Chopin's Fantaisie Impromptu

Chopin's Fantasie Impromptu is widely regarded as one of the most difficult piano pieces from the Romantic period. It is very technically difficult due to the awkward time signature, but also needs to be played with a lot of musicality.

When I first started learning the piece, I had just mastered Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata, so before I starting playing it I didn't think it would be so difficult. However, the entire piece is written in 8:6 rhythms. This means that for every 8 notes in the right hand, there are 6 notes in the left. Additionally, the piece is very fast, so playing the piece up to tempo with the correct rhythms took a lot of slow practicing. After a fast and dramatic first section, the middle section begins. The middle section of the piece is a nice contrast. It is very slow but demands very good control of dynamics. Without proper dynamics, the section will sound very repetitive and boring. I like to think of it almost as one of Chopin's Nocturnes. While it still has some tricky polyrhythms, the section is largely tame compared to the rest of the piece. As the second section slowly fades away, the original fast melody starts right back up again, identical to the first. However, the ending is different. This time Chopin adds some very tricky jumps and arpeggios to build up the coda. Finally, the piece ends with another slow and touching section. The Fantasie Impromptu is one of my favorite pieces to play and listen to.