique
Hand independence
1
Technique
Fast passages
1
Interpretation
Phrasing
1
Style
Classical style
1
Technique
General technique
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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