Valse-Caprice no. 1 in A major, op. 30
Romantic WaltzCapriccio Piano solo 7 min
In brief

This Valse-Caprice feels light and nervy, often sparkling in the high register while hiding brief lyrical surges beneath its dancing step. Technically, you will need to work on Phrasing (3.9/5) to shape short melodic lines and connect motifs without sounding mechanical, and on Tempo rubato (3.9/5) to make slight stretches and compressions of time without losing the waltz’s forward drive. It belongs to Fauré's Romantic period and is part of his more intimate, salon-style piano repertoire, showing his preference for refined harmony over theatrical gestures. I do not provide a reference interpretation here because I am not fully certain there is a single widely accepted recording for this specific piece.

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Is this the right work?
MusicCoach difficulty
55/100
Intermediate
Likely range : 43–67/100
Confidence : 35% · 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
20%
Among Gabriel Fauré
44%
Era Romantic
60%
Genre
Estimated skills
Interpretation
Phrasing
1
Rhythm
Tempo rubato
1
Pedaling
Sustain pedal
1
Style
Romantic style
1
Technique
Legato
1
Rhythm
General rhythm
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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