Rondo in E flat major, op. 16
Romantic Rondo Piano solo ~6 min
In brief

This Rondo in E-flat major is bright and capricious: skipping themes and sparkling ornaments alternate with a more singing central episode that asks for momentum and lightness rather than weight. Technical points: Sustain pedal (3.1/5) — you must control the pedal to smooth legato without muddying fast figurations, often through short releases and half-pedaling; Tempo rubato (3.1/5) — the piece requires measured rubato, small anticipations and delays to shape phrases while keeping the underlying pulse. From the Romantic period, this rondo sits as a virtuosic salon piece in Chopin’s output, combining brilliant form with lyrical expression.

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  • Play — Charles Richard-Hamelin – Rondo in E flat major Op. 16 (second stage) · Chopin Institute (the player loads on click)

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Sheet music

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MusicCoach difficulty
81/100
Master repertoire
Likely range : 73–89/100
Confidence : 57% · 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.

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Difficulty sources
Henle Verlag
8
85/100 normalised · 2 obs.
Relative difficulty
94%
Among Frédéric Chopin
93%
Era Romantic
99%
Genre
Estimated skills
Pedaling
Sustain pedal
1
Rhythm
Tempo rubato
1
Style
Romantic style
2
Technique
Hand independence
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.

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