Thème Varié, Fugue et Chanson, op. 85
Romantic Fugue Piano solo 15 min
In brief

The piece creates a tense, dialoguing counterpoint: voices interweave often without orchestral support, so you must bring out shifting inner lines and incisive entries instead of pursuing broad Romantic cantability. Technically, Polyphonie à trois voix ou plus (4.4/5) will require precise finger independence and dynamic control of each voice to project subjects and inner counters, and Analyse harmonique (4.4/5) calls for anticipating reversals and modulations so you can adjust voicing and fingering as the harmony shifts. Situated in d'Indy’s Romantic milieu, it exemplifies his application of contrapuntal forms to the piano and belongs to the subset of his piano works that combine fugue and variation techniques.

MusicCoach difficulty
75/100
Advanced
Likely range : 63–87/100
Confidence : 32% · to confirm
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.

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.

Relative difficulty
93%
Among Vincent d'Indy
86%
Era Romantic
82%
Genre
Estimated skills
Theory
Harmonic analysis
1
Technique
Three-or-more-voice polyphony
2
Pedaling
Sustain pedal
1
Style
Romantic style
1
Rhythm
Tempo rubato
1
Tone
Touch control
1
Technique
Double notes
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