Alice, Op.38
Violin and Piano beta difficulty
In brief

This violin-and-piano duo unfolds in an intimate, singing mood where long, breathing lines demand expressive tension rather than flashy virtuosity. The main technical challenges are Phrasing (4.0/5) — working the bow distribution and arm control to shape extended phrases and keep dynamic coherence across a single breath — and Vibrato (3.0/5) — managing vibrato speed and width to color tones without upsetting intonation; these require precise, flexible right-arm bowing and left-hand control. The piece appears as Op.38 in the composer's catalogue, but its period of composition is listed as unknown, so it sits in the repertoire without a firm chronological placement.

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Sheet music

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Formation

Violin and piano · 2 performers

Required forces
Violin 1 performers
Piano 1 performers
Playable parts
Violin Piano
MusicCoach difficulty
52/100
Intermediate
Likely range : 40–64/100
Confidence : 20% · to confirm
BeginnerIntermediateAdvancedVirtuoso
Exam grade
About grade 5 to 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
Among Bénoni Lagye
60%
Era
Genre
Estimated skills
Interpretation
Phrasing
1
Style
Romantic style
1
Interpretation
Dynamics
1
Tone
Vibrato
1
Technique
Intonation
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